Joe D’Ambrose

So, when I re-opened my blog I decided to put more of a professional twist on it. But that can be dry. It’s been a while since my last post, so I’ll write about some of the stuff I’ve been doing this month. In the beginning of the month, I was pretty busy wrapping up some Normal Kings projects, one of which was working on a new online management system for Expedient Laundry. In addition, we had our first official meeting in a new student group I helped organize, the Sociological Thinkers of Bryant. (I know, the SToB website strangely resembles mine. Thanks to Dkret for the sweet WordPress design.)

We had a three day weekend, for Presidents Day, from the 16th to the 19th. So I flew Southwest airlines, for the first time, and headed down to Baltimore to spend the weekend with Liz & Phil, who are happily engaged. A great time, we took it easy, ate a lot of food, and watched a few movies. In a theater we saw the movie Volver, which was a really offbeat [but interesting] tale in Spanish (The first movie I’ve watched entirely in subtitles). I bought a couple of books, for once, one of which is The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli, which seems really interesting so far. Oh, and I liked Southwest airlines. They are kind of funny and have decent prices.

Returning to Bryant, we’re more than a month into the spring semester. My courses are all cool except for a science class which was simply too much for me. I decided to drop the class, which is a first for me. Feels great though… it will make for a much more enjoyable and manageable semester. I’m going to do an online course at the University of Phoenix this summer to make up for it.

On another note, last week I was fortunate to attend an interesting presentation by Anthony Maione, the CEO of the Rhode Island United Way, who provided us with some great suggestions and insight for Javalids.

Finally, it seems as though I’ve been spending more time entertaining myself than in past months. I’ve been watching the first season of Lost, the popular television series… it’s addicting, but I definitely enjoy watching the episodes without commercials and on my own time.

Music! Music is life. I saw my favorite band, Everclear, on Sunday night at the Mohegan Sun… which was a free show! I’ve seen Everclear more than 5 times and I am obsessed. Art always sticks around to talk to his fans after the show. If you’re an Everclear fan, I posted the set list on this message board. Other upcoming concerts: in March I’ll see Switchfoot… and in April, Third Eye Blind! Still waiting to hear who’s coming to Bryant for the Spring weekend.

Take it easy for now!

My parents and my sister both are happy Netflix customers. They tell me that if you break it down they’re paying between $1.00 and $2.00 per rental, and it’s been steadily on time with the deliveries. TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington prefers Blockbuster’s Total Access online rental service because “movies received by mail can be returned directly at any Blockbuster store.” I don’t use either, and I’m also hesitant to rent movies at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video because of the high price of $4 or $5 per rental. I recently started using the Redbox vending machines which can be found at most Stop & Shop’s. They let you rent movies for $1.00 per day and charge it right to your credit card, providing receipts by e-mail. Not bad at all, and I’ve been happy with their price and convenience. However, on a few occasions the DVDs I rented were slightly damaged and playback would stop halfway through the flick on some DVD players. They probably aren’t checking up on their machines very often, replacing the damaged discs. An understandable challenge.

If I see a movie I like at Hollywood Video or Blockbuster being sold as a pre-viewed DVD, I consider buying it. The other day I bought 4 DVDs for less than $18 at Hollywood Video, which has a lifetime guarantee against damaged discs. To me, that was a good value, because if I end up wanting to get rid of the DVD, I could just sell it on Half.com.

Do you like music? Probably. I haven’t used one of those downloading programs like LimeWire for years though… at college the firewall prevents it and those always seemed to slowdown my computer. I haven’t had a problem acquiring music though, whether I am buying a CD, copying one from a friend, or finding it on SingingFish.com. Recently I discovered Pandora. No downloads, but regardless, you should go to Pandora.com and try it out. Type in an artist or song you like, and Pandora will play selections it thinks are musically similar. Give the song a thumbs down or a thumbs up, and over time you will find that it becomes your own personalized radio station, constantly helping you discover more songs that you like.

Speaking of internet music, I was surprised to read read on TechCrunch that Napster has acquired AOL Music. That’s crazy. Five years ago, I remember it seemed like everyone had AOL, which was the leading dial-up provider, and many hip web-surfers were using Napster to illegally download music. Now 350,000 AOL music listners will become Napster users.

I’ve never owned a video gaming system. Even my sister had the original Nintendo at one point, but I never really was one to sit down and play games. I don’t even play poker. Anyhow I wanted to mention a few games that I give the thumbs-up to:

• Catch Phrase: This game is the best party game, hands-down. Introduced to me by some good friends in Middletown, this is a great icebreaker for a group of people and can be a very lively game, because there’s a beeping timer. It’ll give you a phrase, and you have to get your teammates to guess the exact phrase, without directly telling them any of the words. Check it out.
• Guitar Hero: The first Playstation game I enjoy. It’s all about rhythm and hand-eye coordination. It might not help you learn to play the guitar, but it’s a guaranteed great way to waste time! Playstation II owners, you have to try it. My neighbors introduced me to it.
• 20 Questions: The classic game: arrive at an answer by asking questions. This website version of 20 q’s is pretty good - it can be hard to keep track when you play verbally. The site actually guessed what my friends and I were thinking, but it took 27 questions to arrive at “Leprechaun”.