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Ok, I finally gave in and signed up for that Free iPod deal that’s been floating around.

Here’s the deal of how it works.

You signup for the account and have to complete some offer.  They’re all free offers like get a free month of AOL or a 2 week trial of blockbuster online.  Once you signup for one of these offers all you have to do is get 5 other people to follow your referal link and also complete an offer.  After that you get a free iPod!

It’s sorta a multi-level marketing pyramid scheme type of deal but it is legit and people are getting their iPods.

I finally gave in and signed up.  I signed up for the Netscape internet service.  It’s actually a pretty decent thing since my ISP has been acting flacky so I can always jump over and use Netscape.  It’ll take 2-3 days for me to get the credit at FreeiPods.com. Hey, I figure why not.  Now it’s just a matter of getting 5 other people to follow my referal link and join too.

So, I’m asking everyone that reads this.  If you would… get me an iPod!  Please.

http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=8434089

** UPDATE (9/11/2004) **
I will remove any posts that ask for people to use their referer links.  Sorry but this is my site and I want visitors to use my link thank you very much!

** UPDATE (10/13/2004) **
Due to the request by the Gratis Internet, LLC (the owners of Free iPod) I have removed certain bits of information which are in violation of their Terms and Conditions.

Now, I see nothing wrong with the information that I have published but since I still haven’t gotten my iPod I’ll roll over and play dead for them just so they don’t kill my account.  Yes I know that’s pretty low of me… but then hey I’m not the type to be the Mr. Upstanding. 

Hey Gratis Internet staff, think you could give me an iPod for being so good and doing what you ask?  Pretty please with sugar on top?!?

** STATUS UPDATE (10/13/2004) **
6 Signed up - 0 Completed Offers

Come on folks!  Please complete your offers so I can get my iPod.  Pretty please.  Once I get my iPod I’ll post the referer links of those 5 people that helped me get my iPod.

Well this is for all you poor folks out in dialup land.  If you’re running Windows XP you should be upgrading to SP2 but I’m sure you don’t want to bother downloading a 100MB+ file either.

Microsoft said they would make a big push to get SP2 distributed to the masses and they’ve made good on their promise.  You can now order a SP2 CD directly from Microsoft free of change.  You don’t even have to pay shipping!

Now the one problem.  It’ll take 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.  That is a long time to wait considering even for dialup you could get the SP2 installer downloaded in less time.  But hey it’s free from Microsoft so why not take advantage of it?  It’ll be handy for the future should you reinstall your OS at some point or just to loan to family and friends.

Head on over to the Microsoft Website and order your CD today.  There’s no reason not to!

Well it has been over two weeks since I went for that job interview.  Everything seemed to point to me having a good chance at the job.  I had planned to call this afternoon to check on the status of things.  I guess I don’t have to know.  I got the mail and there was a letter from the place.  Well I could tell it wasn’t good news without even opening it.  If they were interested in me they would have called me not sent a letter.  So I opened it knowing fully it would be a rejection letter.

It was.  So I guess I can take that job off the list.  I’m really disappointed just because of how many positive signs I got.  First they not only interview me for the position I originally applied but they take the time to interview me for a second better job.  They bring in several people to talk about the job.  They contacted all my references.  My mother, who knows the interviewer, even ran into the interviewer at a conference and my mother got positive signals about my interview.

Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk.  I’m sure they found someone with more experience so it was no competition.  I don’t blaim them if they had to choose between a new college graduate and someone that has real world experience I would pick the person with experience too.

So now where does this leave me?  In the same position I’ve been in since May, Jobless.  I really wouldn’t be the panicky if it wasn’t for two facts.  First and foremost is that I have car payments every month.  I have enough savings to cover me for a while yet but it’s getting smaller and smaller.  Second is that I’ve wanted to move out by my birthday which is just over a month away.

I guess I’ll just keeping digging for jobs but darnit it’s getting harder and harder to find computer jobs around here.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  NorthWest Ohio is a freaking black hole for technology.  There are just not many good jobs for someone that wants to be a programmer. 

I guess I have a few options for what to do.  Lets weight the pros and cons shall we?

1) Start expanding my search area
- Pros -
There will be more computer jobs in larger cities.
They’ll probably pay better.
I get to move to someplace new and exciting.

- Cons -
Have to move away from the area which I do like.
Have to move away from my girlfriend whom I LOVE!

2) Lower my job standards
- Pros -
There are more “computer” jobs if I’m willing to not do programming
I will probably be able to find local companies that need help

- Cons -
Work is depressing
Lower pay
I’ll be doing something I don’t want to do

Now the fact is I’ve already lowered my job standards.  When I first started job hunting I was only looking for programming related jobs.  However, I have begun to apply for tech support, IT assistant and part time jobs.  I’m not getting any more bites than before.

I don’t know what to do right now.  I think it’s just time to admit I need a job more than I need a career right now.  Doing anything that gives me a paycheck every week needs to be my priority.  I have a friend I’m going to build a computer for that works at a loading dock for a company.  He says they have a pretty high turnover rate.  I’m going to meet with him Friday to discuss the computer so I might as well just ask him about applying there.

I guess this is my penance for not working at all through high school or college.  I tried to not have to do menial blue collar work but it appears I will have to do the time.

I just found two of the coolest tools every computer case modder should have.  These aren’t power tools like a dremel or a drill.  These are websites just perfect for the hardcore case modder.

The first is a website called eMachineShop.com.

They are an online machine shop.  You just download and install their free CAD (Computer Aided Design) software and create parts.  You can then order the parts right from them.  The software automatically figures out how to make the part and calculates the cost for you. 

How cool is that!?!  Real hardcore case modders could design custom parts or even entire computer cases and have them built and shipped right do their front door.  Well you would still have to put the case together.  They don’t currently do any assembly or welding work.  Still it sure saves time having them make the parts.

The second website is called Pad2Pad.com.

They are an online printed circuit board manufacture.  Similar to eMachineShop they have a program you download to your computer then you can design your own printed circuit boards.  Once you have the board created you can just order it and have it delivered to your door.

This would be great for designing custom electronic parts for a computer mod.  Things like a case fan controller, light controller, etc.  They have pretty limited abilities as far as circuit printing right now.  They only support 2 sided single layer printing.  So you couldn’t for example create a complete custom motherboard or video card right now.  Your average motherboard can have somewhere between 4 and 8 layers.  They claim they are going to offer more features so in the future it might be possible!

Now that’s the thing that thrills me about this place.  If they ever start doing multilayer boards and let you put on all sorts of custom components, a modder with enough enginnering skill could in theory build a custom motherboard to fit their custom case they made at eMachineShop.  Now that’s a modders wet dream!

I need to give props to LanWizard over at Da LAN Tech for sharing the links in this thread.

Here’s something I just learned today…

When coding CSS for the pseudo-classes of the < a > tag, the states should always be coded in this specific order:

a:link
a:visited
a:focus
a:hover
a:active

If you don’t do it in this order it can cause issues with links in most browsers.  Including improper rendering or even failure to follow the CSS display settings for links.

I actually didn’t know it mattered.  However I know it does now.  The order of the link tags was wrong in the CSS for this site and I have had issues with link rendering.  Some links would not change colors when I would hover over them.  I had written it off as a stupid browser issue.  However, Sure enough soon as I changed the order in my CSS all the link problems went away.

A quick note that most of the included themes with ExpressionEngine do have improper ordering so all you EE users out there should go in and correct this.

But keep that in mind for all your web designers too.  Just a nice little tip to remember.