Nano-Nano!

Ok, so for once, the inspiration from my title is a little more cryptic than a line from an 80’s song. And no, I am not getting ready to flog you over the head with some nostalgic piece about Mork and Mindy. Although, that would be oddly entertaining to me. Don’t ask me why - I really don’t know.

Saturday begins the annual official National Novel Writers Month competition, or NaNoWriMo for short. Participants are tasked with writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. That breaks down to about 1,667 words per day. No one in their right mind would participate in this competition - especially if they have anything else they need to do with their life. Good thing I am not in my right mind, or I might really be stressing about having signed up!

Read more…

Tags: Carrie, drinking, fiction, nanowrimo, writing, you're a looney

MIA - But For a Good Cause

You may or may not have noticed that my frequency of posts has been lacking this week. I actually owe you a post on the results of the Panthers and Steelers games from last week, as well as a preview of Pittsburgh’s matchup for Monday Night Football. On second thought, since I am in fact the only one reading this, I guess I will cut myself some slack!

This week, I have been busy, busy, busy between my day job and all of my side projects. My biggest accomplishment over the last two days been a complete revamp, replatform and redeployment of netphase.com.

Check it out if you get a chance a let me know what you think. We have a new look, and a new approach to marketing our business. Your input is greatly appreciated!

Tags: business, busy, development, netphase

An Apple a Day…

A little photoshop fun!

So late last night, I was trying to come up with an apple image for a new web project I am working on, when I stumbled upon a photoshop tutorial at PSDTuts that would help me create my own - from scratch! Being the geek that I am, it sounded like fun to me, so I gave it a shot.

The image to the left is the fruit of my labor (pun intended, sorry). It was a lot of fun, and in following the tutorial, my PS skills increased dramatically. It’s hard to believe, but that image has no photographic elements in it AT ALL. It was drawn from nothing on a blank slate. Very nice.

The site is very cool, and I expect I will be doing a lot more of the tutorials in the near future. Check them out, if you are into that sort of thing. And if not, what’s wrong with you? Just kidding (not really).

Tags: design, photoshop

Chapel Thrill, Baby!

Not Live from The Aluminum Jungle

BLUE HEAVEN, NC - After an inauspicious start, the UNC Tar Heels shook off the bad play that began in the last two minutes of last week’s game against Virginia and layed a big smack-down on 23rd-ranked Boston College.

I was in Kenan Stadium the last time these two foes met there. Matt Ryan, now the starting QB for the Atlanta Falcons, had a wonderful day. Sadly, the Heels, did not. Things would be different this time.

In BC’s opening drive, they methodically moved down the field and kicked a short field goal. The drive took almost half of the first quarter, and you could sort of get the sense that this was going to be a long day. Two offensive plays later, BC’s prolific pass rush stampeded over the Carolina offensive line, whacked the ball out of Cameron Sexton’s hand, and then returned the fumblerooski 13 yards for a TD. Oh no, here we go again.

Read more…

Tags: football, smackdown, Tar Heels

Old School Flashback

So I finally got one of my old, old, OLD websites back online. It has been fun and oddly disturbing looking at the stuff I was doing a decade ago. I was a weird dude! Some would say I still am. But that’s their problem.

The first installation of “That Dude Had Issues” is a personal site I did in 1998. For those of you not in the know (which would be most normal people), 1998 was the 30th anniversary of Monty Python. This particular site was inspired by, and contains a lot of content about, those fine British chaps.

Poke around and enjoy. Try not to read too much into some of the comments or content - I was in a different place back then. Thank God.

I will be putting up a page shortly with links to several of my really old sites that I have, for lack of better judgment, resurrected from my old blue-and-white G3. Until then, I will update this post with anything mildly interesting.

Have fun!

Tags: monty python, old school sites, you're a looney

Bring It!

Adam Schein, I am calling you out! Last Sunday, on my way to the Panthers game with my daughter, you boldly announced on your Sunday morning show on Sirius NFL Radio that the Saints were going to march in the Charlotte and knock off the Panthers. After the way Carolina performed the week before in Tampa, I couldn’t blame you. Of course, Haley could; you received a fair amount of boos from her as you expounded on all of the reasons why you thought the Ain’ts had a shot. Obviously, you were mistaken.

I have no beef there. I was frankly a little concerned about the game myself. But after that performance, how could you doubt them again? Especially at home? Come on, big daddy! What’re you thinkin’? Arizona?

ARIZONA? Are you kidding me? I know they look good, and nobody beats the Wiz, and he is your guy and all - I get it. But Arizona?
Read more…

Tags: football, nfl radio, smack talk

Two Tickets to Paradise

I love Autumn. The cool weather, beautiful colors, leaves flying around. All that crap. But what I most like, is the soothing sound of the lumber being laid on some unsuspecting wide receiver just as he thought he was going to be catching a pass over the middle. WHAP! No sir, you are not holding onto that ball in my house!

The Carolina Panthers awoke from the awful dreams of yesterweek with really bad attitude. The number two rated offense in the league was coming into their den. To make matters worse, it was the Saints. The same group who came into their stadium and kept them out of the playoffs two years ago. We forgive, we don’t forget.

The Cats’ number three ranked defense was up to the challenge. After allowing N’awlins to score easily on their second offensive series, the Panthers battened-down the hatches and put the Saints in their rightful place - in the cellar of the NFC South.

