This blog has moved!

Monday, June 01, 2009

After almost a full decade at Mexijew.com, I have decided to move to a more professional site that more properly reflects my goals. That said, this site will redirect to ScottASavage.com in 15 seconds. Please update your bookmarks accordingly!

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All Good Things...

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

For almost a decade I have been posting all kinds of things on Mexijew.com. My thoughts, my aspirations, my frustrations, my life, my work, my hopes and my dreams. It's been a controversial site at times. I've received my fair share of anti-semitic e-mails and anonymous slams because of things I've said. I've even had the attention of Howard Stern and Fox News for some of the things I've posted. Today, however, it's time to move to a new home.

As of May 26, 2009, I will no longer be posting on Mexijew.com. I am moving my base of operations to ScottASavage.com. My format will be a little more professional, my posts a bit less... raw. My reasons for doing so are complex. When I started Mexijew.com I was barely over the age of 18, full of angst and lacking of skill, experience, wisdom, and tact. Well, I'm still full of angst and lacking of wisdom and tact, but I've got experience and a bit more common sense now. Besides all of that, I would like to be able to put my blog into my portfolio, and of course move to Wordpress after all these years using Blogger.com.

In the next few weeks I'll finish migrating posts over to ScottASavage.com and will change Mexijew.com into a redirector. Until then, please head on over to the new site for the latest and greatest. Expect more frequent posts and more interaction.

Thanks to everyone who ever visited Mexijew.com, left a comment, or sent an e-mail. It's been a wild ride. Let's keep the momentum going for the new site.

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Home is where the FIOS is

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Well, I'm all moved into my new house. Things are okay so far. The house itself is a bit of a fixer upper, which isn't really what I was looking for but because of the outstanding deal it was hard to pass up. Still not fully unpacked, obviously, and I probably won't ever unpack a box or two for a few years. Heh.

The move itself went pretty well. The moving truck came a little late but they were extremely fast - only 3.5 hours. Less than $500, too, which is great - I expected it to be over $500. The only thing that really went wrong that day is my new kitchen appliances weren't delivered. Turns out the truck broke down. Thankfully, I got those, plus FIOS, a security system, and a new toilet on Monday, so all is well now.

Wanted to shill a bit for my friend Brian and his company Motorize. I did some freelance UI design work for them a few months ago and I'm very proud to say that they have launched their website, www.motorize.com. Motorize.com basically enables you to go through the entire car buying process online. No shifty salesmen to deal with, no bullshit back and forth with the manager. Just surf over to Motorize.com, check out their selection of cars and trucks, select the financing you want, get approved, and buy it online. Hell, apparently they can even deliver the car to your house after you've bought it online. Friggin' fantastic!

Finally, work is coming alone quite well on my other project - my new (replacement) website. The URL will be posted as soon as I'm done prettying it up. Keep your eyes here for more information.

Technorati Tags: Motorize, Car Buying.

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A home all my own

Friday, March 27, 2009

Nope, I'm not dead. Just been busy buying my very first house. Which, by the way, is fucking hard. I was totally unprepared for the sheer amount of paperwork, research, and soul seeking involved in buying a house.

On the other hand... it's going to be extremely rewarding to finally have a place of my own (and subsequently not have to remove dishes from the sink or clothes from the drier. Mmm...).

By the way, I'm going to be starting work on a new, more professional blog and domain soon. Mexijew.com will become a mirrored URL. I'll announce the new domain name shortly. Keep your eyes here.

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Quick Review: Google Sync for the iPhone

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A few days ago Google finally debuted what I'd been hearing rumors about for a while and had been hoping was true: Google Sync for the iPhone. It enables you to sync your Google calendars (up to five), Google Contacts, and Gmail on your phone via Push technology (an MS Exchange server, basically). While you may be scratching your heads and wondering what's so great about that, let me tell you about how my iPhone & Google Calendar worked before.

Ever since Google launched their calendar application, I have had three calendars on my Google account that I actively maintain: A personal calendar, a work calendar with all of my meetings and milestone/due dates, and a bill calendar to keep track of all of my monthly bills and regular expenses. I also subscribe to Brian's Beer Calendar - his personal brewing schedule so I know when he's making that awesome hefeweizen (hefemärzen) of his.

To sync up all of these calendars, I setup iCal on my Mac to subscribe to all of those calendars (via a private RSS feed) and it would update my iPhone every time I synced. Trouble is that when you do it that way, data only flows one way. I could never make calendar entries on my iPhone because they don't sync backwards to my Google calendars. So, if I had an event that I wanted to put on my Personal calendar or a new meeting that I want to remember, I'd have to use Safari and update my calendar that way when I was on the go, or wait till I got back to my desk and do it on http://google.com/calendar.

With the new Google Sync for the iPhone, I can now have all three of my calendars (plus Brian's Beer Calendar) on my iPhone and add/remove/update events on the fly. It's a great service and it works extremely smoothly.

