Jerry Odom's Blogger Blog

Why not post again

2010-09-19T18:26:00.003-05:00

It seems like somehow people keep coming across this blog and ask me what I've been up to? Well I've been working hard as an enterprise software developer here in Baton Rouge. It's a great career and yet so alien from my part time software work such as building and promoting websites. For instance I've been doing a ton of work working to promote margarita machine rentals in Baton Rouge and a company that provides wedding videos in Baton Rouge. Believe it or not that's fairly interesting and involves a great deal of software and business systems knowledge.

My wife and I have been busy with our beautiful baby and life is good. Keep in mind that you can catch me on my other websites to the right bar. I'll post here from time to time to update quickly though.

Yeah so I don't post here anymore

2010-05-11T12:32:00.002-05:00

I always run across my Blogger blog which was loved for a while and then forgotten as more new projects came about. I spend most of my time talking about Baton Rouge restaurants, bars, events and fun over at Best of Baton Rouge. I also maintain a Baton Rouge Twitter blog where I shout out great information concerning Baton Rouge. However who knows I may find a great reason to utilize this Blogger blog again. Until then visit my other sites and take care!

Who Says I Forgot About This Blog

2008-11-13T10:01:00.003-06:00

I recently got an email about not blogging here anymore. I've also drastically reduced my pace of posting on JerryOdom.com as well. It's tough with all the projects I've had going on. I picked up a couple of new clients in The V Shop and Smith Tank & Steel. I've also been extremely busy working on adding content and features to my Baton Rouge Restaurants category. Too many websites me thinks?

Additionally I've been working overtime at my day job developing service oriented applications using .NET 3.5. These new Microsoft products are really great and can get ahold of your imagination. Linq, remoting, WCF, 3rd party controls, Mobile development, web development and windows. I get to deal with about everything you can imagine.

Married life has been great. I just passed the 6 month mark and it's getting better every day. Look for even more changes with me in 2009.

Check out my Best of Baton Rouge website

2007-08-23T00:17:00.000-05:00

So I have more or less been ignoring this blog. Not many people find a blogger blog now days so I get far more exposure working with my personally owned domains such as jerryodom.com and now my Best of Baton Rouge project to build a content management system around what I want to find in Baton Rouge.

It's coming....well....slowly but it's starting to shape up and look really nice. I've got quite a few ideas for it beyond just listings that're going to really make it useful to me and hopefully others.

Haven't Posted on this blog in forever.

2007-06-12T20:01:00.000-05:00

I used to post here a bit. However as a matter of reading my family and friends tend to always read JerryOdom.com. It also does a hell of a lot better in the search engines so other people find it. This blog despite it's links doesn't see people. It feels like Google doesn't even respect it's own Blogger blogs.

Also check out Best of Baton Rouge which has been my recent programming project.

Kegging Instructions

2007-04-25T19:26:00.001-05:00

I ordered a kegging system and was sent no kegging instructions. Fortunately through the Internet things like this are always available.

Home Brewing Videos

2007-04-19T19:39:00.000-05:00

Finding information on doing just about anything is by far my favorite thing about the Internet. For instance friends and I are in the process of learning to brew our own beer. I found it a little late in the process but while searching for directions on using a hydrometer I found detailed home brewing videos.

Beer Brewing Begins

2007-04-10T21:22:00.000-05:00

Well I've been kicking it around for a while now but it's time to start brewing some beer. $520 spent at Austin Home Brew and we've got everything you'd want to brew and keg beer. So this Saturday my friends and I will start our home brewing project.

Busy Like A Savage

2007-04-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

I've been so damn busy with work and studying for taking the MCTS test. Have to back up my experience with some Microsoft certifications.

Happy birthday to me. I'll be spending my B-day watching UFC 69 this weekend. I'm really excited about this since I'm a really big UFC fan. Plus it saves me from driving all over the place for Easter.

Home Brewing Begins

Well some buddies and I checked out the Baton Rouge Beerfest over the weekend. I'd be researching getting into home brewing when this came about. My friends really enjoyed it and we all went in to buy $500 worth of home brewing supplies. Pretty cool since I was going to buy starting supplies then get everything else. Since we did it together we got everything we need.

Geaux LSU Tigers

2007-03-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

I've become a real fan for the LSU lady Tigers despide what happened with Pokie Chatman. They're just so good, so fast and so accurate. Back to the final 4 again for 2007! Big congrats and alot of pride over here. I can remember 2 years back being in Panama City Beach cheering for the girls while they were playing in the tourney.

Programming Microsoft .NET AND VBScript

I've been working with C# based ASP.NET pages and classical VBScript powered pages for the last month+ now. A very wild difference between the two in what you can do. The usability for the .NET 2.0 stuff seems almost unlimited. I can't imagine life before it even though I could accomplish anything quickly with a PERL/PHP cocktail.

.NET 2.0 is just so easy and stylish all at the same time. You set up a quick theme and establish useful pages with little or no real effort. I love it.

I wrote a quick C# Programming book review about one of my favorite books from Wrox so far.

Saint Patrick's Day

2007-03-17T20:36:00.000-05:00

Checked out the Baton Rouge St. Patty's day celebration today. Was an absolute blast and it seems to get better and better every year. It's a far better parade and party than anything else around here.(other than maybe LSU tailgating)

Back to projects

2007-03-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

The first part of 2007 has been swift to say the least. Job hunting madness has kept me so busy that it's over before I could blink. Things are cooling down and I'm getting used to my position at BCBS so it's back to the projects I've been neglecting.

I brought some tools I left at my dad's home and started evaluating what I have to order to work on my Mustang project. I'm going to have Thursday evenings as Mustang day until I have my Cowl and Floor panels replaced on my car. After that I can start going back together with the car. Exciting.

Brewing beer. Yes I said I'm going to start brewing beer for fun. There is a home brew store in Baton Rouge called Bootleggers and I'm going to go get some new toys.(like I don't have enough toys.)

I'm going to buy UFC 69 tickets when I get done with this post.

Hope everyone else is having a good start to 2007. Mine's been interesting but it's getting easier.

LSU Basketball = Going to hell

2007-03-07T21:42:00.000-06:00

Man has this been a disappointing season for the men? Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. An obvious lack of a real leader on this team and a ball handler. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. They just can't win!

Chatman resigns today. You want to talk about a stunned Tiger fan over here. I have never been a women's sports fan until Pokey showed up. Even under the previous coach I didn't but into it but this new womens team is so fresh on every level all the way up to the coach. No word on why she's out yet but I'm very sad that she's going away.

Could Microsoft Make Programming Any Easier?

2007-03-07T00:45:00.000-06:00

Now that I've basically got the hang of the syntax and basic programming methods used with Visual Studio I'm astonished at how easy it is to create rich interactive programs. It's almost like you can't fail or get hung up for longer than a few minutes.

All this coming off of my second week of working with the application on a real world solution involving alot of different entities. I couldn't imagine being able to put something together so fast and efficiently using Perl, PHP, Javascript, C or anything else I've touched in the last 3 years.

It's truly a great thing and I'm really excited about all I'll have an opportunity to learn for developing on the .NET platform.

What kind of developer do you want to be?

2007-02-25T21:57:00.000-06:00

Over the course of my career change here at the beginning of 2007 I had to face a lot of questions. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What type of developer would you say you are? What kind of developer do you want to be? Its was difficult to answer because I really wasn't that sure.

For the past few years I've been a web software developer. I programmed systems in a variety of languages specifically for websites and web business. When I got back into the job market everyone was looking for .NET developers. So I started learning everything I could and practicing developing using Visual Studio 2005. For a while I've thought that I wanted to be a .NET developer specifically. That looks like the future so that's what I'd answer. I want to be a .NET developer.

However over the course of the last few weeks of my search things started to change. I started to realize that total experience is necessary in the sort of development that interests me. Many companies post that they require people with particular skills in terms of development environments. They're only working in that one thing. They're a Microsoft shop or a Java shop specifically. Larger companies don't have the luxury of implementing technology from one vendor. They have to use dozens of different tools and make them all work together. I find this interesting and congruent with my previous experience.

So even though I've come from a small company for the past few years I've really been working in a way similar to that of corporate entities. I had to work constantly with new and old systems. A dozen different languages and dozens of tools. Whatever the job called for.

So what sort of developer do I want to be?

"Software Developer"

I'll program anything, any language, any environment at any time. I find new and old stuff interesting. I like solving problems. No more attempt to focus specifically on one set of tools. I'll be learning to learn in whatever tool is presented to me at the time.

