I finally got around to posting pictures from our July Las Vegas vacation. Check out the photos page to see them all!

New York New York Casino

Sarah’s Birthday was yesterday! She is now 25

Here’s a picture of the delicious cake we made. Although, my icing looks like a 5 year old decorated it, the cake was delicious!

Sarah's Birthday Cake 2008

Anyone whose career revolves around creating anything for the web, be sure to take this survey. The fine ladies and gentlemen at A List Apart have created a survey again this year to gauge how are professions are practiced. You can be a part of shaping the future of professional working in and around the Internets.

A List Apart 2008 Survey

After the E3 2008 conference, I was very disappointed in Nintendo’s “big news” for this year. All they could come up with is WiiSpeak? Seriously… This doesn’t look like a decent product to me. It sounds like something MadCatz would release as a peripheral. Based on the information currently released the microphone is supposed to let gamers communicate from room to room. How is the microphone going to mute out all the other ambient sounds in a room, such as a baby crying, or a dog barking? I’ve used several types on microphones in my day, and all the “room” microphones I’ve used often cut out very easily, making “room to room” communication impossible. Hopefully Nintendo can pull this one off.

I hope this doesn’t turn into another one of Nintendo’s fad peripherals, much like the Super Nintendo Superscope…

I can’t say how relieved I am to get an email from Netflix letting me know that due to popular demand from the Netflix community, they will not remove the Profiles section for members.

Sa-weet!

I was very upset when I got an email last week that this service would no longer be available. I was actually considering canceling my account. It seems I wasn’t the only one that loves the Netflix Profiles feature. One look at the comments on the Netflix community blog will show how much we love our Profiles!

This is such a wonderful feature that Sarah and I use constantly. We like different types of movies so having two queues works out great. I was really dreading the point when we would have to combine our queues when the September deadline came. But now I don’t have to worry and can continue enjoying my subscription, unaltered.

Thank you for listening, Netflix!

First things first. I love Wii Fit! I’m not knocking the game. Just thought others might find this information useful. There are plenty of other articles about this issue, but I want to add my experience with it.

As you may already know, Wii Fit (out of the box) is configured to measure your balance, weight, and BMI assuming you are on a flat surface/thin carpet.  It has been argued that the Wii Fit Balance Board is more accurate than the average scale you buy from Target (pronounced Tarjey… it sounds French and sounds cooler). And I totally agree, it is more accurate, but only if you have your Wii Fit Balance Board correctly configured for your specific floor situation.

Assuming, my carpet isn’t the “thick” kind, I boot up the game and get my initial reading saved. Come to find out, my weight in the game is 20 lbs. lighter than my actual weight. Which throws off my BMI to 20, which looks really good and the in-game narrator is impressed!

After further reading online and in the Wii Fit manual, I find out there are extenders for the Balance Board that increase the accuracy of the Board’s readings on carpet. I attached those extenders and, eureka!, my weight measurement is now accurate.. I’m now at a BMI or 23 and some change, which isn’t bad. But it looks bad on the daily graph because the first day I was 20 lbs lighter. Now one day later I’m 20 lbs. heavier and the Wii Fit Balance Board narrator is astonished! He asks what I’ve done to gain so much weight in such a short time…. None of the options fit my scenario.

I thought about removing my profile in Wii Fit and starting over… but then I would lose all the activities I’ve already unlocked and reset my in-game “stop-watch” of gameplay back to zero

My advice… if you are playing Wii Fit on carpet, regardless if it is thick or thin, pop on those extenders before you start playing.

That being said, Wii Fit is a great game and truly is a workout! I love it.

Hey all,

I’ve updated my Muxtape mix. I’m limited to the songs I currently have on my work computer, so it isn’t as complete of a mix as I would want. But it does feature what I have been listening to lately.

If you haven’t heard of Muxtape, it’s very fun and a great way to find new music. Each user has their own “mixtape” which allows them to upload up to 12 songs. There are currently thousands of users. Get your own account and share the music you love! Let me know what your username is so that I can favorite your muxtape!

Sarah and I gained a new addition to our family over the weekend….. we adopted a puppy from the Humane Society of Central Illinois! His name is Murphy. That’s Murphy Johnston to you. He’s 6 months old, Akita/German Shepard/Lab mix. The vet thinks he is actually a Great Dane/German Shepard mix. So we are hoping he doesn’t get too entirely large like a Great Dane. He and Dulcey (our cat) are getting along quite well. Check out the photos section of this site for more pictures of our Murphy!

It’s official, after many hours of putting pen to paper and signing an ungodly amount of documents; Sarah and I have officially moved into our house! We had to make two trips with the CBHOA truck to get all of our stuff from the apartment to the house. Many thanks to Mark, my parents, and my bro for helping us move. Without their help I’d still be haulin’ boxes off the moving truck right now.

Scary thought of the day… I will be 56 when the mortgage is up on this house. eek!

Sarah and I have bought our first house! Hello, Life Long Debt, nice to meet you…