Como Tocar Por Tu Amor

Lately I've been feeling more and more motivated to start practicing guitar. My friend has been pushing me to do it for about 5 years. He has been using my guitar, which is better than just letting it sit in the closet for those 5 years. So lately now that I've been feeling more motivated to play, I've been listening to a lot of classical music and other various acoustic songs of interest. I've always like the guitar in Por Tu Amor, by Los Alacranes, but never could find a good tutorial on it.

I found this one on youtube by a user named Tanalyss who shows how to play the main part with just 4 chords. Even a noob like me understands this video pretty well.

What's This?!

What is this?!?! Hint, it isn't WoW. Shhhhhh, don't tell the guildies.

Server

For the last month or so I've been using an old family computer as a server. My initial motivation was to take every computer I could and create a beowolf cluster out of them. A beowolf cluster is a group of computers that are networked together to share processing power. After ruling out every single one of my old laptops (except my durable little dell pentium 1) due to hardware issues, I decided that in the end a beowolf cluster with the computers I had wasn't really worth the sweat.

While initially doing research and working on setting up the cluster, I also got the idea to use the server as a WoW (world of warcraft) private server. Around 5 years ago I had played on a private server with GM powers and I wanted the ability to that again + with friends. On a side note all of us still pay for and play often our typical WoW accounts.

The only laptop of mine that was still running great was my old pentium 1. I swear, besides my new asus, none of my computers lived up to my old dell pentium 1 inspiron. My step-dad recently got a new computer and that meant the old family desktop was sitting outside collecting dust. One thing about a desktop, any hardware problem can be fixed a lot easier than it could in a laptop. Let me note that the old desktop was not my computer and was not taken care of. It was in terrible condition when I opened it up to clean it out. The inside of the computer had cobwebs galore and about 1/5" of settled dust on everything. On top of the heat sink for the CPU, there was about a quarter inch thick of dust, and I mean thick. The power supply had dust all through it's insides and the cd drive no longer opened it was so clogged.

I took my 3 can's of air and thoroughly cleaned that computer out. I was able to get a WoW private server running on just the 512MB of RAM and the dual core 2.8 GHz CPU. The CPU didn't make all the difference since it was pretty much sitting at idle once the WoW login and world server was up and running. My main problem was memory since the programs for the WoW server were taking up all of my RAM and almost all of my paging file. I decided to up the memory to 2 gigs. The next problem that arose was a CPU that constantly sat at 70 degrees Celc. That processor shouldn't go above 68 degrees celc. I wasn't too surprised to see that the chip was overheating, especially considering all of the dust that had built up in there. The good news is that with a little bit of thermal glue I fixed the overheating problem easy. I barely see the CPU peak above 68 degrees unless I'm doing multiple things like running a virus scan and running other apps other than a browser at the same time.

My biggest lesson learned with this server is to not use Windows Server 2003. My original plan was to make an Ubuntu Server and I had given up on that plan after the WoW private server didn't run right (although I later found out I had missed some steps). Because I moved back to a windows environment I should have used Windows XP. Trying to find a free firewall and virus scanner for the server proved almost impossible. All of my favorites don't support Server 03' because it's used by corporations and not in private use. I also ran into a lot of driver problems because it seems like no driver has support for Windows 2000 or Server 2003.

I Want Translations for This Video!

Guilty!

I’m guilty of this with everyone

confessionsofagamergirl:

Everytime.

More Pets and Holiday Guild Ideas

Just noticed that Blizzard has released the Ragnaros and Moonkin Hatchling pets!  Naturally I had to buy them.  I’m a pet collecting whore I know.  At least I’m donating to charity when I buy one of these pets, or at least that’s what I tell myself to go to sleep at night. 

Buying the pets got me thinking, I should do something like this for my guild for the holidays.  So far my idea consists of either a 100 to 200 gold opt in.  It’s a lot, but at the same time not really.  I’m not sure what kind of contest it will be atm, but the 1st place person will be able to choose between a blizzard store pet or half the pot of gold from the opt ins.  The 2nd place winner will get the other item not choosen by the 1st place winner.

We’re a smaller guild, so I’m not to sure on how much participation we will see.  I’m working with my officers to get more ideas and to get them to participate.  Plus, if I give people enough time, we can see a bigger turn out.  A lot of people log in during the day when we aren’t even on.  No matter  what,   we’ll figure out a way to make it fun.