One tip for anyone who is planning to use it: after you follow the setup process at http://google.com/mobile/apple/sync.html, surf over to http://m.google.com/sync on your iPhone and login to add which calendars you want to sync. By default, only your primary calendar (in my case, just my personal calendar) syncs. You have to tell it which other calendars you also want to sync. Save your settings and check your calendar on your iPhone. It's great. Good job, Google.

P.S. I'm finally moving to Wordpress this weekend or next weekend. I apologize ahead of time for any downtime you may experience.

Technorati Tags: Google Sync, iPhone.

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Something I need to get off my chest

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

As I sit here at 2:30am, looking up ways to quench my diabetic thirst, it occurs to me that I'm really not taking care of myself the way I should be. Despite the fact that I've lost over 30 lbs recently, the fact is that I'm still eating and drinking too many sugary foods. I know this because I can feel it. If you're a type 2 diabetic like I am, you understand what I mean.

On workdays I imbibe a Venti Peppermint Mocha Twist. Almost religiously at lunch. I get regular coke instead of diet coke or water. I'm not exercising. I'm not eating right. And I'm just not doing what I need to do to live a longer, happier life. And yet... part of me just doesn't feel like changing. Change requires effort and work, and given that it's a trial just to get up in the morning, you can see why I feel as I do.

Motivation has always been a problem of mine, as far back as I can remember. Well before I was diagnosed diabetic back in 2001. Back when I was in school. That far back. I've never been able to figure out why I always feel so unmotivated. I wish I knew. Just finishing the simplest of tasks like bringing a letter to the mailbox is sometimes amazing to me. It's not just physical motivation. It's mental motivation. I wish I could understand.

Maybe I need to find a specialist to talk to. To help me find the motivation for change. I don't know. I don't know where to look to be honest. It seems like this motivation issue transcends the diabetes. I'm sure it does. This isn't a cry for help. This is just my confession. I needed to get it off my chest. I don't know if I can get my life in line and find some way to reconcile (mentally) all of the changes I need to make. I just needed to say this "out loud".

Technorati Tags: Diabetes, Motivation.

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The New Star Trek

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

In May of 2009, the 11th movie in the Star Trek franchise, simply called "Star Trek", will make its debut. It's being directed by J.J. Abrams of "Lost" and "Cloverfield" fame, and unlike previous Trek movies this is going to be a prequel to, well, just about everything (except Enterprise with Scott Bakula). It's going to be a "re-imagining" of the original series which in and of itself is quite controversial among hardcore Trekkies like myself. The Enterprise itself, along with places, characters, relationships, and back stories are all going to be tweaked.

The plot of Star Trek, while not fully publicized yet, is to tell the story of how James Kirk (played by Chris Pine) came to join Starfleet, meet Spock (played by Zachary Quinto), and become the youngest, most infamous captain in Starfleet history. All of this under the guise of a time travel story in which the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy) sets things in motion by going back in time and meeting with the young Cadet James T. Kirk at Starfleet Academy on Earth.

As I said above, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the plot and the re-imagining of a number of things about the Star Trek universe. For example, one of the major sticking points is that the primary enemy in the movie will be a Romulan named Nero (played by Eric Bana). While the Romulan race was well-known when Kirk was in the academy (see the Earth-Romulan War for more on that), factually speaking no one had ever seen what a Romulan looked like until the Original Series episode, "Balance of Terror", in which we all discover that Romulans look just like (and in fact are directly related to) Vulcans. That's a big change to what is considered to be "Trek Canon".

Another controversial change to the canon of Trek is the location of the USS Enterprise's construction, based on the theatrical trailer. It appears that, despite the fact that the original Enterprise's dedication plaque says it was built in San Francisco on Earth, the trailer seems to point out that the Enterprise was constructed in the middle of rural Iowa, where Kirk grew up. This could be untrue, however, as it's not entirely clear from the trailer although it looks very much like it's in Iowa.

Among other things, the design of the Enterprise (pictured above) is noticeably different. Personally, I love the new design. It makes a lot of sense given what technologies we have now versus what was believed to have been possible back in the 60's. A lot of the design elements make sense from a continuity perspective as well. For example, the change to the warp nacelle struts - much thicker and angular than the original - gives a more realistic sense to the kind of load that they could bear versus the old struts that seemed to be extremely thin and undersized.

The look of the new bridge (pictured above & below) is a huge diversion from the original design - or of any Star Trek bridge design for that matter. First and foremost, the forward viewscreen on the bridge isn't a solid piece of metal but indeed a large, wide window that has a projection/holographic overview displayed on it. It's quite amazing and really gives you a sense of openness. The new bridge is also a very sterile white, unlike the original bridge which was grey and surrounded by very harsh red and black elements. It gives it a more open feel and in some ways makes me think of how the interior of the Space Shuttle looks - very clean, very white, very efficient.

So, will it stand up to the expectations of hardcore Trekkies like myself? Will it be a box office flop? Will it actually attract a diverse, non-Trekkie audience like J.J. Abrams is aiming for? I hope so. I'd really like to see the Trek franchise start up again. Living without new Trek for these last few years has really sucked and I for one look forward to new stories that boldly go where no one has gone before.

Technorati Tags: Star Trek, J.J. Abrams.

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