Ages upon ages ago when Sarah and I started dating, she had an old laptop. To give you an idea when I say “old laptop” what I mean, try doing a Google search for a laptop called “UMAX,” specifically an “Action Book 320T.” As you can see, Pentium I, 3 gig HD, Windows 95, 32 meg RAM. All of that fun stuff.

Well, when she and I first started dating, this was her only computer. And while she had it and it had an ethernet adapter and a modem and all of that fun stuff? It just wouldn’t work. Whenever you’d try to load up Internet Explorer (which was so old on the initial install of the upgraded Windows 98 SE, it was just “Window’s Version), it would give you an error message. Just wasn’t cool, to say the least.

I decided that with us spending a few weeks at her parents and at mine, well, I would be going through internet withdrawals if I had to share a computer and have limited time. Much greater than that, how would I update all of my friends here on my blog? Or even scarier, sync up my iPod nano?

I’m being facetious here. I am addicted, just not that addicted.

So, I set to it last night, starting to see if I could figure out what was going wrong with it. I suspected that there was an issue with the internet driver, so I started plugging away at the old 3Com Fast Etherlink XL card (3C-575TX, for those keeping score on models and all of that fun stuff), and I finally made a breakthrough when I got the computer to do something wonderfully awesome.

Yes, my friends, I got it stuck in an endless reboot loop. You can’t top that.

I broke the loop with a safe-boot to the DOS prompt and then? I tanked the sucker with a reformat. It hadn’t been used since 2003 sometime, so it worked well, to say the least.

All of that accomplished, I had a fresh install with Windows 98 SE running just an hour or so later, and then I put it aside for the evening after updating the ethernet driver and limping around online with Firefox 1.5.

This morning, I picked it up again and started plugging away and figuring out what I could and couldn’t do. I’ve got a few ideas that I might put the laptop to use for, but I got Open Office 1.1, GAIM 2.0, IE 5.5 (because 5.0 wouldn’t run Gmail), and Classic FTP all installed with a few more tricks up my sleeve to apply, and here I am.

Yes, here I am. I’m actually typing this from the laptop. So you can expect that if we stop at a hotel with free internet in the room that I’ll actually be online.

Even if I am limping along with an amazing Pentium machine. Its not like I can sync my iPod nano to it anyways, you know? There’s sort of this issue with the fact that my nano has 4 gigs of space and this HD only has 2.4 gigs free… Yeah, might be a small problem…

Just wanted to pop in with a little note as I take a break before practicing a little more for my upcoming farewell show on the 25th:

1) My final grade posted online with UCF and its official: I am a Class of Summer 2008 alumni from the University of Central Florida (BA English, BSBA Management). I made the numerical requirement for Dean’s List, but because I didn’t take 12 credit hours for summer, I don’t believe it counts. Still, I’m happy with it.

2) If anyone tried downloading the show from yesterday, I figured out what I did wrong about posting it. See, WordPress had an upgrade to 2.6, so then I had to upgrade my Download Manager plug-in. I upgraded it, but didn’t appropriately upgrade the permalinks and database. Soooo, that being said, I took care of that this morning and it should be working now.

3) I’m looking for a few plugins, if anyone knows of them:
a) Phone/Audio posting similar to what LJ does on their site, if there exists something like that for WordPress?
b) Mobile Picture posting? Something where I can text in a picture from my phone to post it here on the blog?
I’m looking for both of them so I can upgrade on our moving trip in a few weeks.

And a note or two on that in a few days whenever I get around to it.

Yesterday and today have been different sort of days from the past seven years.

Each and every day over the past seven years, I’ve woken up and thought about what class I’ve got this week, next week, coming up this semester or the one about to start. I’ve worried about grades, sat in front of my computer checking for e-mails for class projects, or just stared at a blank Word document, working on parts of a paper in my mind and letting it slowly write itself.

The truth is, now that school is all done? I don’t know what I really have to do, honestly.

The future is something that will scare me a little bit because I’m not walking out and into a job. I’m still working on that end and finishing off the retooling of my resume, but seeing I wouldn’t be able to interview for anything until after August 19th when we’re moved into our new place and hopefully somewhat setup, well, I’ve got to schedule things up till then.

Its different, that’s for sure. And knowing how much things will change, much more than I initially expected or posted about in the past. I still haven’t taken the time to really post about the true changes now, seeing that master plan changed, but I don’t even feel ready for it yet. I think I might do that shortly after I take to the stage a final time in Orlando.

And that alone is scary for me. On July 25th, I’ll be returning to an Orlando stage for my “Farewell Show.” I know that I’ve had almost more of these suckers than KISS and The Rolling Stones combined, but even still, knowing that this isn’t something where I’m heading back to my apartment and talking to the same musical friends across town gives this one a different sort of weight.

