dustinfluke.com

You wont find any flowers in my hair, and it’s not like summer either. It is freaking cold when one is used to the mid to upper 90’s of Kansas. That’s right, I’m in San Francisco for the 7th annual WebCT conference. I had an interesting time getting here too. Sparing details, I arranged for a last minute flight in order to arrive for my three pre-conference workshops and the regular conference.

I find San Francisco to be an interesting place. I flew into Oakland because that’s where Southwest flies (via LAX) and with the help of someone local to guide me I found myself taking the bart subway/train to a station close to my hotel. It was an interesting experience – a little frightening too. It was about 9:45 pm and although it was a Sunday the streets were buzzing with people. Among them are quite a few bums/beggars/homeless types of folk. We’ll get to that later.

Monday night I took off touring the local shopping. Among my first stops right across the street was the Apple store. Hooah! This place was awesome. It sure beats the one back at Kansas City’s Plaza. I was immediately impressed with the all glass staircase in the center of the store. Upstaris they had a genius counter and a small presentational area setup like a movie theatre where newcomers could learn about Mac OS Tiger.

My second stop was at the Segafredo espresso shop. It was really good coffee. I had a pannini sandwich, a single shot of espresso and a cafe mocha to go. I had trouble going to sleep last night. I wonder why? After that I just walked around for a while; a little too long. I got a little turned around and found myself in an area of town that my mini map didn’t have. I ran into a guy who asked me if I knew where I was going. To be honest, I didn’t and the street I was headed toward had two guys sleeping on the ground and a group of people with matching leather jackets at the end of the street. So I told him I was headed back to fourth street and of course, he informed me "Well, you don’t wanna go down that way to get there." I ended up walking with the guy three to four blocks. We talked about all the good places to see and eat, to which he asked "So can you give me a lift?" I gave him a few bucks to get some dinner. I figure it was worth it being I was definitely headed toward a not so great area of town.

Today I took the 1/2 day I had free to go to Fisherman’s Wharf. It was busy, and I ran into a couple of guys selling bay tours on a boat. "Golden Gate! Alcatraz! 1 hour guided tour! Ten dollars! Half price from down the street" I thought to myself, "I can’t even eat dinner around this place for ten bucks!" So I got on the boat. It was fantasitc. I love being on the water and while it was very cold the two gentleman had blankets and jackets for those that needed them. It was well worth the ten dollars, and I had a really good time. After I got back I ventured down to Pier 39. It’s the most packed area I’ve ever been in (besides the trolley cars I took to get there). It should be called 39 Sardines, because that’s what I felt like. Street performers all around I got the chance to see some guys breakdancing. It was pretty sweet.

After I got back downtown I remembered that Aaron said San Fran had wasabi funyuns(his wife works for Frito Lay). They aren’t available yet back home, so I found some at the Walgreens around the corner, and the corner around the block which has another Walgreens two blocks from it. They’re worse than Starbucks. Anyway, they’re good. Hopefully everyone will see them on the shelf soon.

For the next three days I’ve got a whole load of conference stuff. I saw a Peets Coffee three blocks away so I’m going to get down there sometime soon. I’ve heard lots of good things about them. I suppose we’ll see.

Happy Fourth!

In recent events my mother in law is currently at KUMED. She went in for carotid artery surgery and had some problems – three strokes. Details aside, I’d like to wish her the best and hope that everyone pray for her recovery. As of today, she’s getting better. It’ll be a long recovery but she’s doing better than expected.

As a result of all the hullabaloo, our annual fireworks party consists of a few family members, but nothing huge like we usually have. My electronic ignition project this year is postponed. All in all, it’s okay. There is always next year. I’m not worried about the fireworks anymore, or the projects, just my mother in law.

For everyone else, have a great, wonderful fourth of July!

I’ve discovered the tool that is going to revolutionize blogs forever.
Over at flickr, Lifehacker takes photos and posts them as what’s known as a lifehack, or, something to make life easier. Props to whoever came up with this first.

Okay, it’s a joke, but I still liked it.

Silliness aside, I throroughly enjoyed their section on digital photography. A preview of what you can do:

• Ten simple digital photography tips
• Create a stop motion film
• Botanical Art
• Turn a photo into a cartoon

There’s tons more. My favorite things have to deal with Flickr, because I’m a n00b. I definitely recommend everyone add this to their bookmarks.

Today it was announed that Battlefield 2 has gone GOLD!
It looks like my productivity is going downhill from here. :)

Today Firefox celebrates their 50,000,000th download on Spread Firefox.

Congratulations Firefox!

