Hey, down here

Wednesday August 16, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

Yea, I’m still alive. I got a call from a buddy of mine asking why I havent updated in a while. I dont really have an answer to that – one would think that with the surplus of free time now that my contract ended I’d be posting left and right but the reality is the ‘gusto’ is gone. I do have plenty to write about. I could very easily go off on one heck of a tangent about either this craziness in Lebanon/Israel, why Value City Furniture is Lucifer’s own corporation, or why you won’t find me anywhere without a Dashboard Confessional album lately but I just don’t feel the desire to.

I’m sure it will come back, but I’ve got bigger fish to fry. Don’t worry i’ll be back in some form or another soon enough with all kinds of wonderful ramblings to entertain the masses. Until then, the one tidbit I will leave ya with is this:

You asbolutely must go see Little Miss Sunshine – easily one of the best movies in seen in the last decade, just awesome from start to finish.

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So Long 'Fatalities'

Friday June 16, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

Lousiana just signed into law a new bill that will penalize anyone caught unlwafully selling games dubbed ‘inappropriate to minors’ by a possible prison term of one year and a maximum incurred fine of 2,000. Now I ask you, what kind of crack are they smoking in Lousiana and where can I get some?

Just kidding, but this video game business is getting far to out of hand. Aren’t there bigger issues on lawmakers plates than stopping lil’Johnny from shooting a digital representation of a gun at, what amounts to, nothing more than a conglomeration of painted pixels that can take the shape of an Alien, Animal, Target Dummy, or Terrorist? Apparently lawmakers have become surrogate parents to our children (No I dont have any, metaphorical, trust me) making the big decisions for them because its in ‘their best interest’. How about you let them decide that. If I want to put an rail gun in my son’s hands so he can compete competitively in Halo, Quake 4, or any other ‘inappropriate to my minor’ videogame, I damn well will. I grew up slaughtering Buffalo in Oregon Trail but you dont see me painting the mid-west with blood. If anything that kind of video game (First Person Shooter) has honed any number of response, twitch, and reactory skills to a level well above the average kid. I’ve played splat ball twice in my life, both times I’ve been so accurate people have asked me how I got that good. The answer? Video games. In archery I was one of the top shooters in my class in college. Yeap, video games.

People need to get over this stigma. If you want to ban something, or penalize anyone, go put laws down for rap lyrics that tell children to basically steal, rape, and murder ‘to survive’ on the streets. Or how about making a law that outright forbids children under the age of 13, regardless of parent, to see any movie above that rating. Go fine them – God knows how many moronic mothers I’ve seen bring their babies or 5 year olds to Horror movies. Heck, even Lord of the Rings has beheading in it – thats as bad as even the worst video game, and it’s real people in ‘real life’. Or hey, Louisiana, how about you make a law that deports all Carribean and Jamaican practioners of ‘Hoodoo’, a spin-off of the more well known ‘Voodoo’ which condones bloodletting of animals, unorthodox use of medicinal herbs for hallucinagenics, and polygemy? I’m not so sure that would go over well with a good percentage of your state.

Sorry, just kind of sick of seeing this theme recurring over the years. Theres so much worse crap out there to worry about that ‘video games’ shouldnt even be on the list. Instead we’ve got idiots like Roy Burrell calling the shots making sure every child lives in a reality-free sedated bubble all his life.

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Odds and Ends

Thursday June 15, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

So I’m sitting in the parking lot waiting to turn into a space yesterday of my local grocery store. Turn signal on, completely stopped, waiting. Slowly I see a figure encroaching on my left…sluggly moving towards me. I turn just in time to see some 90+ year old woman in a Buick slowly, oh so slowly, backing into me. I lay on my horn for a good 5-10 seconds and she either can’t hear it (Deaf) or can’t see me (Blind) but is, regardless, very (Dumb). And, like a canoe rocking into a dock, she backs right into my car. Mind you, Im still laying on the horn the whole time and she hasnt changed direction. At this point she stops but is still touching my car waiting for me to move. I park it, get out, wrap on her trunk and yell ‘GO THAT WAY’ pointing back into her space, people standing nearby laughed when they heard that. So I park my car in the space I was waiting for and check for damage, thankfully there didnt appear to be a scratch. She came over and I kid you not, this is our conversation:

Her: “What has happened?” (she is not American, thick Russian or Italian accent)
Me: “You hit me.”
Her: “Yes but it was just..you know..touch right. No bad.”
Me: “Well you backed right into me, but I dont think theres any damage…”
Her: “Ok. I go.”
Me: “Be careful next time alright, you didnt even look and I was laying on the horn.”
Her: “I try, you know, I go slow but I not perfect you know. I am old.”
Me: “My grandmothers old too but she doesnt go backing into cars.”
Her: “Ok. Bye now.”
Me: *“Christ you shouldnt be driving…”*

Ah but it gets better.

Driving home from the grocery store Im trying to make a right turn onto my street. On my street is a girl trying to turn left onto the street I’m on. So I begin my turn, she begins hers…and hits a jogger. Without looking at all she just gunned it in her giant red gas-guzzling SUV and took out this poor girl jogger. Clocked her right in the hips and caused her to stagger and practically threw her to the ground but she somehow managed to stay herself. It definitely had to hurt though. The god damn bitch driving the SUV didn’t even get out, stop to see if she was ok, offer help…nothing. She just waves and goes ‘Sorry’....CELL PHONE IN ONE HAND, wheel in the other. The jogger gave her this pissed off look (gee?) and just started walking it off down the street. Seriously, I hope I see that girl on the street someday so I can ‘accidentally’ break her pelvis with the grill of my car. Freaking moron.

And this, my friends, is why driving tests should be yearly. Signal jammers running on the typical GSM/CDMA cell phone bands should be installed in all cars so you cant talk on your damn phones. And why senior citizens shouldnt be allowed to drive after 80. Sorry Seinfeld…drive their age my ass.

Seacrest out.

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Firefox Might Take Over The World

Wednesday May 17, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

So at some point in the last 2-3 weeks, my Firefox auto-updater ran on both my home and work PC’s and, as is amazingly convenient, Firefox silently downloaded the newest version of itself and installed it behind the scenes.

Awesome.

Shortly thereafter however I started noticing things, hiccups if you will. Only small things nothing to make me really stop what I’m doing and troubleshoot a solution. Eventually though it got worse. Now lately Firefox absolutely can not last on CNN.com for more than 30 seconds. Any article I click immediately opens as normal, then Firefox locks and has to be forcefully restarted through the task manager. This happens on other pages as well, ranging from wired.com all the way to the NYTimes. Beyond the physical pain of ripping my hair out, I just dont understand the problem. Firefox is, and has been, one of the best and most stable browsing platforms available. I swear by it. Yet suddenly a new release comes out loaded to the gills with bugs?

I almost feel like I’ve taken it for granted all this time. Not once has Firefox crashed before this. Not once has anything failed to open without, at a very minimum, providing some alternative relief. It is (save Opera) just about the most standards-compliant browser on the market and, let’s face it, that logo is just hot. Now it’s crashing left and right and it’s loyal fan base (or heck, maybe it’s just me) are left wondering.

I beseech you, oh great makers of ‘the fox’ – recind the last version and return the fiery one to his former glory! In the meantime I’ll have to find something else to read in my boredom because I’ll be damned if I’m switching to IE. /spits

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Firefox Will Take Over The World

Tuesday May 2, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

This proves it

Lurkers Unite!

Wednesday April 26, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

By definition a lurker is anyone that skulks, “lurking” in the shadows, stealthy and unseen. A lurker in reference to the internet is anyone who consistently and regularly views content but never contributes back to it.

Yes, I’m talking to you.