Work Week 1

2007-02-25T08:01:00.000-06:00

Just finished week one of my first corporate job. It's far different from the smaller company experience in alot of ways but overall it's pretty nice. I'm looking forward to week two.

For me the big change was environment. I'm coming from a culture where we worked at the office, at a coffee shop or at your house depending on how you feel about it. Here we work in a huge office all together cubicle style so you're always hearing whats going on around you. It'll be interesting to see how it goes once I get rolling on a project.

Learning about BizTalk 2006

2007-02-16T21:51:00.000-06:00

I spent the day reading a book on essential BizTalk 2006. The tool is very cool and serves as a way to exchange information between very different services. It's got to be considered the duct tape of Enterprise Business for the time being. I only say "for the time being" that because it'll allow people to pull services together and then move them all under one modern system in a few years. If it ain't broke don't fix it will be a thing of the past. Our new saying will be if it ain't modern, upgrade it using BizTalk.

The graphical development tools offered through use of Visual Studio 2005 are just scary in what they can do. 5 years from now things are going to be down right science fiction in their efficiency. They provide adapters allowing you to connect and communicate data with every major type of system used in Enterprise. Visual orchestras, pipelines and xml mapping that allow you to easily communicate between systems. It's a great thing.

officially employed

2007-02-13T19:18:00.000-06:00

I'm very happy to say that my job search is officially over! Today Blue Cross / Blue Shield of Louisiana offered me a position with their IT department. I'm very happy with this position as I'll get to work with the newest enterprise technologies and a large organized team of professionals.

I've worked really hard to attain this position. I've researched heavily on what the best career path is and I believe I've landed in the right situation. Everyone wish me luck.

Working with SQL Server 2005

2007-02-08T16:21:00.000-06:00

So I've been writing an application using SQL Server 2005 for interaction with a C# based Windows application. I must say that databasing with this tool is very interesting. There are alot of great ways to do the same thing and using stored procedures has been alot easier than writing long PHP or Perl versions of the same.

System.Data makes creating connections to and interacting with databases a dream. The Server Explorer makes administrating to the database ridiculously easy in comparison to....say...command line or phpmyadmin. Ultra programmer friendly in my opinion.

The best thing is any questions I can't answer myself I can easily run down in Google, my books, help or a messageboard.

lol....interviews and the website

2007-02-01T21:54:00.000-06:00

I'm glad to say that all the developers I'm interviewing with do research using the Internet on their possible candidates. Possible employers and their staff get to read all about me before they even get to meet me.

That Rocks!

I love that because having to explain my personal interests is far more involved than explaining my work experience. It's pretty fun seeing the smile on everyone's faces knowing that they already know a little about Jerry and his mad little world.

8+ Hours on my couch

2007-01-30T22:09:00.000-06:00

Thats right everyone I stayed on my couch for nearly 8 hours today. I woke up, took a shower, sat on my couch and didn't move until 5 this evening. Why? Not because I was watching television, sick or lazy but because I was working my butt off to find some work.

It's pretty startling exactly how much mental work is involved in finding work. I'd dare say that working is actually easier than finding work. The scope of the questions I've had to answer, tests I've had to take and things I've had to learn has been broad. I've learned more in the last 30 days than I'd learned in the previous 6 months so its been rewarding but I hadn't counted on it being like this.

Big week of job hunting for me. I've got 5 total interviews this week and hopefully something will materialize into an opportunity. Definitely looking forward to getting in there and producing.

.NET Framework

2007-01-22T23:34:00.000-06:00

I've about gotten down all the essentials for using the .NET framework for developing applications. It took a little getting used to but once you get a good hold on what does what in Visual Studio then Intellisense and the debugger seem to do the reset for you. Whats more is there are so many developers out there that finding answers to questions is much simpler than PHP, Perl problems I used to face.

Today I did a good deal of PHP programming on one of my own web applications at Best of Baton Rouge. I'd started tinkering with the development of a databased system for this website late last year and have had to put it to the side while job hunting. I wanted a break from my .NET development so I picked it up today.(one of the benefits of being unemployed is you can program whatever the hell you want to) After a week or so of daily work in Visual Studio 2005 with that wonderful debugger and Intellisense it was suprisingly a pain in the butt. I imagine that anyone used to the wonderful tools available for .NET development would turn a little red working with PHP and a not so great CASE tool like Dreamweaver.

I'm curious about how fast I can put up a good ASP.NET site so this week I'll see about setting up a live ASP.NET site to compare development speeds and results.

Job Hunting - Trial By Fire

2007-01-17T22:17:00.000-06:00

I've recently had to start searching for a job and the skill everyone wants the most is the one I've had the least on the job experience with. Actually, I've had no on the job experience with .NET! I picked up a copy of Visual Studio 2005 in the last part of 2006 for the purpose of learning the new development tools that everyone is loving so much. Its great and coupled with the very awesome C# language I just had to give it a look. I never realized that in 2007 it would be the center of my world and the focus of all my attention.

.NET Mania

Since I posted my resume on Monster.com and Dice.com I've had about 15 contacts concerning .NET and 2 out of state contacts concerning my other history which was primarily *NIX based databasing coupled with custom PHP, PERL and Javascript applications. Nobody local is doing anything not .NET. I can't move so what do you do?

Learn .NET, C#.NET, ADO.NET and ASP.NET

I'm a professional and I know that if you need something you get it and learn it ASAP. Luckily I'd already familiarized myself with C# and using Visual Studio 2005. This was fairly easy because I had a background in Visual Studio 6, Visual Basic, C and Java from college. I can also read SQL like its plain english. However the use of the .NET framework and the subtleties of the environment are taking some getting used to. Unfortunately this is going to likely cost me some of my first opportunities since I'm still somewhat in the transition phase. No worries since I likely need the interview experience and I may get lucky with someone realizing what an adaptive guy I am.

Blessing in Disguise

This change of career occurance likely couldn't have come at a better time. All of these companies are making the transition to .NET using the newer versions of the language and they've got to scramble to train or hire people. I'm doing self training with 5 recent purchases from Amazon on .NET, ASP and C# and at least a month of daily rigorous study and practice in using the environment. I'm hoping to develop a website and an application as my tests to gauge my experience. There are a ton of communities out there and help is available. I just can't wait to get a chance to mix it up and contribute to a company!

Exciting times!

Busy Busy Busy on the Job Hunt

2007-01-13T15:51:00.000-06:00

I've never worked so hard and not been paid for it! My first part of 2007 has involved a constant job hunt for the beginning of my career in .NET software design. Opportunities are plentiful and its very exciting all around. I've really been getting a crash course on how a job hunt works since this is officially my first job hunting/interview experience. I stayed on with the company, InsiderLabs, that I worked as an Intern for and continued with them until we finished development in 2006 so I'm completely new to this.

Enterprise Level Training

After talking with a number of consultants and then recruiters for larger companies I definitely feel the large development teams of big companies are the way to go for me. I'll get real exposure to a dynamic team enviroment so I'm targeting those types of employers. Wish me luck everyone!

LSU Tigers

Are really struggling today against the Auburn Tigers in mens basketball. Man this Terry Martin kid is something else! Dameon Mason also hase absolutely no fear at all.

Geaux Gators

2007-01-09T01:10:00.000-06:00

As strange as it is for an LSU fan to be so happy about the Florida Gators winning a football game it was great tonight watching the Gators represent the SEC and completely destroying the Ohio State team. They dominated the game in every aspect and demonstrated to the country what it means to be an SEC champion team. This is the second time the SEC champion jumped from #3 to #2 and was questioned about it and its the second time the SEC team in question destroyed the #1 ranked team. Thats the power of the SEC baby!!

Congrats Gator nation. We'll see you in Death Valley next year!

As if we needed more fuel on the Alabama, Auburn, LSU rivalry

2007-01-03T12:16:00.000-06:00

Today Nick Saban becomes the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide! Wow what can you say to that? Nick has got to be loving the challenge of coaching against Les Miles and Tommy Tuberville. In the first year that a majority of LSU fans have forgotten about Nick Saban he comes back to the SEC. I'd bet Coach Miles is looking forward to the chance to throw a smooth beating on the guy that so many people around LSU wouldn't forget about.

Boise State vs. Oklahoma

2007-01-02T00:01:00.000-06:00

Wow what a football game. Up and down left and right these guys tore it up tonight. Just when you thought one team was done the other pulled something off. Great heart from Boise State getting back in it when they'd almost let it go. What guts with that play calling at the end of the game.

And then that Boise State player proposes at the end of the game to his girlfriend! A complete show and by far the most memorable bowl game this year so far.