Technorati Tags: world of warcraft,WoW,pets,store,blizzard,contest,guild,holiday,christmas

Throwbacks and Showcasing Ultra Quality Settings

A unique thing about World of Warcraft is that you can look back on it much like you would RL (real life).  In game, relationships are formed between fellow guildies and other friends met in the online world.  Despite not knowing these people in RL, you spend so much time with them in the game world that the relationships formed are much like the ones formed outside of the game.  It’s not so much as remembering a persons avatar, but more so remembering their online name and the person behind that name.   If you spend a lot of time on just one server instead of many, you often run into the same people over and over again.  You may end up questing with someone you helped level in  a previous expansion or vice versa.  I’ve bumped into people, or invited people into my guild, that I realize I’ve ran with in the past.  *I’ve played the game for 5 years, so I can put an emphasis on past.* 

I recently blogged about a new computer that I bought and I have to say that I’m still very happy with my choice.  I’ve been running everything max settings and multi-tasking like a beast with no noticeable loss of performance.  I only have a couple of screen caps in game since the new settings, but I wanted to show the difference between now and the past.  Some of the past photos which will be labeled, are throwbacks to previous guilds and WoW experiences.

Taken with ultra settings, me and Malfurion Stormrage!

My friend Dylan riding my rocket (inside joke). Picture also taken with ultra settings.

A throwback picture on medium settings. This is the early days of Naxx and our guild at the time.

Another throwback. Medium settings. Left to right, brother’s ex, brother, and myself

Hopefully in the coming months we’ll be seeing more of these picture postings with my current guild, either in a raid or a BG, doesn’t matter.

Technorati Tags: world of warcraft,WoW,screen caps,pictures,throwback,ultra settings

Breaking in the New Computer

Breaking in the new computer, originally uploaded by seokid.

My newest edition to my collection of laptops! This laptop is a G37; part of Asus’ gaming laptops and it’s a beast. It can currently handle anything I throw at it with max settings, and then some. I had this running WoW (max settings) whist installing Starcraft 2, streaming internet radio, running Voip, and torrenting anime, all at the same time! That was with no impact to the performance of my gameplay. At least now I’m set for when Cataclysm comes out in December.

Specs:
1.75 Ghz I7 (/w turbo boost)
6GB DDR3 Ram
17.3”
640GB 5400RPM HDD (the weakest feature IMO)
ATI Mobility 5870

…and everything else that’s not as important to me

Halloween and Calculus 2

My Halloween, originally uploaded by seokid.

As you can see, I’m spending my Halloween prepping for my Calc 2 midterm tomorrow (and posting this of course). The worst thing about studying for my Calc midterms is that the time always get’s away from me. For example, I’ll set down my pen, confident that I have an understanding on the section and then woah! I look at my phone to see that 2.5 hours have already passed. Not fun when you have like 7 sections.

I may take a break in a bit, squeeze in an episode of Dollhouse. I also rented a couple of horror movies on the xbox. This way if I pull an all nighter, I have something to watch around my midnight break. Makes the long night go buy a lot easier.

The sections I have to study for this mid-term are
7.7 Approximating Integrals
7.8 Improper Integrals
8.1 Arc Length
8.2 Area of a Surface of Revolution
8.3 Moment and Center of Mass
10.1 Parametric Equations
10.2 Calculus with Parametric Curves
10.3 Polar Coordinates
10.4 Calculus with Polar Curves

Wish me luck!

——-UPDATE————-

Mojo says that’s enough studying for the night

——-UPDATE 2!!!————

It’s now 12pm and I think that calls for a tv break.  I think I can squeeze a horror movie in there, considering my Halloween has been pretty lacking

Bri's Birthday

   My sis’s (pictured far left) birthday was this last Tuesday, so my family held a get together today to celebrate it.  It’s been a long time (mom’s FB states 7 years) since we’ve had everyone under the same roof at the same time.  Everyone is so busy that no one’s schedule ever matches.  Crystal, who’s laying across everyone, is typically busy with her family.  We got to see who two sons today who are getting very big.  Lauren goes to college in Sacramento and has little time between work and school.  Amanda on the far right is stationed in Texas.  She’s currently on leave visiting the family and just came out yesterday.

