November 24, 2007 at 1:27 PM · Filed under Cool, Games
This weekend, I had a chance to play the latest music play-a-long video game, Rock Band, which is the natural successor to the Guitar Hero line of games. Now, don’t get me wrong, Guitar Hero is an amazing game, but Rock Band blows it away because it’s so much more fun to get a bunch of your friends together collaborating on a game. It’s also more diverse, because now you get to try to master 4 different instruments/vocals. You’ll want to keep switching up so everyone gets a chance on everything (guitar, drums, bass and vocals). You’ll soon figure out who’s good at what.
Available for Xbox 360 and Playstation (2 and 3). Make sure you get the bundle with the drums, guitar, bass and mic if you don’t already have any instruments.
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November 19, 2007 at 12:39 AM · Filed under KJH News, Misc
Ok, the title of this essay should really be more along the lines of “Why Having a Job isn’t Exactly the Best Idea”, but that doesn’t have a nice ring to it like the current title, does it?
For those of you that know me, I recently started a new full-time job after being primarily a contractor/consultant for over 7 years. About 1 week into it, it hit me that I made a terrible decision. Why? Mainly - Time. I hear you asking “what is he talking about?” It’s quite simple really. I was never consistently a full-time employed contractor. Sometimes I was part-time, sometimes, 3/4-time, sometimes even more than 40 hrs/week. While I’m always struggling for time enough to cut deeply into my To Do list, I haven’t been this strapped for that precious commodity in years. Trying to run a side business while working a full-time j-o-b is not easy. I have new-found admiration for all of those so-called ‘overnight successes’ who bootstrapped businesses while working a full-time gig. I simply never realized how important and valuable my time was. To know something academically isn’t the same as experiencing it.
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November 3, 2007 at 2:26 PM · Filed under Internet, KJH News, Misc
Not too long ago, Netbank was shut down by the Feds, and their main banking assets were acquired by ING Direct for a song. I was a loyal Netbank customer for about 10 years, and enjoyed it tremendously. While I became complacent with the (initially good) rates, and stopped looking for better deals, for the most part I got what I needed.
Netbank was probably the first online only banking entity to not only offer above average rates, but also free bill payment. One feature that I didn’t even knew existed when I signed up, but immediately loved, was the ability to write someone a check from within the website and have Netbank print out and mail the check. Free. When I told friends and family about this, they either didn’t believe me and/or were amazed that that existed, more so when I sent them a check!
Lots of banks now offer this feature, but my vague memory tells me that Netbank pioneered this. I’ve started the process of migrating my accounts to ING Direct, as they appear to have what I need for bill payment and have great interest rates, and I don’t really want to spend lots of time researching new banks.
BTW, for those of you wondering how this has affected, the short answer is not at all. My money was FDIC insured, and I think the Netbank site may have been down for less than a day while ING Direct did some tweaking in the background to get it all under their control, but other than that, everything still looks, feels and is the same for me and the rest of the Netbank customers. The only impending thing is that I get the distinct impression that ING is trying to phase out the Netbank services and bring us under their main umbrealla of services. Makes sense for them.
Thanks Netbank. It’s too bad you didn’t manage to stick around and benefit from the fruits of your pioneering work, but I was glad to be along for the ride.