Who can beat the Iceman Chuck Liddell

2006-12-31T12:18:00.000-06:00

Last nice Chuck was once again very impressive laying a decisive defeat upon Tito Ortiz. The question that everyone has to have is who can beat the Iceman? Well there is a fairly new guy in MMA who's been very impressive in the heavyweight division but is capable of making weight and giving a real challenge to Chuck. That man is Brandon Vera and I can't wait until he sets his sights on the Iceman. Until then I think Chuck will be lonely on top of the light heavyweight division.

Big anticipation for UFC 66 Ortiz vs. Liddell

2006-12-30T13:55:00.000-06:00

I'm really anxious for tonights fights at UFC 66. Chuck Liddell has been staying on top of everyone with easy victories and tonight he fights a very hungry Tito Ortiz. Tito is going to be physically ready tonight and it really comes down to how well Chuck is doing. Is he still fast and strong or has lack of competition taken his edge off? The hardest thing about being on top is there is nothing above you to clutch on to so that you don't slip. Come on Iceman!

Being Sick

2006-12-27T18:53:00.000-06:00

I haven't had a real cold all year but end up sick for the weeks leading in to Christmas. Today was the first day I've been able to exercise and have finally got energy to do more than just *work* during a given day. I also finally managed to get all the problems worked out with my home heater right as its not as important anymore due to me no longer running fever. Wonderful...

One great thing about keeping a blog is that you can keep track of how long something has been going on. Glancing at this blog today I saw that my sinus infection started the week of the 14th and ends this week of the 27th.

UCLA vs. Florida State - The first really interesting bowl game for the end of football season. I'm giving this one to UCLA unless they find a way to slow down that Quarterback for UCLA. There's all this business about Jimbo Fisher leaving LSU to become Florida State's Offense Coordinator. He's of course denying it until the season's over and we'll see what becomes of that. I can't imagine the guy leaving LSU right now with the tools he has to work with.

Recovering from Christmas around Baton Rouge

2006-12-27T08:39:00.000-06:00

The biggest part of the Christmas season for me is the end of it! I love Christmas time, spending time with family and everything that goes with the last couple of days of the event but everything leading up to it is so taxing. The people all out like mad shopping just makes me what to stand back and out of the way.

Unfortunately we can't be Scrooges so we all get thrown into the mix! Bah humbug!

Well all is done now except for the week of excellent college football bowls. I'm very much looking forward to LSU vs. Notre Dame where the Tigers should prove to be more than a match for the Irish. Florida is representing in the title game against the Vaunted Buckeyes. Don't forget Michigan vs. USC where both teams have to have at least a little chip on their shoulders.

Don't forget UFC 66 is this weekend! I tell you the best part about the end of the year is the 10 days after the 25th. Happy birthday Jesus, hello sports week!

Dealing with getting sick

2006-12-18T15:33:00.000-06:00

There's nothing worse for a programmer than a sinus cold. You can't think, you can't sleep and you definitely can't program anything worth looking at.

Up All Damn Night

2006-12-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

Louisiana has a very short winter but there are a few spans of time where it'll get really cold and really warm all in the same week/days. This is usually when I get sick and have to sleep off various bugs and sinus infections. The end result is a screwed up sleeping schedule that results in working in the early am and posting blogs about how you feel bad and can't sleep.

I did however catch the last two fights of UFC Fight Night Live Sanchez vs. Riggs. I didn't catch the first fights because I forgot about it due to sinus headache.(hardly remembering my name)

Josh Koscheck vs. Jeff Joslin was a pretty typical fight for Koscheck. He took a couple of shots and managed to out wrestle the guy for 3 rounds then won a decision. Whoopie. It was interesting however for Spike TV to have to beep out the crowd chanting "Fuck him up". I've got to say thats a first for me.

Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Riggs didn't go down like alot of people expected it would. Riggs got himself knocked clean out and fast when both men landed rights to the jaw. Diesel lost his footing and Sanchez nailed him with a knee before he could get back up. Wow

Diego is more than ready to fight for the belt. I suppose they've been saving him for when they're out of people hot to contend for the belt. He's kind of out there and not in a hurry to get in the ring with the champion. I get the impression he's just loving life and fighting whoever they put in his path.

Anyhow back to programming. Maybe even get some good sleep in a while here.

The New Orleans Saints March over the Dallas Cowboys

2006-12-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

Wow what a game by the Saints all around. Big plays all around the field and a huge night for the entire team. You know a team has come together when you can't point to a single guy on the field and say thank god for him. All the power positions played well as well as alot of guys you don't hear from. Mike Karney got the first 3 touchdowns of his carrer, wow.

Whipping Aggie Ass

2006-12-05T22:06:00.000-06:00

Boy what a game our LSU guys played today? Big Baby Glen Davis gets better every day along with the rest of our offense! I definitely think the final four is coming again this year.

Ben Voogd vs. Tack Minor

2006-12-05T20:49:00.000-06:00

Who can turn the ball over most against A&M? At least it looks like thats the contest they're having.

Props go out to John Brady with that tech he got tonight. That foul was very bad and should've been called. Referee's had to know about it!

LSU vs. Texas A&M - Basketball heating up

2006-12-05T20:04:00.000-06:00

Here we go baby!!! LSU Basketball is going to start heating up again tonight with a rematch against Texas A&M! Basketball has really been catching on around Baton Rouge and deservingly so. Jim Brady has done a great job of bringing talent to our men's team.

After last years March madness created by the Aggies & Tigers I wouldn't miss this game.

Great day of football

2006-12-02T18:20:00.000-06:00

Whoa whoa whoa with only minutes left UCLA is in a position to shake everything up. Florida is whipping Arkansas and everyone in Michigan must be losing their minds wondering what will happen to the Wolverines.

College Football Saturday

2006-12-02T11:51:00.000-06:00

Its championship game day with huge games all day long. Starting my day with the ACC championship with Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Then its the game where numbers don't matter when UCLA and USC go for it.(Possibly having huge repercussions for LSU if UCLA wins.) Next up is the big dance in the SEC with Florida and Arkansas and we finish the day with two big wars as Oklahoma and Nebraska go for it at the same time as Rutgers and West Virginia. I can't wait for all of these games!

Watching the Houston Nutt show

2006-11-28T17:13:00.000-06:00

We're lucky enough to get some good SEC television coverage here in Baton Rouge which includes alot of shows from other SEC teams. Today I got to watch the Houston Nutt show where he discussed the LSU vs. Arkansas game from this year.

He praises LSU's defensive front, our big recievers and the tunnell screen which LSU has run so good this year. Coach Nutt is a really sharp guy and right on about what LSU's strengths and weaknesses are. He's well spoken and a pleasure to listen to during his comments.

I definitely agree that his team is so talented and showed a ton of heart in never giving up the whole game while they're down. Its games like this one where its a shame that someone has to lose.

Heroes Television Series

2006-11-27T10:22:00.000-06:00

I've been watching the Heroes television series every week. Its great and it really keeps you wanting to know whats going to happen. As a Sci-Fi geek I was really happy to see some "modern" show on television as the other running series are just done.

Want to catch up on it? Thanks to the Internet and people geekier than I you can watch shows online. Find That Show has all the episodes online.

Great cure for common cold and sinus problems

2006-11-17T22:20:00.000-06:00

My girlfriend got me an awesome sinus relief bag from Aromaremedy company. They sell all type of these bags which you simply hold to your nose and breath in. Absolute life savers.

Ultimate Fighter Finale

2006-11-14T16:13:00.000-06:00

Watched the finale to Ultimate Fighter 4 "The Comeback" and it was a pretty damn good show. The fights had a good deal of action and the results were good. Actually the fights that weren't the contract fights were the best ones.

Pete Sell getting knocked out by Scott Smith was one of the wildest things I'd ever seen. Both guys were going really hard and then had what amounted to a near knockout and then a freak knockout. Had Smith not landed that punch he was done. Big props for that heart.

Thles Leites and Martin Kampmann put on a pretty good slugfest that ended in decision.

Travis Lutter won an impressively unexpected fight over Patrick Cote. Its like he just let Lutter do what he wanted. Lutter then got to meet Anderson Silva who is suprisingly huge standing next to him. Both were very professional and respectful of one another. I don't think Lutter has a great shot of beating this guy but we'll see.

Serra vs. Lytle was boring. Props to Lytle as he never got in any real trouble with the ever dangerous ground game of Matt Serra. His takedown defense was absolutely great. I agree with the decision as Matt controled most of the action as little as there was.

