maple’s.fortunes

Well, I got a camera phone the other day, and it is pretty fun. I took this picture well riding my bike. I would show you more, but I have to configure somethings before I do this again.

Well, as you have probably noticed, I am currently trying out new styles. No, I am not just applying different templates, I am modifying the one I had before. That’s the beauty of CSS, the ease of modification. Anyways, you will notice changes around the site. If you find something odd, or don’t like something, or like something please do tell. Also, if you have any general comments about it, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Joel

Well, I don’t usually do this, but I thought it was going to change and it didn’t. The last test I wrote, I didn’t think I did to well on. I got it back and had gotten 21.25/22. I was like, “Meh, that’s alright” then he, being Mr. Barillas, my teacher, informed everyone that the test would only be out of 21. Instead of the original 22. Then Amy, curious as to per what some who got over 21 would get, posed the question. We were then informed that those of us who got over 21 would get over 100%, this made me pretty happy, as it would bump my mark up instead of make it go down. So, anyway, today we got a progress card, and my mark is still at 99%, hasn’t changed since the first time I got below a 100%. So far this semester I have less than 2 questions wrong. I’m not doing this to brag or anything, just sharing my thoughts. That’s all, I promise. And you now this is true, because I never do this type of thing.

Well, today is my sister’s birthday. I just wanted to publicly acknowledge how special she is. She is a wonderful sister, and an even better friend. Hope you have the best day, and once again, happy birthday!

Well, the title of this post really has nothing to do with the content of the actual post itself. I have decided to mention some of my favourite programs in hopes of converting some of you away from Microsoft. In light of recent events pertaining to certain failures and crashes caused by Microsoft products, I have been slowing switching over to various free, open source programs. For those of you that aren’t the most technologically inclined, open source means that the source code of the program is available to you, as the user, to take and modify as you please. Anyways, back to the topic at hand, a couple months back I switched over to Mozilla Firefox. Now I know what some of you are thinking, “How could a nerd, such as Joel, not already switched over?” Well, due to certain circumstances I was not able to do so.

Mozilla Firefox is a wonderful web browser! It is a lot safer that Microsoft Internet Explorer, and is way cooler. It has tabbed browsing and a built in RSS reader. There are numerous extensions and plugins that do everything from tell you the Google page rank to controlling your media player, whatever that may be. I also switched over to Mozilla Thunderbird as my email client. After many years with Microsoft Outlook, I finally made the switch after getting tired of the constant errors, and sudden crashes of the aforementioned program. So far, I am extremely happy with the switch. The built spam blocker actually works, unlike Outlook’s. It has a nice clean, sleek look. It, like Firefox, has extensions, plugins and themes.

When I first downloaded Thunderbird, it did not have a Calendar, which one of the features I liked about Outlook. I went to the Mozilla site, and got a Calendar extension. I then came across Mozilla Sunbird. It is a stand alone calendar application. It works great! One thing I really like its ability to export the calendar as an iCalendar file, or a vCalendar file. It also has other exporting options, but I don’t really care about those. Anyways, Outlook did not allow the exportation of its calendar, at least not in these file types. Now, for the significance of these files, anyone who has an iPod out there, and uses it for more than music already knows the significance of these file types. These file types are the ones required by iPods for their calendar application. So, now I can have my calendar with me all the time. I had wanted to before, but Microsoft Outlooks would not allow it.

The next program that is worthy of my mention is iTunes. I switched over to iTunes when I got my iPod, but quickly learned what I had been missing out on. Back in the day, when we still used the HP as our main computer, I used Winamp. Its a pretty cool program, but not nearly as cool as iTunes. The odd occasion I would use Matchmaker Jukebox or whatever it was called. Now, in my opinion, this has to be one the worst media players, followed by Real Player. I then switched over to Windows Media Player, at around version 7. It was obviously cooler than Winamp, otherwise I would not have switched over. Anyways, since then I have been using it, right up to version 10. I used it right up to my iPod. iTunes does all that Windows Media Player does and more. Its ripping system is far better considering its not wma files. I know that you can rip into mp3 in WMP, but the quality is lacking. The AAC format of iTunes is far superior to wma. Anyone who has an iPod already knows why iTunes is better, and maybe some of the non iPod owners do as well, but who knows. Anyways, iTunes is a great program, and cane be found here. It is however not open source, which is fine.

With these programs and applications one can really start and move away from Microsoft. I know some people who will read this will think, “Why doesn’t this babbling idiot just switch to Linux?” I would love to switch over to Linux, but since this isn’t just my computer I can’t. But for those of you that can, go for it. I would also recommend Open Office. I have no personal experience with these programs, but from what I have heard they sound like pretty sweet programs. I would also switch over to them, but once again, this is just my computer, so we run into a situation there. Anyways, you’re probably all bored by now, so I’ll be finished.

This is a world premiere of my new flash animation. It is nothing special, but I did make it, so you should watch it. I made the complete one, with the intro and end in a total of about 30 minutes. I got bored in CTS class, so I made it. It may seem a little weird, but it is amazing what happens when you are extremely bored. Anyways, this is a wonderful, horribly animated cartoon, that I made, not for your viewing pleasure, but to solve my own bordness. Well, without further a do, I present Fire Breathing Devil, an animated short by Joel Steeves.

Fire Breathing Devil

This thing is pretty cool. Check it out!
I made this one.
Check it out here
Also, here is the link to the image of it, its a little more clear and defined. Check it out here