With that weight, I’ve got an interesting night planned at Natura. Starting at 8pm, I’ve got a veritable pantheon of my musical friends all sharing a stage with me for one last time. Sure, I couldn’t get Mike Brooks or Gina Riggio or Harry Ticer or Lorn Miller or Rob Somers to be back up there with me, but other than the big names that people remember seeing with me, the only obvious other ones will be beside me that night as I truck through some of the best things I’ve written and some covers that I’ll butcher. And covers there will be.

Matter of fact, head over to my music page if you’ll be heading to the show and feel free to request anything from my back catalog. Don’t forget that they’re all free downloads, just sign up for an account. And if your prior account that you’ve signed up for doesn’t work? Let me know.

If you remember me playing it and its not there? Again, go ahead and request it. I’m trying to make sure I play all that my friends want to hear (and some they probably don’t too) just to make sure that I feel like I “vindicate” myself in the end of it all. Covers too. I don’t care, I want to do what I’ve always intended on doing: walking up to that stage, playing my heart out, and seeing someone smiling and nodding along. And that’s why this last show is going to have so many requests.

This time, it will be the last time.

Natura Coffee and Tea, Orlando, FL
Friday, July 25th, 2008
Starts at 8pm, goes till we’re done and my fingers are bleeding
No cover, tips are always welcome (including “get a haircut” and “get a job”, but money preferred)

When you think of Judaism, quite often you hear the classic stereotype with no pork or bacon.

That could never be me.

I wouldn’t exactly call myself a foodie because I’ll eat anything that’s placed on my plate. I’ll try everything at least once, and from there if I really like it, well, I’ll have it again. And I truly enjoy ethnic food–and not just the stereotypical “Jew walks into a Chinese restaurant” ethnic food.

Sarah and I frequent a few Thai restaurants regularly, have a favorite sushi joint (or two), love heading across to a good Indian restaurant, and head out to a few Spanish restaurants from time to time. The catch to eating ethnic food isn’t calling Taco Bell Mexican or Panda Express Chinese. Its about delving into the restaurants where you see those of that ethnicity eating and feeding that hankering when you have it.

And for me, today that hankering was Cuban.

Being raised in Spring Hill, Florida, there was a great little restaurant over in Masaryktown just down the road that served Cuban sandwiches and shoestring potato fries. You know, the really thin fries like what you find at Steak and Shake? Well, those.

And from this, with an amazingly rich flavor and the perfect combination of all of the ingredients that are so lovely and un-Kosher, well, I couldn’t be an Orthodox Jew.

Here in Orlando, I was lucky enough to find a great Cuban restaurant a few years ago. I was working for a telemarketing company for outbound timeshare sales and on my lunch break, I stumbled upon a Cuban restaurant that I could bike to from work: Adita’s Cuban Bakery. Right off of University by (what’s now a closed down) Krispy Kreme, they had a small storefront, but an awesome menu. And I’d stop by once a week and get a Mamey shake and a regular Cuban sandwich. It’d run me just about $10, and I’d always throw in a few bucks on top of that as a tip because I really liked the joint. Adita (I presume that’s her name because she was the main woman running it and it would only make sense) would always give me samples or this or that pastry to try, and as I noticed, it was usually about the same price as the tip I’d leave. Sneaky woman. Even still, I loved heading there. Everytime I walked in, I was treated like I was family. She remembered me.

Flash forward to today. With Sarah and I moving soon, I’ve thought about heading back there, but I just haven’t had the time. I’ve been craving that sandwich for a while. And today, I realized that inside the Chick-Fil-A on campus across from the printing shop and next to the Bookstore in the John T. Washington Center? They’d converted a whole counter space of the Chick-Fil-A into a small version of Adita’s shop! I had seen the sign outside for a while and thought they were just advertising their off-campus presence, but I had no idea they were right there, right in front of my nose!

After not visiting the restaurant for over a year, I saw a familiar face behind the counter who looked at me with a huge smile and said “Where have you been?”

Folks, let me tell you. If you can find a restaurant that they remember you and you haven’t been there in well over a year? And that they’re just as friendly as the first day you were there? And you can tell that the food was made with love and care and with respect for the ingredients because while simple it tastes great?

Don’t let a place like that slip out of your grips.

They’re one of the many things I’ll miss about this area… Great restaurant, great people, and I’m glad that I had a chance to meet them. Maybe I can work out some sort of deal to have her ship me a sandwich a week…

On this day in my history, I’ve done everything from parties with friends, to sitting at home quietly…

But the one thing I strive not to do is discuss politics today. In all honesty, this is a day we remember our country for how great it is. We overlook the faults of those leading it, and celebrate the legacy since 1776, and we remember all of those who have sacrificed for what we have today. With names that ring true through all of American history, this is a day to stop and remember and celebrate freedom.

This, is our Independence Day.