I love how Matt Serra speaks his mind no matter what. Stating that he felt Matt Hughes was a dick and he'd rather fight him because of it.

There was a pretty good interview segment with Hughes and St. Pierre. I think Hughes has run his course and is boring to everyone out there. The guy has the personality of a punk and I'm looking forward to St. Pierre putting him away.

Good action to get me ready for this weekends UFC 65.

Louisville vs. Rutgers and LSU vs Alabama

2006-11-09T12:35:00.000-06:00

Another Thursday night treat of undefeated teams facing off with Rutgers and Louisville. Neither of which have gained any respect from anyone but myself. Why? Because they don't play as many of the big name programs. Louisville I think will solidify their season with a big game against a quality opponent in a bowl. I don't give Rutgers much of a chance against them..

Big weekend for LSU at home against old Alabama. People were already singing "F You Alabama" earlier this week when I met friends for drinks. Les Miles needs to win out this season and finish very strong against Arkansas and a quality bowl opponent in order to avoid an onslaught of "fire coach".

Louisville vs. WVU

2006-11-02T21:46:00.000-06:00

Wow what a game. I've got one word for Louisville: RESPECT - R - E - S - P - K, RESPEK

I haven't seen so much speed on a field in forever. The guys running the camera will have whiplash tomorrow from all this action. Its been fun and its late so I don't see much hope in WVU getting back into it but wow.

I'd love to see these either of these teams vs. LSU in a bowl game. It would be exciting.

Link Spamming as an SEO Tactic?

2006-10-30T12:31:00.000-06:00

Is there still any value left in link/comment spamming peoples blogs? In the last month I've seen significant increase in people spamming my video blog with comments containing links from everything from milfs to muscle relaxers. Whats the deal? To my knowledge that tactic had lost its value. I suppose some low brow SEO are still trying it out.

On that note: Blog tip - always moderate comments to your website or blog. You don't want people tarnishing your website with spam comments.

I may have cursed the New Orleans Saints

2006-10-30T00:12:00.000-06:00

I've been labeled a curse of the LSU Tigers for the 2006 season. I mentioned how much I've loved Saints Football this year and now the Saints are 1-2 since I started really paying attention.

Been ultra busy working on our great new project called City Scape which is sort of a mashup software of multiple ideas on keeping tables of events in your city. The term "City Scape" rings that you paint a picture of what your city looks like so that others can enjoy it. I love it!

Heroes Television Show Review

2006-10-17T20:45:00.000-05:00

I just came across a great new television show for 2006 called Heroes. Its sort of an X-men meets CSI meets Outer Limits where people are evolving to have super powers at a time when the world is in peril to nuclear destruction. I caught only the first epidsode of the show but couldn't turn my head the whole time. It must be serious because there are a number of well known supporting type actors and some very good screen work. You can read more about Heroes here.

The Saints are Marching

2006-10-15T15:32:00.000-05:00

Wow how about the New Orleans Saints playing like a team for the first year I can remember. They won an absolute thriller of a football game against the Eagles today. Probably the most fun professional game I've watched since the Superdome re-opened. Its nice to have a real professional team.

Miami Hurricanes

Why does that team always get in fights with other teams. Seems like the Miami hurricanes have to fist fight some other team at least once a year.

LSU Tigers

The Tigers rebound from their tough loss against Florida and beat the hell out of Kentucky. Why they fall apart on the big games who knows.

Survived Gainesville, Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3

2006-10-10T12:59:00.000-05:00

I survived the LSU vs. Florida game and made it back home this Sunday. We partied hard, cheered hard and then watched the Tigers drop a tough one to the Florida Gators. It was a memorable trip though and I loved it.

Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock 3

A third fight is great even though it doesn't appear that Shamrock is taking this all very seriously. I think he's either about to retire or he's worked hard and ready to roll over Tito. If I were betting it would definitely be that Tito will put Shamrock away but its the UFC and you never know. The undercard looks good with some of the season 3 UFC guys coming in to fight their first bouts since the finale. Herman and Grove gave us a good finale and now they fight their first UFC fights.

I'll be watching the fights from my bed as I take care of my girlfriend in her post surgery state. fun fun.

1 Week Until The LSU vs. Florida Trip

2006-09-27T09:33:00.000-05:00

A week from today Wingate, Chase, Scott, Michelle, C.O. and I are headed to Gainesville to cheer on the LSU Tigers football team. We're taking a RV trip which will be my first. Luckily Wingate is a fireman and Scott has driven an RV several times before so we should be cool in the driving department. LSU had better beat the Gators good or I may officially declare myself bad luck in terms of going on the road for the Tigers.

I posted thoughts on my Auburn trip. At the bottom of the page is a link to pictures taken on the trip.

How About The Saints??

2006-09-25T23:46:00.000-05:00

The New Orleans Saints have really come out swinging for 2006 starting strong at 3-0. Tonight they re-opened the Superdome with a serious beating to the Atlanta Falcons. Nothing could go wrong for the Saints this day thats for sure. They stopped Michael Vick, played unreal excellent special teams and got it done on Offense. I'm really happy for all the New Orleans area fans of the Saints and the team themselves. I hope they keep it up. They looked like a brand new team playing in the rebuilt stadium tonight. I couldn't believe it was the Saints!

Definitely the best show we'll get until the Super Bowl. Could the Saints make it there? Who knows!

UFC 63 - Hughes vs. Penn

2006-09-22T13:31:00.000-05:00

Finally a UFC fight card that promises to have some worth while fights. Take a look at these fights and tell me this can't be one hell of a squab fest?

Predictions?

I don't even want to attempt to predict some of these fights. I think Mike Swick will beat Louiseau. I think BJ Penn vs Matt Penn will be one of the best fights we've seen for Hughes in a long time. Penn's a natural and could fight just about anyone. Someone is going to bleed in Joe Lauzon Vs. Jens Pulver without a doubt.

I'll be in Gulf Shores this weekend but you can bet I'll find some place to watch the fights Saturday night.

LSU vs. Auburn Game

2006-09-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

I'm making the road trip to watch #3 Auburn vs. #6 LSU this weekend. Really looking forward to seeing this game live since I've never gone to an LSU road game. Should be a great game!

Where were you September 11, 2001?

2006-09-12T09:17:00.000-05:00

The media likes to pose that question alot so I thought I'd post what I was doing since it was strange and I remember exactly. I was living in an apartment over by LSU while I was still in school. I woke up late that day since I had a sinus cold and walked into my living room to find my roommate and 2 other army reserve guys sitting in their uniforms watching a burning tower. It seemed like as soon as I walked in the room the second tower was hit.

After that it seems like a blur in time as we all watched more news on television than we ever had before.

Steve Irwin The Crocodile Hunter

2006-09-06T08:43:00.000-05:00

The whole town is buzzing about the passing of everyone's favorite conservationist. I must say that I felt real sadness over the passing of the Croc Hunter. He was one of the few I could stop and watch for a long period of time. I always felt like he knew exactly what he was doing and it made it so much more interesting.(especially with all his enthusiasm) A shame that he had to but he did what he loved right up to the moment he died. Rest in peace Steve Irwin.

Ultra Busy Lately

2006-09-05T11:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't had alot of time to post via my blog or my website due to a number of reasons. Internet being out at home makes it really hard to do personal web work. I've also been in the process of moving my 1969 Ford Mustang to my house. Thats done now and I'm itching to start posting video and pictures about work on that.

How about LSU beating up on poor ULL? Great showing for LSU on all aspects of the ballgame. I'm really looking forward to this weeks matchup with Arizona. A tougher team from the Pac-10 which looks to be a great test before heading in to play Auburn.

UFC 61 I didn't even get a chance to post about. I'm starting to look forward to the undercard more than the main events that they hype so much. I think the UFC should get away from hyping the big matches on the card and just hype the card itself because so many of the undercard fights prove to be so much better. A great card with a very bad main event matchup.

George St. Pierre out of UFC 63!

2006-08-24T08:50:00.000-05:00

Aaaaaaaaaaah!!? GSP is injured and can't fight Matt Hughes in September. Man what a bummer as I was really looking forward to this fight. St. Pierre has in my opinion a damn good chance at beating Matt Hughes. I think these guys are too even and he's got what it takes.

HOWEVER, BJ Penn is thankfully stepping in. Penn lost a decision to St. Pierre a few months back even though he laid a pretty good beating on GSP. This was Penn's return match for the UFC and I'm sure he walked away seething with desire for another chance. We'll be getting a good fight at UFC 63.