As a contest, they’re giving away minted coins to celebrate. I really had my hopes up when I created a special character in City of Heroes MMORPG called "spreadfirefox " for www.spreadfirefox.com. Sadly, they haven’t accepted my entry yet as a winner. I really want one of those coins! I’m not sure how backlogged they are, but when people are frosting cakes and winning coins, I certainly think my idea is well worth one too. I suppose we’ll wait and see.

Dear website,

How’ve you been doing? It’s been a long time since we’ve talked; almost a month. I’m sorry I’ve been so busy lately. With the new arrival, school, and everything else I just haven’t had the time to spend with you lately. I know you need some new CSS to wear. I’ll make some soon. I was on vacation last week and I didn’t even hit your homepage. We’ll catch up soon. -Dustin

In this issue:

• An update
• Happy Birthday Gaby! ? 3 years old!
• Congrats to the Goselands! Baby Bryant is here.
• Half-Life 2 review
• The Home
• Work things

An update

This last week I reinstalled Windows XP to fix a random rebooting problem I was experiencing. It may not have fixed the problem, we?ll see. It may be related to hardware. With homework and everything else going on in life, I just haven?t had much time to dedicate to dustinfluke.com. Hopefully I?ll get back on track soon. I?ve already missed too much. Here?s a brief recap of things going on.

Gaby is three

This last Saturday, Nov. 20 Gaby turned 3. I don?t have pictures yet, but will update as soon as I can. I?ll have to scan these in. She had a spiderman birthday at the local gymnastics spot we go every Thursday to have tumbling classes, a.k.a. ?exercise.? Gaby loves it. She had seven friends show up to participate, as well as all the family.

Congrats to the Goselands

Jeff Goseland(nice starwars font) and family had their baby boy, Bryant on Nov. 18. I got an e-mail tonight from Jeff with the report. My opinion, looks like Jeff! Congratulations Jeff and DeAnn. (I?m sure I misspelled her name).

Half-Life 2

So, I took November 16 off for one main reason ? to play Half-Life 2. I?ve been looking forward to this game for a long, long time. I ended up taking some poker winnings and purchased the silver package off of steam. I got all the old games, a few more I?ve never played, as well as Counter Strike: Source. As I played Counter-Strike, I couldn?t help but grovel at the features I was expecting for Half-Life 2. The graphics, and realistic gravity were all the features that make the game so lifelike. This is even expanded in Half-Life 2 with the assortment of weapons one can use.

My review of the game isn?t going to be in depth, nor scientific. I?m running it on an AMD 1.7Ghz, Radeon 9500 pro, w/ 512MB ram. It?s not rocket blazing fast, but it does the game justice. As soon as I win my next poker tournament at Harrahs, I?m getting an upgrade. :)

So, the game rocks. It kicks more ass than I could have imagined. I was stoked playing CS, but now I?m in heaven. I don?t even care about World of Warcraft. It?s not really my type of game anyway. I don?t have the time for it. Everyone said they thought DOOM 3 was the almighty game. Don?t count me wrong ? I love DOOM 3. I still haven?t finished it. I?ll have to say that I like Half-Life 2 more than DOOM 3 There, I said it. I like DOOM 3 for different reasons. Its super scary and gets my heart pumping. It?s a great game. What sets HL2 apart from DOOM 3 is that HL2 is more fun to play. The gravity gun is amazing. When you get to Ravenhold, you?ll know it too. Do yourself a favor. Get this game so I can frag you over and over!

The Home

My time at home gets eaten up by homework and family. Recently, I finished up Gaby and soon to be sister Kadyn?s rooms. I?ll have photos soon. I?ll likely mix them with Gaby?s birthday photos. Laura is doing fine. She?s due Jan 28. Gaby opted for the pretty princess Disney room. I got a new Bullseye lazer level from Black & Decker, and absolutely love it. It makes hanging that border super easy. Not to mention, it?s really fun to play with in the dark. On a personal note, I?m currently taking Visual Basic .Net and Sociology. I hate sociology. My teacher is a weird deviation of Mr. Rogers. He calls everyone ?neighbors?, ?onliners?,? and puts everything in quotes?. I only have 2 more classes and one petition for credit before I?m done with my Associates in Web Design! Horray!

Work things

This last Friday, we had an open house over at Washburn?s ITS Bennett building. It was great. Patrick and J.D. served up some live music, and we had a good time conversing. Kevin and I created a collage out of old magazines. It was fun. Our new WebTech starts on the 29th. I?ll be doing some intensive training over the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday I became an official staff member/writer for Bet Fest It’s a fairly new poker site dedicated to everything about poker. The slogan – “Poker is our Sport”

There are some articles for beginners, the World Series of Poker, and even an amusing bit about how to beat women in poker.

I plan to write an article based on my experience tonight. A few of us are going up to the local Harrahs Indian casino to play in the $40 no limit hold ‘em tournament. Kevin is celebrating his birthday there.