So, for folks who might have thought that I’d forgotten to blog today, nope. Squeaking in under the deadline with this one…

Today marks a half a year that I’ve blogged at least a post a day. Be it all me, or some friendly surrogates, I’ve gotten in at least a sentence or a thought a day. And its good for the writer to do that.

For my first year of having this site, I wanted to do that. And the more and more I thought about it, and the more I realized a lot of the uncertainties and days/times that I might not be able to blog, well, the more I thought about how maybe a half a year was good enough for posting once a day.

As a whole, we’ll see if I keep up with getting in a post a day. I’m going to certainly try to when I have something to say, but I think it lessens the really good deep thoughts that I have when I post the quick lame ones that I’m just doing for the sake of blogging.

But, as a whole, blogging is just about writing what you feel like in your space, as you feel it. We’ll just have to see what I feel…

Remember Ask Jeeves? The search engine where you’d post your search queries as questions? Well, a classmate of mine showed me something similar to that…

What it is, is the website of a really unique cell phone service. Running around and have a question? Text your question to 242242 (or “ChaCha”) and in the next few minutes or so, you’ll get a reply back from a real person. Answers change all the time, depending on who’s answering, so you can answer one question and get different answers if its opinion based, but if its factual, well, its a good start.

Forgot who won Superbowl XIV? Ask ChaCha.
Need to know the airborne speed of an unladen swallow? Ask ChaCha.
And if you need a magic 8-ball style answer? Just ask ChaCha.

I’d say that the possibilities are endless. Its just like Googling yourself. Ever do that?

With school ending only a few weeks away, I’ve been trying to start reading more when I’m not working on the job hunt (more on all of that on Monday, I think, if I feel like talking about it). And right now, I’m in the midst of Lewis Black’s Me of Little Faith with Keith Olbermann’s Truth and Consequences lined up right afterwards, followed by Maggie Jackson’s Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. From there? We’ll see what crosses my hands.

And with that, I’ll ask another question, as I’ve come akin to do on Saturdays:

And that reminds me… I need to put a Last.FM widgit somewhere on my page, and maybe I’ll add a “now reading” one too…

This is the first night in a long time that I’ve actually pulled an “all nighter.” Not with much purpose or much completed from it, I found it a bit interesting all over again. After working as a RHAP for as long as I did and having the all nighter a second part of my nature, to force myself to pull it off now was almost too much for me.

I guess that’s what happens when you get a little older, you can’t do what you used to.

Guess I should get my wonderful wife up and get her out the door for work (on her Birthday, of all days), and get myself some sleep… Sweet sweet sleep…

Seeing Goob posted this on his website after my post on HeyItsFree last night, I figure its only fair that I post it here… This is via ChaCha.com and my friend Shaynon:

…and lastly, I asked
“What is AdamJCohen.com”?
They said, AdamJCohen.com is a political blog that talks about current issues facing the country”.

Really now, ChaCha? Next time someone asks, you should tell them this: “Adam J. Cohen is a guitarist/songwriter who has a blog that he never or rarely talks about his music or any music in…”

I should probably fix that too and actually start talking about music some more… Ah well…

And my thanks to Amrah for showing me ChaCha… I’ll write more about it for my Sunday Share this week…

Morning friends… I type this one out as I walk to campus for mediation training- something I opted to do today and tomorrow. I find it funny, though. See, any day of the week that my alarm goes off at 6:18 AM and I’ll hit snooze a few times before finally dragging my ass out of bed around 7. Today? The title says it all…

With a title like that, you wouldn’t expect a post about my cell phone of all things, eh?

Last night I had one of my last two finals of my undergrad collegiate career. Cool, huh? Well, to get to campus I usually use the shuttle service that’s provided for some of the off-campus areas. Instead, I decided that I’d walk to campus.

Now why would I do that, and why would I leave at 3pm? Well, this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be taking a First Time Mediation Training through the UCF Dispute Resolution Services–two day seminar from 8:30a-5p. I thought it’d be nice to add to my resumé, as well as just in general it’d be good to undergo before even wanting to be a manager one of these years, as I’d like to eventually be able to attain.

So I leave home and along my way while I’m on an open stretch of road, it starts to rain with heavier drops. Fairly spaced out, but still heavy enough for me to start getting wet. And then, it really picked up.

For folks who aren’t from Florida, you might not understand the idea of “sideways rain.” We see it all the time over summer. Its that really fragrant and fresh rain with the heavier drops that instead of normal rain that seems to fall from a 90 or 75 degree angle (i.e. straight down, slightly from the side), you’re talking more like a 40 degree angle. And that’s what I faced.

With no shelter to even duck by or behind, I was drenched. My jean shorts were soaked through to my boxers, and my shirt was a wet mass that I was wearing that started to droop. I was thankful that my bookbag was waterproof, or so I thought, but more on that in a bit…

But in my pants, I had my cell phone, wallet, keys, pens: the usual for me. And my phone seemed alright, and I got to the parking garage and flipped open my phone and read the text that Sarah had sent me. I had made it to campus in about 30 minutes. Not bad.