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell and Renato "Babalu" Sobral will be getting it on this Saturday though! Alot of people aren't giving Babalu a chance for some reason even though the guys been out there tearing it up lately. I wouldn't be suprised if Babalu pulled it out IF he takes some chances. If he's too careful he'll get worn out and eventually get knocked out but if he shows some guts he could get Liddell with his crafty ground game. We'll see.

Watching Reggie Bush Play

2006-08-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

I never thought this guy would be this much fun to watch. Not that the Saints are giving him alot of chances right about now being that its almost halftime, Dallas is winning 17-0 and the Saints have run less than 15 plays. But Reggie Bush certainly makes you want to cheer for him.

Its cool every year to see all the LSU football players who've gone pro but tonight I noticed there were alot out there. I typed Skyler Green's name into a web browser and funny enough an article on how many LSU players are on the Cowboys team showed up. I noticed because I saw Green and then Devery Henderson for the Saints.

Halftime and the Saints are still shut completely out. Lets hope we see some magic from our offense in the second half. So far most of the offense belongs to Mr. Dependable Joe Horn.

Lets not forget only 12 more days until LSU Football Season

The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 - First Show

2006-08-18T13:17:00.000-05:00

I have to say it was a little hard to watch the opener of TUF4 after watching the top notch battle between Diego Sanchez and Karo Parisyan. The show opened fast and furious putting alot of the babying out of the way. The guys showed up, picked teams randomly and boom started working out. Then there was a coin toss and a fight. The end.

There was little or no interaction with the coaches and the fighters trained and cornered themselves. If the entire show is going to be this way then why not leave the coaches out of it? Hopefully future episodes will show more of the coaches since I really want to see how these guys interact with trained fighters. The work ethic and whats expected when you're training at a level up.

Good show overall. The fight wasn't the greatest but it wasn't dull by a long shot. I'm glad that Carter pulled it out.

Hopefully next week will be better or maybe I wasn't in tune with the show due to the hot warm up action.

Thanks LSU For the Paws Page

2006-08-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

How interesting that when I typed my name into Google the other day I came across a LSU Paws Page that was auto generated for me. Totally unaware of it I logged in to my paws account and changed it around a little. Its pretty rigid and LSU doesn't allow you to get too fancy with it so I just linked it back to my personal website. Kind of neat so if any of you LSU students want a personal website just know that LSU sort of gives you an option through your paws.

Ultimate Fighter 4 - The Comeback

2006-08-16T22:46:00.000-05:00

Starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing this one with the all new approach of guys who've had marginal success getting a chance at making it large. I'm also curious as to how George St. Pierre is going to work as a coach being that his native language is French. I'm sure the work ethic will be expected to be at a higher level than the previous three shows since these guys already know about what it takes to be at the level of a champion. Probably a smart decision by the UFC to take a bunch of guys who know they want to be in the business and put them with some of the best coaches. They've seen already that they can take untested guys and produce good fighters so I imagine they believe they can take a collection of good fighters and find a great fighter needing to be pushed to that level.

Of course we have some free TV fights that will lead into The Ultimate Fighter. The card actually looks to be a great one with a whole host of guys who can bring it. I'm hoping that Karo Parisyan has stepped up his game. If so he has a legitimate chance of beating Diego Sanchez. I'm also looking forward to seeing more from Dean Lister who I think has a good chance of being a contender for 185. We'll also see if Chris Leben was humbled any by the beatdown he took last time he was in the octagon.

Already a great weekend for football

2006-08-14T08:26:00.000-05:00

Football season is heating up already with the Saints playing the Titans. Man it was great fun to see Reggie Bush and Drew Brees out playing for the Saints. Its strange watching Brees out there in a Saints uniform because I'm not used to a Saints quarterback out there making smart decisions.

Reggie Bush, absolutely electrifying just as he was last year. Its strange because with this guy on the field you don't feel like he's a freshman. I felt like the defense was having to catch up to him. A great pick and he's sure to put alot more fans in the seats. Lets just hope that Benson doesn't screw it up.

Then to top off the preseason NFL action the LSU vs. Alabama game from last year was replayed. A big time game that showed the Tigers come back from a 10-0 halftime deficit. Man did LaRon Landry put a big hit on Brodie Croyle or what? That was an excellent game for LSU with alot of close plays. Chris Jackson better have practiced those field goals for this year!(if he isn't still hurt for baseball season)

The importance of specifications in systems design

2006-08-08T12:57:00.000-05:00

I can't express enough how important it is to have 100% certain specifications on a project before implementation. This is something that should always be double and triple checked. I say this because at this very moment I've been working on a project for 2 full days thinking I was supposed to do one thing when indeed I was supposed to be doing another. Typically this wouldn't be a problem for us but one small misunderstanding in language and you're lost! Yes programmers there is a reason you learn draw up all those boring system specifications in computer science classes. So that once you're in the world you can accurately gauge what you're supposed to be doing on something much larger!

Always check your specifications. Write them down and plan milestones so that as you complete your development you can re-check your specifications with your client/employer. Communication and understanding are key to success.

End of rant....back to work.

Paint Stripping my 1969 Ford Mustang Body Panels

2006-07-31T22:10:00.000-05:00

Well I've set up my garage and I'm researching methods to do body panel stripping. What a pain! All the professionals make suggestions that are impractical for regular guys. However I found one guy like me who posted paint stripping methods that worked for him. Hopefully they'll work for me!

I'm getting old.....going on a diet

2006-07-30T21:02:00.000-05:00

Wow. I go to the doctor for an injured shoulder and realize I weigh in at around 188lbs. I thought I weighed around 175 but after getting a good look at myself I realize I'm actually putting on the weight!! I guess this has been going on for close to a year now. All the things that tend to cause a person to work out less and sit around more have been happening.

1.) Getting a steady girlfriend.

Why do women always lead to men getting out of shape? I guess its because you spend at least 1/3 of your free time doing "relationship" things. Now this doesn't necessarily mean picking flowers or doing romantic stuff to entertain the little woman. It just means that they take up alot of that time you'd spend playing basketball or looking at hot chicks while jogging at the LSU lakes for example.

2.) Working like a savage.

I've been working alot lately. We've got alot going on and I'm a big part of making it all happen. Unfortunately for my fitness that means sitting on my butt around 8-10 hours a day.

Well it looks like I'll be getting fit and watching what I eat from now on. Used to be I would just be myself and stay in shape but not anymore. Hell I might even start a website to help me motivate myself.

Well time to start a work week!! Everyone have a good one.

2006-07-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I've been working my tail off for the last couple of months getting together College Toolbars. Designing the next cool yet simple thing is alot of hard work. However in the very near future we'll finish polishing out our diamond in the rough!

I've also purchased that air compressor as I've noted in my 69 Mustang updates page. I've run the wire through the attic to the garage and cleaned up everything so that soon I'll be bringing my classic car project to a place that will be right here and under control. I will finally be able to make real, fast and steady progress on once again putting my car on the road.

Putting in a 220 Volt Air Compressor

2006-07-16T21:12:00.000-05:00

I've been working on moving my Classic Mustang project to my home in Baton Rouge so that I can work on it more often. This weekend I learned about what a pain it can be to install a 220 volt plug-in to my garage so that I can run a big enough air compressor to do the work. It looks so simple yet so much is involved in running whats basically a power cord across your house. So I learned this week and stretched a 10-2 power line across the attic. This week I'll decide on an Air Compressor from Harbor Freight and get all the stuff to install the cable. Should be fun.

July 4th weekend.

2006-07-03T11:22:00.000-05:00

Wow I've actually taken a couple of days off over July 4th weekend. Its so strange not working on a Monday as I haven't done that in so long. I'd be out on the road already but I'm waiting on my girlfriend to get ready to go spend some time at L'Auberge Du Lac Hotel & Casino. Its a beautiful new place that was just built in Lake Charles, Louisiana thats about as close to Vegas as you'll get in Louisiana.

I'm looking forward to UFC 61 - Bitter Rivals coming up this weekend. I want to see Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock brawl it out and get it done. The UFC has been the source of much of my entertainment as of lately. I love the live action and the fact that the events occur often. I even started keeping a Sports & UFC page on my website where I write a little about UFC events and major sporting events I watch.(such as World Cup and LSU sports)

TUF3 - Finale, World Cup, Working like a savage

2006-06-25T20:42:00.000-05:00

Pretty good sports weekend for me this weekend. Got to watch The Ultimate Fighter Finale and World Cup soccer.