   I have two other siblings who aren’t pictured, Kaylie and Nathan.  I think at this time they were hid away in their rooms.

UStream

So here's a quick demo of the UStream app here on my blog. I was undecided whether I should post my youtube channel or my ustream channel... but ultimately ustream was a lot cooler. If you take a look at the ustream app, more than likely it says it's offline and will have links to past videos. If it says someone is online and has a play button, then that means I am currently streaming something live from my webcam or iphone. I don't even have to save the video for it to show on ustream, I can just be streaming it live on my phone, and the best part, it's free! :) When you watch the video embedded below, keep an eye on the ustream app in the video.. you will be able to get an idea on how it works with my phone.

Happy New Years!

I know I'm a few days off the ball, but happy new years everyone! Hope everyone had a good time and ended the year with a bang. Thanks for the new year wishes @maggie and @maxivelasco. Also thanks to my friends on FB.

So this year is a great year, I've been waiting for this year for the past..iono.. 7 years, haha. Why? well it's the year of the tiger! I was born in 86, so that means this is my year :) No offense, but tiger is the coolest year of them all ;P

This year may have just started, but time is already looking scarce.. it could just be the time of year. But just in this month, wrk is going to get busier, I have school starting, and the new arena season for WoW starts. Gonna have to be at the top of my game for all 3 of those.

So for anyone who wants to know my new years resolution, how about one for my blog :)

This year, for my blog, I will get my hands dirty with some photoshop and create a new design for the blog

Xmas Card

So my mom asked me to help create a brady bunch look alike of our family. This is what I have so far. A lot of the images I had to work with weren't that great. Hopefully we can find some better ones, if not, my mom should do my idea and just take new pictures against a solid color wall. Oh wells.

Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

For all of you Big Bang Theory fans, here's a really cool shirt I stumbled across today. I actually ended up buying this shirt for a friend. It should be in by next week.

If your interested, you can get to the shirts website by clicking here

My Sister

I told my sis I was going to post this. I had forgotten originally, but thankfully I never took the pic off my phone. This is what happens when the power goes out for 2 hours straight and the whole family doesn't have the internet. They are forced to spend time with each other, and apparently, go crazy.

What was actually happening was that we were all trying to scare each other since the power was out and the whole house was pitch black. That then somehow lead to my mom talking Bri into making funny faces, while me and my brother took pictures.

My New Toy!!

Before I get to into my story, you know how many NSFW (not safe for work) images I had to scrounge through to find the one above! I wanted a pic of an anime girl unwrapping a gift.. neko style like the one above would have been really cool. Instead of finding anything remotely related to what I wanted, I pulled up a ton load of hentai and wannabe hentai images.

So back to my story, I bought a new toy recently! :) I have bought a EEE PC pearl, or the EEE PC 10005HAB. Some of my computer friends a probably shaking their heads at me for buying it, as it will never compare to the computing power of a standard laptop. Well I'm a big gadget nerd, and have always wanted an EEEPC since they were first introduced. It is the best netbook to tote around to and from classes. It is also the ultimate network pen. testing machine.

The netbook doesn't have much power to it, and mostly standard ports. It has a Intel Atom processor, dual core 1.6 Ghz. That is not fast at all, by no means. For video, it comes with the integrated intel GMA 950. The netbook comes with 1gig of ram, upgradeable to a max of 2 gigs (which I plan to do very, very, very, soon..lol). As for ports, it comes with: 3 USB, 1 VGA, 1 power, a headphone, and a mic port.

I'm tempted to overclock the processor to 2Ghz, and also overclock the GMA 950. Thankfully there are tools out there that will let me do this from inside the OS, without having to boot to a prompt from the bios. My only fear, whenever you overclock anything, you will produce more heat, use up a lot more battery life, and possibly reduce the life of the hardware. This is why nothing has been overclocked yet, because I want to see how the netbook performs where it's at right now. I'm pretty minimalist when it comes to computers, and I don't plan to do any gaming on the netbook. That's what my laptop is for. But I do plan to install diablo or starcraft, which aren't very demanding. I also plan to watch my anime while on the go, off of it. These things, and a few others, will determine if I overclock it in the end.