I check my statistics daily to see trends, and there are definitely a bunch of people I recognize, but a ton I don’t. There are a bunch of people that visit this site regularly, but I have no idea who they are. Such as 69-165-195-122.miamfl.adelphia.net and qbert.cs.washington.edu. So here is my call:

Lurkers rise up, come forth from the shadows and say hello! I’m friendly, really! Post a comment, nothing huge, just a “hey”, maybe why you like/view my site. I’d love to know who you are, maybe I know you, maybe I don’t. Regardless, say hello and stop the shameless lurking!

This message brought to you by lurkers anonymous, the most ambiguous bunch you’ll never meet.

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Su-Fi!!

Monday April 24, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

So it happened, it actually happened.

Sunday, April 23rd, Team BAMF rose up and took first place in our league for the first time since our inception. It’s been a slow, but steady climb. First 4th, then tied for 3rd, then 2nd, and now first almost a year later. What an awesome way to end the season before advancing up to the next league level where we will (and have been) undoubtedly getting our arses handed to us.

Dane Cook, if you’re reading this somehow, this SuFi’s for you man…

Check It Out

Heres to lots and lots more volleyball (going on 3-4 days a week now!) Great job team!

I just had an epiphany

Thursday April 20, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

So I’m sitting here staring at massive blocks of code that I’m writing for the application I’m co-developing here at work and it hit me. Like seriously, left field here kids. I just had an idea that has, I believe, the potential to become something huge. The potential to drive people. The potential to generate revenue. The potential to become a household name. Now, typically I have an idea every once in a while that sounds neat, but ultimately doesnt go anywhere. I usually convince myself it won’t work, is too hard, etc etc.

This ones different.

I can actually tell this has a usefullness not found in any other app…let me back up. When I say ‘app’ I’m referring to ‘application’. By ‘application’ I am not referring to something you need a CD for and must install on your machine. I am referring to what has become the trendy-term (though ultimately without justification…) “Web 2.0”. “Web 2.0” refers to a wide array of applications developed typically using PHP/MySQL or Ruby and that are generally free to the public and provide them with any number of services. Listal allows you to set up a ‘wanted’ and ‘have’ collection of DVD’s/CD’s via a direct link to Amazon. Blinksale let’s you dynamically generate customer invoices, obviously targetted at small businesses. Flickr is an online photo album that has changed the way photography and the internet (blogs) come together. The list goes on (for miles…).

I have an idea for a web app that will fill a nook not yet filled by anything. I’m not sure I could ‘sell’ it, per se, but I could definitely generate revenue via advertising and networking. I can’t really get into it much more than that on the .00009375% chance someone out there would read this and thief it :) Now of course comes the next several weeks of me debating if it’s worth my time, etc etc. But…

could be cool :) And now back to an endless sea of code.

Anchors away

Monday April 17, 2006 by Peter Franceschi

I know absolutely nothing about sailing but I am determined to learn. Unfortunately what I am beginning to wonder is if it might be best to just get a small powerboat until I’m comfortable sailing. I have this horrible fear I’m going to spend like 3k on a 16 foot schooner only to, on my first day off the dock, set the mains’l (yes, mains’l) wrong and proceed directly either back into the dock, or someone elses boat…yeeaa.

This has been a dream of mine since I was a child, to put a boat in water and just go, till I can’t see land anymore, till I can’t see anything but the front and back of my boat and nothing else. The freedom of it all, the solitude is unspeakable to me. I’m hoping to make this happen this summer, and I’m gonna try, but financially it may not be possible just yet. I am, however, most definitely taking the basics course at the Rochester Marina this summer to get my license and certification so I’m looking forward to that. I guess I’m just frustrated that my goal is so close that I can see it right there, but know that it may have to wait a bit longer (instant gratification, poor trait to have :P). Regardless, I’m excited, I’ve even got the name picked out for her already. From the poem of the same name by macabre poet Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabell Lee”.

“Neither the angels in the heavens above
nor the demons in the sea below
shall ever dissever my soul from the soul
of the beautiful Annabell Lee”

Cant wait-