As far as the UFC Ultimate Fighter show went I was pretty on on the fights for the show. I was wrong about Sam Stout beating Florian. I think Florian is finally getting his bearings in the UFC. Great fights for this show and I was very happy with the results.

The World Cup games this weekend were crazy. The yellow cards are still being handed out like candy and it caused the Netherlands vs. Portugal game to turn into a zoo.

Other than that I've been working like a savage trying to get our College Toolbars project going 100%. Its great and I'm pretty excited about it.

2006 FIFA World Cup - USA vs. ITaly

2006-06-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

I went and watched team USA soccer play at Fox and The Hound English pub in Baton Rouge. It was a great time as there were about 40 other people there to watch the match. I was glad we weren't the only people in Baton Rouge thinking that you've gotta go in a European style bar and hang out for a soccer game.

Huge controversy around the referee making alot of bad calls with the two red cards against the USA and I've got to agree. I'm not an experienced soccer fan but that referee was handing them out like halloween candy. My friend who is an experienced soccer player was having a fit over the calls in the match. But our team tied and we're still alive so go Italy against the Czech Republic.

I think after this years world cup I'll start watching more soccer matches. The USA does have Major League Soccer so probably some of that. I'd love to watch some European soccer such as the FA Premier League. We shall see!

The Ultimate Fighter Season Three Finishes

2006-06-15T23:08:00.000-05:00

Watched two hours of UFC Ultimate Fighter tonight and it was pretty good. No where near as good as las weeks show & fight but still fun.

Watching a bunch of 20 something year old guys have immature arguments over nothing was kind of fun but got old. That kid Rory acts like he's about 14 years old and doesn't have the mental fortitude to go far. The fight was decent and Ed Herman showed some decent ground and pound but it was all slow. It looked like they were moving in slow motion during the fight. I don't see him beating Kendall Groves in the finals. I think we watched the real finals show last week and Kendall will wipe him out in 2 rounds.

The second show was much better since it was two fights and very little b.s. First fight between Jesse and Josh was pretty damn entertaining. Josh is a tough s.o.b. thats absolutely determined to win while Jesse is just a young silly kid. Jesse's athleticism got the better of Josh in the first round but his total lack of actual fighting ability wouldn't allow him to finish. Jesse came out gassed in the second and got choked out in another "duh I'm easy" submission.

Ross Pointon vs. Michael Bisping went exactly the way I expected it to. Ross put up a good fighter because he's a true warrior but Michael caught him with a shocking knee. Nice one! Ross tried to continue but couldn't recover. I was happy and sad at this outcome. I love Ross and his spirit but Bisping showed the whole time during TUF3 that he's got the attitude, smarts and ability to be the next big thing. I hope Ross recovers, gets better rounded and comes back to fight more in the states. Bisping is the guy I'm picking 100% in the finals. That guy's got ability and he'll be big in the next two years.

Then we have more bull between Tito and Ken to finish the show. Shamrock comes off like a total idiot in the show. I hope its all spin for his sake. Tito Ortiz handles himself pretty damn well I must say. I'll be in Tito's corner for that fight.

FIFA World Cup Football Tournament

2006-06-14T22:16:00.000-05:00

I've been watching World Cup Soccer every day for since it started and getting mroe into it. Funny how all of a sudden at 28 I've decided to become a soccer fan. The action is pretty cool except its kind of hard to get over the fact that there is almost no scoring. For example the USA got beat by the Chechs 3-0 in their opener. Thats like LSU losing to Ole Miss 56-0 in an American style football game. Yet the whole time the fans are going totally insane even in a match like say France's opener where the score was 0-0. A total shoot-out is when the score is 3-2.

Anyhow I don't know why but I find myself enjoying the game more and more. I think just the energy and passion of the players and fans makes it fun to watch. Lack of energy and people not really caring is what makes professional baseball and basketball in America suck so bad for me now days.

I think I'll start looking into getting World Cup Soccer tickets for 2010. The event looks like a total blast.

The Ultimate Fighter 3 - Semi Finals

2006-06-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

Just got done watching the first semi-finals show for UFC's The Ultimate Fighter season 3 and man it was the best showing of this reality show in all three seasons. They got the formula right with the reality of the subject as well as the quality of the fighting.

The little side game this week was fun and great to watch. Ken Shamrock the pool hustler!!! Dana announced a $10,000 pool game between the coaches and Ken immediately busted up with "I can't play pool". lol great stuff. Tito shows he feels its in the bank because Ken says he doesn't play pool. They get over to the pool table and......wait a minute...Ken runs the table! AND THEN DOES IT AGAIN to take the 10k. wow. Ken Shamrock you hustler! Those guys are so competitive you can tell how much Ken loves winning and Tito hates losing even in a pool game. Good stuff.

As most people probably suspected Matt Hamill was injured and couldn't continue. At this point Tait Fletcher was offered the chance to fight again in the semi finals and he turned down Dana White. I was completely stunned at this point as were Tito, Ken and Dana. If you brand yourself enough a warrior to compete in MMA as a career then you take any and every fight thrown in front of you. If they bring you in there and promise you a contract if you fight the Iceman then you do it! You might get your butt kicked but you fight the man with all you have. Tait struck me as a warrior but proved that not to be the case when he turned down this opportunity. Kristian also turned down the fight but I was less suprised because I feel he decided he didn't want MMA as a career. Mike Nickels is revealed to also be injured so they have no fighter for 205!!! At this point the reality of the fight is crazy and I'm standing in the living room stunned because they have no guy.....Who's going to fight? Then Dana says I have the guy...

Ross Pointon from the middleweight competition!!!

I'm totally stoked at this point as Ross walks into the meeting and you know this guy isn't turning down any fight ever!! They sit him down, ask him if he wants the opportunity and with that heavy accent Ross accepts happily even before knowing he'll be fighting at 205. "Lets do it man." I love this guy and was sad to see him go when he lost. I think he'll put up a great fight and even possibly win it. Either way he's a winner as the UFC has shown itself to be generous down the road in allowing fighters who showed great heart and some ability to get onto their later fight cards. Fighting Kendal after cutting weight and against a much larger man at 6'6" was tough for him but he gave it a good one. I think he'll still an underdog against Bisping but he'll give it his best and maybe win!! Great TV and fun.

At this point I'm more than happy with the show but its fight time with two monsters fighting one another. 6'6" Kendall vs. 6'3" Kalib. This fight was a complete throw down with alot of very heavy shots thrown by both men. Kendall showed he's got to be the toughest man in the entire competition. His cardio is excellent, he took some serious shots from Kalib and didn't even seem winded. Kalib couldn't take those big long legs banging against his body and quit early in the third round due to hurt ribs. I think Kalib wasn't used to fighting guys who challenged him so much physically and just gave up. Broken or cracked ribs wouldn't have allowed him to compete as he did. He'll be back though.

Great show. I'm ready for the next one already. I think that Kendall has already earned a ticket to some big fights on UFC PPV showings with his performances. He's definitely been the standout fighter through the competition. I think that Ross Pointon is the biggest warrior on the competition even though he's probably the shortest at 5'8". Big props to that guy for taking the fight at 205 without a moments hesitation. He's a fighter and win or lose nobody can take that away from him.

Good job on season 3 so far UFC.

I survived the Smoky Mountains

2006-05-31T13:53:00.000-05:00

Well after 24 hours worth of driving, a 3 day stay in a tourist trap called Gatlinburg, TN and a wedding that lasted all of about 15 minutes I'm back and ready to work. I can't wait until the weekend to recover from my vacation.

The best thing I can say for Gatlinburg is that they've got a place called the Smoky Mountain Brewery thats got some killer food and great beer.

The Ultimate Fighter TV Show

2006-05-26T08:39:00.000-05:00

Interesting episode where it was all about wrapping up the first round of 185 fights. Ed Herman is obviously in the heads of the rest of the guys and its looking like the semis are going to be fun to watch.

The fight went pretty much like everyone expected. Danny got his punchers chance landing a big right to Ed's jaw but instead of continuing a stand up game he clinched, got taken down and eventually beaten. Four weeks at the camp and he didn't pick up enough grappling to stay on his feet. Ed looked pretty sloppy so it shouldn't have been a problem to keep it standing. I think his injuries were in his head as well and he just wanted to get it doen with.

Looking forward to seeing Matt fight next week. They really haven't shown what Mike Nickels has got and he might be the one to move on here. He's much more experienced in terms of real fighting from the sound of it. We'll see! Matt's an olympic wrestler and those guys always have a shot in any fight.

Good season so far.