If you are in the market for a netbook, and looking for something cheap and highly portable, then I'd recommend this netbook. It has yet to give me any problems, and worked right out of the box. Even Ubuntu 9.1 installed easy with no need to download new drivers.

here are some images of my netbook

This is my desktop. I'm running Ubuntu 9.1 which offers a better 3D graphical interface than what I'm using, but as I've state, I'm pretty minimalistic. And yes that is a wallpaper from that 90's movie, Hackers with angelina jolie. You may also notice the madwifi folder on the desktop. That is the driver that will enable my wireless card to sniff wireless networks. It was only after I had installed the driver by compiling it from source code, that I learned a much easier way to download and install it automatically.

Here is the main login screen for Ubuntu 9.1. The netbook came with windows xp, which is the first thing I took off. If I'm going to learn linux, I have to force myself to learn linux. The keyboard is very comfortable. I can easily type a lot without my fingers getting tired.

Here is the case of the netbook. The pearl is a big improvement over the other pc's thanks to the matte finish. Other EEE PC's show fingerprints really easily, and look dirty after only 1 day.

Red Ring of Death!

So I bought Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 a couple days ago... yay me right! Wrong! My brother calls me up yesterday to inform me that our xbox got the infamous red ring of death.

Supposedly, after doing some reading on the web, this has been happening to a lot of people who have bought the new Modern Warfare 2. I don't want to be hasty with jumping to that conclusion, considering every xbox 360 owner is going to have the red ring of death happen to their xbox. But is it really a coincidence that this is happening to so many other people around the same time, who bought the same game.

I guess that only time will tell. Forgive me if I was bitter, I just want to play me new game ;P

Exams

It's been a pretty busy last two weeks with exams and studying. I just had my trig one today which I'm confident I aced ^_^ Now I only have one more next monday, my lab exam, and then I'll finally be done.

I know I've been meaning to post tech articles on Fridays, which I haven't forgotten, and do have lots of things I would like to write about.

I actually bought a netbook just last weekend. I had been at Barnes and Noble studying, when I was like hmmm.. I'm gonna go across the street to Best Buy and buy a netbook. Lol, spontaneous... I know, but I have been wanting one for a while.

It is an Asus 1005HAB netbook, running Ubuntu 9.1 which is a distro of linux. I took the windows xp that was on there, off, because I really want to be able to do more with linux. Currently it has the 1 gig of RAM it came with, but i plan on upgrading that to 2 gigs very soon.

Well this is my story for the time being, and I'll have more up ASAP.

Ants in my Pants

So here's my story of this morning before work. I woke up at 6:30 thanks to my cellphone. Our power had gone out due to the storm, not sure how long it was out for. I used a flashlight and propped the bathroom mirrors perfectly so I'd have enough light to get ready for work. I say my good byes, and zoom along to work. At least, zoom as quickly and safely the rain and traffic would allow. So when I get to work I notice a patch of ants on my leg. After brushing them off, I notice another patch of ants.. then another....and another. My pants were covered in ants! and I never even notice because it was too dark to see when I got dressed.

I keep all of my work clothes in the closet. Well the rain must have force the ants inside, which their favorite route is right through my closet. Here's to going home tonight to clean out those ants from my clothes.

Trig. Finding Sin and Cos of an Angle

I put this in both tech help and personal. It doesn't have anything to do with tech really, but it's help, and my tech help section is looking a little empty.

So my trig class has already moved on to sum and difference formulas, as well as half angle formulas. But one of the things I have failed to grasp up til this point, was the basic sin and cos of a basic angle such as 45 degrees. I can tell you that the sin of 45 degrees is (root)2/2, just cause I see it so often. I could survive without having it memorized, the calculators we use can do this kind of thinking, and they are essential for everything in that class. But, the calculators themselves can be tricky and it could take more time to solve by calc, than it is to spit out something memorized. So this brings me to a table I'd like to share with you, that was never shown in my class, for all basic angles in the 1st quad

		30 degrees	45 degrees	60 degrees
sin	(root)	1	2	3
cos	(root)	3	2	1
		all divided by 2

This table with some manipulation, can get you almost all major angles. For example, the sin of 60 degrees by using this table, would get you (root)3/2. Well how about the sin of 120 degrees. It's the same angle as 60 degrees, just in the second quad. So the answer would be -(root)3/2.

Anyways I felt this table was very helpful, and I will be using it for sure in my math class.