Carolina’s defense was NASTY. They harrassed MVP-candidate Drew Brees all day long. Led by Julius Peppers’ sack, forced fumble, batted pass and multiple tackles, the Panthers D locked the highly vaunted Saints O in a little box and threw away the key. This defense brings back memories of the past; when Carolina was a place opposing teams did not want to play because you just knew it was going to be a fight. Foxy and company have the smash-mouth attitude working again, and it is a joy to watch.

I won’t neglect the offense, though. One of the reasons the Panthers D is having such good fortune this year is because it is not all on them. The offense can actually hold the ball, move the chains, then hit you deep. They lead the league in big plays. Really. I’m serious. Go look it up. And with the terrible two in the backfield, the best receiver on the planet on one side and old-man winter on the other, they can hit you six ways to Sunday.

So, you may have guessed by now, the Panthers beat that Louisiana butt. It was great. I went to the game with Haley, then later I watched the Tivo’d version again just for kicks. It was just as good the second time around. I love a good rout - if my team is the one doing the routing.

Haley is ready for action!

Haley had a great time too. She was really into the action, even though her own football knowledge is admittedly weak. But by the end of the game, she was screaming “First Down!” with the rest of us every time the Panthers got a new set of downs. She was waving her Growl Towel. She was talking junk back to the obnoxious N.O. fans seated two rows behind us. Ok, maybe that was me. Either way, we had a ball out there.

I have two tickets to every Panthers’ home game. Have since the beginning. Each week, I take a different kid or my wife. I get to go to 10 games per year, each of them gets 2 (except Carrie who gets the other 2 preseason and any playoff game tickets). Seems reasonable to me. I offered Carrie the chance to take one of the kids herself, but she is too scared of all of the different parking lots uptown; she thinks she will never find her car again. Oh well, at least I tried (although I am secretly thrilled that I get to see all of the games, of course).

Since this is my first post about an NFL game here on this particular blog, I may as well let you know. I am a double-agent. I do love the Panthers, and have been a PSL holder since the initial push to get the team. But I have been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since I was 5. I don’t see any real conflicts here, since the Panthers play in the NFC, like the same style of play, and were originally built to be Pittsburgh south. Their first coach was Dom Capers, fresh off his stint as the Steelers Defensive Coordinator. They signed many of the Black and Gold’s players in their initial free-agent draft. And the first defense they ran was the Blitzburgh inspired 3-4. So don’t give me any smack talk on how I am not able to be a true fan of both - this ain’t Carolina-dook here. (Editor’s note: you will likely never see dook spelled with a capital D or even correctly on this site. Sorry dookies - I went to UNC. I am sure you understand)

Well, check back next week to see my preview and review of the Panthers game against Arizona. Carrie is riding shotgun on that one - lucky her! Should be a great game. We have another top-rated QB to put in the turf!

Gratuitous picture of cheerleaders in order to boost Google rankings

Tags: football, kids!, Panthers

Disney, 2007

On the tail end of our 2007 RV Excursion, which lasted many months, cost millions of dollars and destroyed countless brain cells, we visited Disney World in Orlando. We stayed for two weeks in the Fort Wilderness Campground, and bought ourselves a 10-day pass good for visits to four of the Disney parks: Magic Kingdom; Epcot; Animal Kindom; and, Disney-MGM Studios.

We had more fun than humans should be allowed to have. We did the 10-day pass because the cost difference between a 10-day and 3-day pass is about $100. Seriously. I couldn’t make that up if I tried.

Read more…

Tags: disney, rving, travel

She Blinded Me with Science

Ok, so I have created a monster. My wife saw my shiny new blog yesterday and said, “can you make me one of those?” Sure honey.

She came up with a domain name, we registered it and had it pointed to my server in minutes. Using Fantastico, I deployed a brand new WP blog for her, and within 15 minutes, her blog was live. Of course, she spent the rest of the day looking for a snazzy theme, so no posts were made.

That, despite pleas from attention-starved children, has changed.

Sunday was my daughter’s turn to go to the football game with me. I only have two tickets, and there are five of us. So I rotate the extra ticket (mine is non-negotiable) around to the others in my fam. Before Haley and I bolted for the stadium, Carrie turns to me and says, “Ok, so how do I post?”

I showed her all about how to post, how to manage categories and links, and how to do all of the little things bloggers have to do. Then I showed her how to load themes, and her eyes promptly glazed over. Note to self - adding themes and plugins is MY job, not hers. Got it.

The game was great, and many hours later, Haley and I returned home. I asked Carrie if she had made a post yet. The answer was, “a few.” A few? My big ol’ butt! She wrote seven posts and three pages! And this is with a cold. I can’t imagine how much she will write when she feels WELL!

I was going to leave it alone, let her have her fun, and be happy that she now has a hobby that doesn’t involve educating our kids or cleaning the house. But she did something unexpected - she wrote a song. About me. It is a parody, of course, and I deserve nothing else, but I really like it! It is hilarious, and sadly, very true.

Check it out if you have the time. But you have been warned: her blog is quite entertaining, especially if you homeschool or are a parent. Read at your own risk!

Tags: blogging, Carrie

Wow, I Am Finally Somebody According to Google

I don’t know why I did this - must have had a little bit of time on my hands. But I just did a Google search for “chris beck.” Only without the quotes or anything (so don’t bust on me all of you search gurus out there). And guess what? I actually appear on the front page of the results. The only problem is, it is through my page on Working With Rails. Still, I was happy to see that a direct reference to me appeared in the first 10 listings. Because let’s face it; if you ain’t on the first page of Google results, you ain’t shooby dooby. At least that’s what my SEO friends say…

See! There I am, near the bottom, but still page 1

Tags: chest beating, you're a looney