The Ultimate Fighter TV Show

2006-05-19T10:53:00.000-05:00

As we all figured Jesse Forbes was brought back on the show lastnight. That gave a little momentum back to Team Shamrock that was taken away with the loss of Tait Fletcher to Josh Haynes. That decision was bull and there should've been a third round. There is no way that Josh did enough to win the second round.

If you're from Baton Rouge and looking to get into MMA or grappling I listed some places that I feel are good to learn JuJitsu, boxing, etc. My Baton Rouge Gym's & Martial Arts page will contain the places I've heard about around town.

I'm programming like a savage lately

2006-05-17T16:01:00.000-05:00

Meaning I am absolutely working my tail off programming. Learning new concepts, new languages and working in probably 8 different programming languages right now. Thats pretty much the only thing running through my mind right now besides SQL, PHP, PERL, JAVASCRIPT, AJAX, XML, DOM, C, VB, HTML. I'm sure I'm forgetting something in there but oh well. Its all in the mix.

The Ultimate Fighter TV Show

2006-05-13T15:47:00.000-05:00

Wow I absolutely couldn't believe that Noah Inhofer walked based on some obviously minor relationship problems that could've waited two weeks. The kid obviously doesn't have what it takes to make it in business if he drops a big opportunity based on an obviously planted piece of information. I wonder if they dropped little notes like that on several of the guys for the sake of creating drama in the reality show. Good twist to things.

I think we all know that Jesse Forbes will be the fighter returning despite the drama. Good for him and I think he deserves a second shot. The kids tough and with some training he could be extremely dangerous in the UFC.

Tito has been taking a few verbal jabs at Ken in the show that they've shown. He's got to be loving that he's pretty soundly defeating Shamrock in terms of coaching these guys. I tend to think that Shamrock is just so set in his ways of doing things that these modern fighters aren't responding well. The vibe is that the guys are hearing information from Ken and his coaches that is just completely different from what they've been learning in their home camps.

This stuff pumps me up alot. I've stepped up my personal fitness program to get on track to maybe get in and do some MMA competition. I've alot of martial arts experience with a Tang Soo Do blackbelt and a little over a year of Judo. I've also done some boxing training and think I'm pretty well rounded. If I continue to shape up well I'll probably go give Gladiator's Academy a shot here in Baton Rouge. Its a MMA training facility that seems to have some great coaches. I hope so, I think it could be fun!

Second Hand Dachshunds

2006-05-07T22:57:00.000-05:00

I like to program a few hours at home until my notebook gets too hot to sit on my lap. I get alot done and it helps my work performance as it gets tough to sit and program for 7-9 freaking hours a day at my work desk. However that recently became hard because my girlfriend let her dad pawn off his crybaby black Dachshund on us.

I have yet to figure out how to discipline this dog who insists on sitting next to the door and howling whenever he knows someone is home. This is regardless of whether or not you go outside and spend a deal of time for him or not. This Dachshund is like a damned rooster as he starts howling at the door when the sun comes up hoping someone will go outside for their morning cigarette. He doesn't listen, he isn't trained and no amount of attention is enough to satisfy him.

I guess he's just lonely. I've thought about getting him a friend but that'd be two dogs and if it wasn't a solution then I'd probably just have more problems. We'll be giving him away soon but for Christ's sake I need to get some work done without this howling!

Ok....time to go to bed.

Flash Flood and Water Soaked Carpet

2006-04-30T22:25:00.000-05:00

Talk about no rest for the wicked. I work hard all week and start a somewhat relaxing weekend and then all hell breaks loose Saturday night. Flash flood puts water in the front two rooms of my house while I'm in Lake Charles. I haven't left town in months, it hasn't rained in months and they both happen at the same time. So until 5 am I'm cleaning up water and pulling up the carpet and then sunday goes right out the window.

On the bright side I got to learn all about carpet, how it goes in, what to do when it gets wet, etc, etc. Ended up throwing out the carpet since it looked pretty nasty under there from age and maybe a previous soaking. Good times.

Computer Programming: 1 Jerry: 0

2006-04-28T10:25:00.000-05:00

Sometimes as a programmer you just feel like you're lost in a tunnel. I've been working on so many aspects of the same project that I feel a little bit lost right now. So I'm taking a little break for a few minutes and blogging a bit before going back into the fray of things.

The Ultimate Fighter

Lastnight Michael Bisping showed himself to be the real deal knocking out our Louisiana hometown boy Kristian Rothaermel. If I'm not mistaken there's been a guy form Louisiana in all three shows and I'm sure this one and the last. Neither have done so well. One guy couldn't cut weight last year and Kristian just ran into one tough Brit in Michael Bisping. Kristian represented well in his behavior though and I'm happy about that. Alot of those guys make real fools of themselves.

So far Michael is looking like the only real deal fighter for the light heavyweight division. Tito has it big for this Matt Hamill kid but I get the feeling he's all enthusiam. We'll see though as you can never tell with this reality TV spin b.s. Its great having one new fight a week to watch though.

Well I feel better. Funny how pulling your mind away only for a second can clear your thoughts.

New Orleans and Ray Nagin are embarrassing

2006-04-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

Well Ray Nagin came away holding on to the vote in the New Orleans mayor elections this weekend. I can't believe the people of New Orelans would re-elect someone who handled everything about the hurricane Katrina disaster so badly. All he did for the disaster is get in the way and point his finger at everyone else. Since then time and time again he's embarrassed New Orleans and Louisiana with absurd and often senseless comments.

I'm glad I don't live there.

UFC 59 was a good Pay Per View

2006-04-17T22:45:00.000-05:00

Checked out UFC 59 this weekend and it was pretty enjoyable. The only let down on the whole show was another quick heavyweight title fight as Tim Sylvia dropped Andrei Arlovski in a bizarre exchange that looked light a street fight. I also would've liked to see Horn vs. Tanner but Gumbi got hurt so some poor guy got submitted by Tanner. I'm glad that Ortiz won because I'd hate to see him going in against Shamrock off of a loss. It'd be loser vs has been if that were the case and nothing would come of it. Now we have a fight with title implications behind it.

Seems like the guys at Sherdog thought the fight card was good too.

I finally got accepted as a DMOZ editor for the ODP

2006-04-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

After more effort than I thought it'd be I was accepted as a DMOZ editor for Baton Rouge Restaurants this week. As you can see when I ranted about web development not too long back I finally tried to become an editor, was turned down and had to re-apply. They're really cautious(rightfully so) about who they let edit because of the potential for abuse.

I'm looking forward to working with DMOZ because I want to expand the quality of Baton Rouge area web listings so that absolute garbage will not make it to the top of the SERPS when people are just looking for simple local information.

Been watching The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV

2006-04-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm watching the second show of the third installment of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV. So far I've enjoyed the 3rd season and its fairly different from the past shows. They've gone out of their way to get a cast of real characters in Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock and a bunch of whacky fighters.

A big plus is they picked guys that are hard and real fighters as opposed to too many quitters and weaker guys in the second. The show started really slow for season two and season three didn't have that problem. These guys are all here to fight. Cheers to Dana White or whoever is in charge of picking these guys.

They're ruining Tito Ortiz's image man!!! He's supposed to be a punk and he's coming off as a hell of a coach and a genuinely nice guy. It doesn't look to me like spin. They better watch themselves or they'll have a guy everyone wants to cheer for instead of against. I already like him better than Shamrock.

I'm liking Spike TV's programming with the UFC. I'm not much of a wrestling fan these days but I see these TNA commercials and I might give it a look so good pairing there. This weekend is the UFC pay per view and I'll be watching. I haven't done any market research lately to see how its working out for the UFC and Spike but I imagine their viewership is up.

On The Immigration Issue

2006-04-12T21:35:00.000-05:00

I have no problem with hard working South and Central Americans wanting to move to the United States and work but doing so illegally is a huge problem and I want Congress to enforce it.

Why?

Because they're breaking the law for starters. I can't break the law without getting in trouble so why should they? For example I have read that illegal immigrants are getting in car accidents without insurance and can't be prosecuted because they're not citizens. Not to mention they're coming in illegally in the first place!

Because they're in the street waving the Mexican flag. If you want to be in the US at least get the right flag. They want to take over and are making no bones about showing they have no love for the USA beyond taking money from us.

Because most of them work here without paying taxes because they have no SSN and then they send the money back home.(costing us money.) Because illegals are also costing us money in things like health care, border control and they're bringing illegal drugs into the country.

Bottom line is its illegal, its wrong and Congress should do something about it.

