So here I am

It's been a very interesting road I have traveled as of late. When I started starwood I was a little upset that I didn't get a position in NY doing Java development, but since as3 it's quite similar to Java. I picked up the language in about a week or so and couldn't imagine going back to AS2. There are so many interesting things you can do with as3 now. One being development with papervision3d. It's awesome stuff to be able to develop in a semi-3d environment in flash. What's even better is my plans to incorporate that with the microsoft surface table. If I can get the go with that, that would rock. Hopefully the company will see the amazing possiblities and hook me up. ::crosses fingers:: ::update:: Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't play well with a company's product that they're currently trying to steal the market from. (won't happen but it never hurts to try right? lol). So for now, until I get enough time together to build my own multi-touch system (apparently not that difficult) I'll just have to dream... sigh..

Born in the U.S.A.

So I was listening to NPR today and heard something that interested me. A man born in India who became a big fan of Bruce Springstein pointed out something that totally blew me away. Born in the U.S.A., a song I always attributed to being happy about our country and yada yada was indeed the opposite. Wow, I think I need to pay more attention to lyrics. It was just always assumed to be quite the patriotic song. And here I am blogging about my ignorance. c'est la vie! For anyone that may actually read this here are the lyrics: Born down in a dead man's town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground You end up like a dog that's been beat too much 'Til you spend half your life just covering up [chorus:] Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. I got in a little hometown jam And so they put a rifle in my hands Sent me off to Vietnam To go and kill the yellow man [chorus] Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me" I go down to see the V.A. man He said "Son don't you understand" [chorus] I had a buddy at Khe Sahn Fighting off the Viet Cong They're still there, he's all gone He had a little girl in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms Down in the shadow of the penitentiary Out by the gas fires of the refinery I'm ten years down the road Nowhere to run, ain't got nowhere to go I'm a long gone Daddy in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. I'm a cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. Pretty sad.......

Wow, the power of democracy

A few days ago I watched the House Democrats attempt to get as many Reps as they could to vote for the bill to increase health insurance to children by $35 billion more than the current amount totaling $60 billion over the next 5 years. The vote was shy by about 6 or so votes from being completely immune to the presidents veto. And so, being the shady heartless man our president is, Bush vetoed the bill. Dems are now vying for more republicans to vote yay on the bill. Why is it more important to pay $200 billion for an illegitimate war as opposed to children's health insurance. It's ashame that our 'president' doesn't find our nation's children more important than his war-mongering. When will we gain the balls to remove Bush and Cheney form office and charge them for war crimes? /rant

The great american life.

So tonight Laura and I decided to go to the Guggenheim for the members preview of the new exhibit by Richard Prince. At first I was rather unimpressed. The first pieces were just of pictures he had taken of ads in a magazine, but as we pressed on I saw this whole picture come to life of Americana and before the end I was really enjoying each piece and couldn't wait to see what was next. I think the most amusing pieces were that of these old playboy magazine and whatnot comics he enlarged and screen-printed onto canvas and then added on top of that jokes in random fonts or methods (as in a few of the pieces had the jokes imposed on the canvas in checks with dye on top, interesting...). Most of the jokes you could imagine were from 1950's and '60's joke books, ala 101 Jokes and other things to keep your guests moderately entertained. Although, quite a few were pretty funny stuff. Anyhow, if you get a chance, check out the exhibit before it leaves. Here is the link to Richard Prince's exhibit.