Not bad? No, my phone got it bad. I went to reply to my wife’s message and my phone started freaking out as if I was adding spaces right after letters. Just horrible. It’s 3:30, I’m soaking wet, my phone is acting up, and my final is at 6. Things weren’t looking good for me.

I started looking at my phone (a Samsung m510) better. I noticed that it was primarily a few buttons that seemed affected: 3, 6, 9, #, and “Back.” Now, while that might not seem too bad, well, Sarah’s phone number was saved to speed dial on 9, and I text message a lot and that means that I’d have issues with: d, e, f, m, n, o, w, x, y, z, and “space.” Ten out of twenty-six characters. Damnit.

I couldn’t turn my phone off right away. I left it on and brought it to a bathroom and tried to use hand dryers to dry it out a bit. It mostly started to seem like it cleared up. So I called up Sprint’s customer service because *2 wasn’t affected. The gentleman I got was extremely helpful and gave me the number that I’d need to call to do a warranty replacement. Of course, that’s $50 to do that, which sucks, but still not bad. Of course, I have to run this by Sarah.

Now, its about 4ish at this point, and its still a bit frustrating and it seems to get better. If I push the 3, 6, or 9, it automatically adds a # after it. So texting is out of the question. Seriously, have you ever tried to text without using 5/13ths of the alphabet? Yeah, doesn’t really work all that well. I was able to get off “Call me” from the preset messages in one text, and then “ASAP” to Sarah, but because of the way my phone was acting up, it turned out more like–and I kid you not because I’m transcribing this from my sent messages–”Asap pjfox e o-w fox dozenyfowemen-yene my book for youfox.” Mr. Bush and Homeland Security: I swear to you that its not an encoded message and that it has no meaning. I may be critical of my government, but I’m no terrorist.

Needless to say, I finally get ahold of Sarah and she says to just wait it out and see what happens. I’d say that I agree with this, but if you know me? You know I’m addicted to my phone and I do almost everything on or with it. But seeing I can go to recent calls and access her number to call her, and any/all calls that I need to make, I can always use my GrandCentral account as a dial interface to make my calls. And because I can still receive calls, its not too bad. I could always use my wireless backup to add new numbers to the phonebook to make calls if I need to as well.

Still, I’m frustrated.

So at about 6:30 after calling Sarah after my final, I turn my phone off and leave it off. When we get home around 7 after getting dinner, I take out the battery and the memory card and let it sit on a paper towel. I powered it on last night and it seemed to be doing a little better, but still messed up. I then turned it off and re-divided up the pieces.

This morning, I turned on my phone and I crossed my fingers… And honestly?

It works.

Now, I’m not going to be like “omg, perfect like before!” I do notice that there are some differences. For one, the # key seems to falter 1 out of 7 times or so, give or take. Meaning when I’m typing messages, sometimes it doesn’t recognize when I push space all of the time. And there’s one other problem. The backlight for the keypad? Is dead. So there’s a little more battery saving right there…

All in all? I think I lucked out on this one. But if I ever text you and I’m missing a space? Yeah, now you know…

I thought I’d share something that I “just found out” now.

First off, I upgraded to Firefox 3, and I’d recommend the same. Tim, when you read this, I know we were just talking about it tonight and why I wasn’t going to, but I figured I might as well try it out. It seems mildly faster, but only negligibly so, which is nice.

Needless to say, if anyone uses GMail and has been trying to setup their “mailto: redirects” in Firefox 3, I found this nifty little guide which really helped out with that info.

Just thought I’d share that little tidbit for anyone who might be looking for it…

Oh, and for people wondering why this is in “Webmaster Woes,” I’ve just been using that as my all purpose computer one…

I’m finding myself looking forward to final exams.

I’ve got one tonight and one in 3 weeks, but because its at the end of the line? Well, I think that has something to do with it…

So I’ve been watching MSNBC like usual while working on homework and studying and preparing for a presentation tonight, and I saw this interview between Matt Lauer and Luke Russert, and it was just beautifully done… It seems to be a little slow in loading, but I’d imagine because a lot of folks are trying to access it, but wait for it, I think its worth it.

I thought it was worth sharing because its definitely something amazing. I’ve read and heard so many stories in the aftermath of Russert’s untimely passing, and just to see the interview with his son, who’s just barely younger than myself and my peers, I’ll admit that even days later I’m close to a tear or two…

I think I heard the best comment from a viewer e-mail in to Morning Joe: “It’s such a big news story that you expect Joe [Scarborough] to say ‘Coming up after the break, we’ll hear from Tim Russert on this.’”

So true.

More later when I have the time…