NCAA Tournament Over

2006-04-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

I'm sad that the NCAA tournament is over because it was just so much fun to watch this year. The only team that didn't let me down in the brackets was that of the Florida Gators. Joakim Noah is an absolute animal and I love watching this guy play despite the fact that so many other LSU fans express dislike for the guy. They talk about him as cocky and ghetto but I don't find that at all. He's an extreme competitor and the tougher the game the harder he plays. I love watching him play. Noah seems to rub alot of people wrong as he even had a slight disagreement with the UCLA Cheerleaders. This guy has the makings of being a great star in the NBA with all his personality and ability.

Its too bad we're starting to lose all these great players to the professionals so early in their careers. If all the big time players leave for the NBA so early then it hurts the quality of competition in the NCAA. There is supposedly a rule going into effect that causes players to have to get one year of college but I don't feel thats enough if they want to maintain quality. Two such as the policy of the NFL would be a better idea. Teams like LSU, Florida and UCLA seem like they'll be stripped bare by NBA defections before next year. People like to talk about young teams but if players don't stay a team for long than a year its a point not even worth mentioning.

I've started ranking in Google for LSU Basketball....strange

2006-03-30T14:40:00.000-06:00

Strange some of the topics that I end up ranking for at Google when I just post regularly at my website. Most recently I saw in Google Sitemaps that my LSU Page has started ranking for LSU Basketball due to me posting a little something everytime our fighting Tigers pull off another amazing basketball game.

The funny thing is that people want to rank for this stuff with their businesses and can't(or they pay for it) simply because they're too lazy to write an original page on a subject such as the LSU Tigers. Too lazy to write....sad.

Well my system administrator just fixed my server so I can get back to trying to make some programmed magic happen. Geaux LSU Tigers in the Final Four

LSU beats Duke to advance to Elite 8

2006-03-24T15:06:00.000-06:00

One of those times I'm glad to be wrong when I had LSU losing to Duke and the Blue Devils winning the NCAA tournament. Sometimes its so sweet to be wrong about something. What a game, what a game.

99 anti-spyware companies on the wall....99 anti-spyware comanies...yeah

2006-03-22T14:56:00.000-06:00

We've all heard the 99 bottles of beer song before well lately I've felt like that concerning writing anti-spyware companies concerning them detecting the College Toolbar even though the toolbar isn't spyware. Reason for the detection being that so many companies come up with bad toolbars that when you develop a good one you've got to work extra hard to not have it pestered by anti-spyware applications. Kudos to all the anti-spyware companies out there though as they're on top of updating their systems. Hopefully we'll be able to get the word out on the College Toolbar and all this will be a beer drinking memory.

Too bad I didn't do all this research earlier when my notebook computer was infected with spyware strike. Yuk.

Hey People are trying my firefox toolbar

2006-03-09T22:31:00.000-06:00

I created a firefox toolbar from hand learning about how Firefox extensions work and created a page about it on my website. Well apparently Google and Yahoo thought my cool toolbar page was..well....cool. So now I notice that people are actually downloading and using my toolbar thats primarily just a bunch of programming, tools, seo, design and news links that I use daily. I thought that was pretty cool that others would try out my little tool so I registered with Mozilla's addon site and submitted my toolbar. We'll see how that goes but regardless I'm very entertained that one person would use my search & bookmark toolbar.

I've been reading the reports from Search Engine Strategies

2006-03-02T08:19:00.000-06:00

Over the last few days I've been watching Search Engine Watch Blog reports as they come in on whats going on at SES. Its always very interesting stuff and I like to see if I've been keeping up with the times according to the experts from Google, Yahoo and the likes. This time I'm right on top of things and appear to be pushing in the right direction as far as development goes. My primary development testing ground is my personal website and I've made alot of behind the scenes changes so that it better exists in todays Internet. The best thing about technology conferences such as SES is that all the perspectives give you new perspective on whats going on with the World Wide Web.

In other news I did some house cleaning on my website and got more organized over the weekend so that I could roll out my Jerry Odom RSS Feed and I'm starting to work on the individual categories on my website so they each have their own feed. Pretty fun work. I always like working with XML type technologies at our company because they're easy but they can do big things.

College Toolbars has been coming along swimmingly. I've been testing our toolbars on Internet Explorer 7 and they look great. I would say the logos look better than on IE6 and the product seems to run smoother. Good job Microsoft so far on the new browser.

Been playing with Google Base

2006-02-21T15:32:00.000-06:00

Google has started a service called Google Base that allows you to share your online stuff and just "stuff in general" with other people. From my first look at it I think its probably purposed to compete with Craig's list in offering up a way for everyone to find something about anything. Its pretty neat as you can fill out a profile of sorts on any given concept and give it attributes. This includes webpages, recipes, people, rentals, jobs, places and the list goes on forever. So I filled out a google base item for my Jambalaya Recipe and another item for myself and my website JerryOdom.com.

Very neat stuff as I never used Craig's list. Craigs list looks alot like a messageboard to me where as there is more structure to this thing. I remember recent news about Craig's list taking issue with people listing their pages and I think this included Google's spidering of it.(can't find the article.) Google must've decided its time to take on this sort of project and it'll be interesting how things go once(if) it goes out of Beta.

Baton Rouge Mardi Gras = Bad Weather

2006-02-19T02:13:00.000-06:00

I was thinking of checking out more Baton Rouge Mardi Gras Parades this year but due to horrible weather and a nasty cold and fever I've yet to make it to any of them. Crazy Louisiana weather has been nice during the weekdays and miserable on the weekends as if to torture us. Well hopefully I'll make it to the ever popular Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade this year.

Mardi Gras Parades 2006

I haven't been down to New Orleans Mardi Gras for 2006 yet. I don't know if I want to go. It feels a bit wrong to head down there after all thats going on with people that I know still trying to rebuild. Mardi Gras is probably a nice diversion from all the troubles around but I don't know. Maybe its wrong or maybe I'm just under the weather and lazy.

The common cold sucks

2006-02-14T16:43:00.000-06:00

I must say that whoever comes up with the cure for a common cold will be the richest person on the planet. This Valentines day I wake up with a fever caused by a sore throat. Whats more is that I felt the sore throat coming on in the midnight hours of the morning by a drip in the back of my throat.

How do I know its the common cold?

Well I'm writing this blog in one of the 20-40 minute windows when I don't just want to sleep. Curious I looked up The Common Cold at wikipedia. They have all sorts of historical information from Egypt to Europe on the common cold. Neat.(yes you can feel the enthusiasm) Well time to crash back out. Maybe next time I wake up I'll write the installer for my Firefox extension.

Firefox Extensions Toolbar Tutorial for 1.5.0.1

2006-02-07T09:23:00.000-06:00

I've just learned writing Firefox Extensions in the last two weeks and wouldn't you know that the good people from Firefox would change the way their browser behaves in the last week. So the Tutorial I used from Jonah Bishop didn't work anymore because of new ways that Chrome is handled. You now need the chrome manifest. In addition a few aspects of the Mozilla / Firefox Extension Tutorial no longer worked because of small things such as extension ID's changing.(no longer sample@foo.net allowed)

Firefox Extension Toolbar that works!

I was however able to put the two tutorials together and develop a Google toolbar lite of Jonah's that worked. But man I have bad timing on learning something new!

Ebay is consistently good for buying Mustang Parts

2006-01-30T15:09:00.000-06:00

I have to give it to Ebay Motors in that they are constantly good for buying new and used but good parts for classic cars like my 1969 Mustang and Suspension parts. If I hadn't been using them I'd be probably over $1000 further in the hole on my Mustang project.

Just old car parts or just hobbies?

I think that Ebay is more than just a savior for those buying classic car parts. There are tons of deals on anything that is hobby(ish). Why? Because people buy things for hobbies or projects and then don't use them. They lose interest in the project then do what? Have a garage sale.

The point is thank you Ebay for being one of the great services derived from the Internet.

Working on my Mustang has been tough

2006-01-19T08:55:00.000-06:00

I decided to post this general rant on my blogger blog because its just so random and kind of a complain fest. God just doesn't want me working on my Ford Mustang project lately. I've been trying to work a bit faster so I can put up a video on the matter but it just hasn't been going that well. Friends keep having can't miss events on the weekend and its cut into my time which is very valuable on the weekends because I have to drive 30 minutes to work on the car, 30 minutes back. When I finally get that front end back on I'll be so happy because I'll be able to move it and work on it multiple days in my own garage!

LSU Basketball

I've been checking out LSU mens basketball which is killer fun to watch this year. I saw the Tennessee game in person and damn I had a good time. Everyone get out and go support our team this year!