./janella.com

Those guys in Yahoo! Japan get all the fun, don’t they?  I found this video while surfing YouTube.  I never heard of the guy or the show, but hey, I don’t watch much Japanese television.

I was happy that there was a version with English subtitles.  I guess the user Bakafish takes the time to subtitle these little adventures.  If you want to watch more hilarity, do a search on YouTube for Bakafish and Hard Gay.

You heard about //Vox?

Well, Vox is the new social networking site from //Six Apart, the creators of Movable Type, TypePad, and LiveJournal - all good blogging platforms.  I’ve tried them all, and one thing is for sure: Six Apart knows their stuff.

Yes, I and everyone else I know is thinking, does the world need another social blogging network?  Well, Vox is sold on its “all about ease of use, privacy control, playing well with other web services, and staying connected to the people you care about."  It is easy to use, and there are a lot of features in flux.

What I like: I enjoy the ability to easily integrate Flickr, Photobucket, or iStockphoto account.  I also like the ability to selections from YouTube and Amazon items in your blog entries.  The interface to create entries is simple to use as well.  I like the QotD (Question of the Day) which can prompts you to answer via a blog entry.  I also like the idea of neighborhoods - almost like adding a Flickr contact.  You don’t necessarily need to make the a Friend or Family, but you can read your favorite bloggers on Vox by having them in your Neighborhood.  Templates are nice as well.  There is advertising on your page, but it is very subtle.

What needs work: HTML tags can’t be used everywhere, such as My Profile and blog entries.  Since Vox is in Preview status, there is only a limited amount of users on the system, so only members can make comments on blog entries.  They could probably open this up with OpenID or some other method.  I would like to also see the ability to import a blog from another platform, such as LiveJournal, Blogger, or Wordpress.

Overall, it has been a good experience on Vox.  Oh, so you want to see my page? Well you can view //my Vox here.

Would you like to get Vox’d?  I might send out invitations to those I know, once I receive them.  Just try it out.  At the least, you can get your name - if it isn’t taken already :)

Who is your favorite Muppet? Why?

QotD submitted by knitwitology.vox.com.

Fozzie the Bear of course! “Wocka Wocka Wocka!"  I just love Fozzie’s sense of humor and he always is happy. 

Who doesn’t love the bear?

I never really watched the show that often, but fell for Fozzie in the first Muppet movie.  C’mon, the song ‘Moving Right Along’ was a classic for that movie!

Plus, Fozzie has (at least from what I remember) always been the loyal friend.  Loyalty is big in my book for a Muppet! 

A close runner up: the always loveable Beeker!

So, you don’t need talent to draw comics any longer?   I saw this article on CNet’s site.  It seems a company, working with Marvel Comics, gives users the ability to create their own Marvel Comic!  Wow, where was this when I was younger.

I always fancied myself a good comic book plotter, but not a dialog writer, and certainly not an artist.  If only there was a program where I could provide an outline for a comic book, and then a program can come up with words to express my creation.  Better yet, a program that can produce a movie script in the same fashion!

Oh, the endless possibilities.

Ok, so I’m invited to the world of Vox!  I’ll need to see how this goes.  I do have a one blog I maintain at Janella.com (a mirror of which is at my LiveJournal page)  The mirroring part came when my hosting provider - a long ditched hosting provider - crashed and had zero backups available.  Serves me right, right?

Well, I’m going to see how life on Vox is before I fully commit.  At the least this will be a forum to contain thoughts that aren’t necessarily for Janella.com.  But who know?  Perhaps I’ll bring Janella.com to Vox.

• Take It Easy (Radio Edit) - Fugees
  
• Buttons - The Pussycat Dolls
• Single ('06 Mix) - Natasha Bedingfield
• Stars Are Blind - Paris Hilton
• Ain't No Other Man - Christina Aguilera
• London Bridge - Fergie
• Maneater - Nelly Furtado
• Deja Vu - Beyonce featuring Jay-Z
• Call On Me -  Janet Jackson & Nelly
• Insensible - Mandalay
• Waiting On the World to Change - John Mayer
• High - James Blunt
• Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers
• Speeding Cars - Imogen Heap

Sony PSP white is coming originally uploaded by puckman

So this was a controversial ad for the new Sony PSP white?  When looking at the series of ads, it doesn’t seem too provacative.  (Click on the photo to see more from “puckman’s” Flickr page.) CNET Story

I’m sitting in a new Starbucks on Shoreline and Pear Ave in Mountain View.  I just finished eating a late lunch at //Maruichi.  I tried the Tempura Soba, but really was there for the chicken karaage.  The restaurant was unusually crowded for a Sunday late afternoon.  Actually, I should take that back.  I don’t know what the normal amount of people are during that time of day.  Let me just say it seemed unusual.

It’s been a really lazy day for me.  I’m not sure what to do.  I popped in a DVD, watched part of it, then promptly switched it off to watch the nothingness that was on television.  Even though it’s a four day weekend, I still need to work half-days this Monday and Tuesday.  At least I get to work from home.

I saw Superman Returns (*** out of 5)  this past Wednesday.  In general I thought it was a good movie, but lacked some extra energy to push it over the edge.  It was stronger in the character development area then X3 (** out of 5), but on par with X3 in the story logic area.  Brandon Routh makes a fine successor to Christopher Reeves as Superman, sounding like Reeves at times. Kate Bosworth wasn’t as sparky as Margot Kidder, which is disappointing.  Kevin Spacey is more menacing then Gene Hackman in the Lex Luthor role.  I believe Spacey’s Luthor would kill billions of people.  I just don’t think Spacey’s Luthor is as smart as Hackman’s though.

I’m a little disappointed this Starbucks doesn’t have Internet connections.  It probably is due to the fact it is so close to the Google campus that they are waiting for Google to offer their free WiFi in the area.  So when I post this entry I will most likely be at home.

This Starbuck’s has a lot of outdoor seating, having about 6-8 tables.  The inside thas at least 10-12 tables.  They have a bench like structure placed in the center that can hold about six people (uncomfortably) on either side.  The bench has power outlets underneath to allow you to hook up our laptop or other device.  (Note: I just found out they are planning to have WiFi in about a month).

The installer for Comcast, Jose, finally arrived at 6:10pm.  The installed took over an hour, as Jose needed to drill a hole and do the cabling under the house.  He then configured the router, which I noticed the setup is a little different than doing DSL.

The first speed test Jose did got the following results:  5670 Kbps down / 700 Kbps up

Pretty good compared to my DSL speed of: 639 Kbps down / 316 Kpbs up

Jose was finishing configuring my computer when he next launched Firefox.  Firefox’s home page is set to Janella.com, which has the previous two posts listed for Jose to read.  He laughed, uncomfortably, and continued on with the job.  Well, it becomes even more uncomfortable.

He had me fill out a survey in front of him.  The first item on the survey: “The technician arrived on time.” Answers: Extremely Satisfied, Satisfied, and Dissatisfied.  I had to choose Disasatisfied. I did soften the blow in the comments, but only a little, by saying “Tech did call to say they are running late.”

Jose was having a bad day, so he says.  Too many jobs and not enough time to do them in.  To be honest, I’m a little more upset at the two people who I talked to on the phone.  They weren’t exactly empathetic with my situation.

Anyway, last speed test: 9172 Kbps down / 698 Kbps up.

Looking good.

My install time for cable Internet: between 3:00pm to 5:00pm.  Current time: 5:13pm.  A not so quick call to Comcast, and they tell me the installer will be here by 5:30pm.  They’ve given me a $20 credit for my troubles.

We shall see what happens at 5:30pm.

5:40pm.  Still no installer.  I’m on the phone with Alan from Comcast.  Hmmm, is this worth it?

I thought I’d just write about how this switch to cable Internet will go.  Hopefully there won’t be many bumps (I would prefer none), but I’m sure there will be something.

I’ve been doing research for about two weeks, most of it done on DSLreports.com, checking the forums for users' feedback.  After looking online, I determine it was cheaper to order the service online then it was to call in.  But I did call in and ask some basic questions that were quickly answered.  Good so far.

I placed my order online.  At the end of the order you are placed in a web chat queue so a representative can confirm the order.  Well, this didn’t go too well.  The confirmation took about 20 minutes, with most of the time spend on hold as the representative tried to look up the proper ‘coupon’ codes to I would get the Internet discount.  In the end all he could say/type was “if you don’t get charged the right amount, call our billing department”.  Hmmm…confidence is waning.

I’ve been a Pacbell / SBC / AT&T (or whatever the heck they are called now) DSL customer for a long time.  According to their records I’ve been their customer since 1998.  But unfortunately, I live too far away from the CO to garner any incredible speeds.  But seeing my sister’s connection in Santa Cruz has left me wanting more from my Internet connection.

At best I’ve been lucky to get 700 kbps upload / 300 Kbps download.  I compare this to Farrah’s parents and Lotte and Fina’s connection in San Jose, which is about 1200 kbps / 300 kbps.  They even have an option to upgrade to as much as a minimum of 3Mbps to 6 Mbps (which translates, I believe to 3000 kpbs / 6000 kpbs).  But for poor little old me, I don’t have the option to upgrade.  So I’ve succumbed to the Comcast advertisements.

I’ve ordered Comcast HSI (High Speed Internet) access for Monday installation.  I’ve asked for the 8 Mbps (8000 kbps) package, with the hopes of at least getting 6000 kbps.  But looking at the numbers, anything above 1000 kbps would be a good increase.

I wish uploading was faster, since that would help with posting photos and videos online. An increase, in that aspect, would help a lot.

If you want to test your speed, go to DSLReports.com then click on Tools then toward the bottom of the page, choose Speed Tests.  Find a server near you and click Start (you may need to download Java in order to run the test.)  Post your results here when you get a chance.  You can show off how much faster you are then my connection (he says sadly).