I realized today that I have been completely approaching things the wrong way. Yeah this is one of those blog posts where I will be completely vague and write it mostly for myself. Feel free to stop reading here.
Anybody still here must know that I'm officially changing my status from "satisfied" to "work in progress." In three months I'll report back. I'm changing my approach to health, work, play, and life.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Winning in the tenth frame.
"Games are won or lost in the tenth frame." - Bob the bowler from Ephraim, Utah.
I once attended a college course titled "bowling with Bob" at Snow College in Ephraim Utah. Our instructor Bob liked to say that the game was won or lost in the tenth frame. Well, the 90's kid in me says "duh". If your technique is off and your ball rolls in the gutter in the last frame, then you will score zero points. This can also happen in the other nine frames of the game. However, the tenth frame is your last shot. Your last attempt at closing out your efforts of the past 30 minutes or so. I am often a last minute crammer in college. I'm the guy flipping through the my textbook furiously while the instructor is passing out the pencils and bubble sheets. Why? I don't know. I just have to hurry and refresh my memory of that one formula. I just need to look up that definition one more time in case there is some trick question.
I just have to close out the tenth frame.
I'm not always the best college student. I have fallen to the despair of procrastination many times. My point is that games are won or lost in the tenth frame. The last little push before the buzzer goes off can make all of the difference.
I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints a.k.a. the Mormon Church. I knocked on doors in Monterrey, Mexico and taught people how to have faith and follow the Savior. I studied Spanish and gospel lessons in the Missionary Training Center in Utah. My instructors seemed to have a zeal that I had never seen before. They were experienced missionaries. They were pros. My fellow new missionaries and I looked up to these men and women as our heroes. One day we filed in to a classroom to begin our final week of training. It was the general attitude among many people at the M.T.C. that the last week is the best week of all. There wouldn't be much more to learn. Our instructors would lighten up and share stories of their missionary glory days. We would have a small break. When our instructors arrived, however, the mood was different. One trainer looked around the room until he locked eyes with all twelve of us in the group. The chatter died down and he kept staring. His balding head twitched with excitement. His worn out leather dress shoes squeaked as he shifted his weight to his toes. After a moment he cracked a wide smile and said, "Gentlemen, this week will define each of you for the rest of your lives."
I cringed slightly at the over-the-top declaration that he made. I wasn't sold quite yet. He continued, "You all have one week until you do this for real. Are you going to take a vacation? Should we stop learning? You will face this decision all of your lives. It isn't time to quit."
I doubt this instructor understands the impact this little Monday motivational speech had on me. I'm sure he had delivered similar statements in the past, and would continue to do so in the future. After I heard that statement I put it into a real effort and I have since tried to put in my very best effort when others stop.
I have one month until I graduate with my Bachelor's degree. It occurred to me in the past few days that my last week of the M.T.C. was the week that I worked my hardest. That final week of effort paid off immensely. I was more confident in my Spanish. I was better prepared to approach strangers and preach the gospel. I won't give up my last month of college, but I will put forth my best effort. I am trying to make my tenth frame the best that I can. To anybody to is still reading this, don't give up. When you see others in your school or work giving up, then let that be a signal to you that it is time to start. The moment your start when everyone else stops is the moment that will define you for the rest of your life.
I once attended a college course titled "bowling with Bob" at Snow College in Ephraim Utah. Our instructor Bob liked to say that the game was won or lost in the tenth frame. Well, the 90's kid in me says "duh". If your technique is off and your ball rolls in the gutter in the last frame, then you will score zero points. This can also happen in the other nine frames of the game. However, the tenth frame is your last shot. Your last attempt at closing out your efforts of the past 30 minutes or so. I am often a last minute crammer in college. I'm the guy flipping through the my textbook furiously while the instructor is passing out the pencils and bubble sheets. Why? I don't know. I just have to hurry and refresh my memory of that one formula. I just need to look up that definition one more time in case there is some trick question.
I just have to close out the tenth frame.
I'm not always the best college student. I have fallen to the despair of procrastination many times. My point is that games are won or lost in the tenth frame. The last little push before the buzzer goes off can make all of the difference.
I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints a.k.a. the Mormon Church. I knocked on doors in Monterrey, Mexico and taught people how to have faith and follow the Savior. I studied Spanish and gospel lessons in the Missionary Training Center in Utah. My instructors seemed to have a zeal that I had never seen before. They were experienced missionaries. They were pros. My fellow new missionaries and I looked up to these men and women as our heroes. One day we filed in to a classroom to begin our final week of training. It was the general attitude among many people at the M.T.C. that the last week is the best week of all. There wouldn't be much more to learn. Our instructors would lighten up and share stories of their missionary glory days. We would have a small break. When our instructors arrived, however, the mood was different. One trainer looked around the room until he locked eyes with all twelve of us in the group. The chatter died down and he kept staring. His balding head twitched with excitement. His worn out leather dress shoes squeaked as he shifted his weight to his toes. After a moment he cracked a wide smile and said, "Gentlemen, this week will define each of you for the rest of your lives."
I cringed slightly at the over-the-top declaration that he made. I wasn't sold quite yet. He continued, "You all have one week until you do this for real. Are you going to take a vacation? Should we stop learning? You will face this decision all of your lives. It isn't time to quit."
I doubt this instructor understands the impact this little Monday motivational speech had on me. I'm sure he had delivered similar statements in the past, and would continue to do so in the future. After I heard that statement I put it into a real effort and I have since tried to put in my very best effort when others stop.
I have one month until I graduate with my Bachelor's degree. It occurred to me in the past few days that my last week of the M.T.C. was the week that I worked my hardest. That final week of effort paid off immensely. I was more confident in my Spanish. I was better prepared to approach strangers and preach the gospel. I won't give up my last month of college, but I will put forth my best effort. I am trying to make my tenth frame the best that I can. To anybody to is still reading this, don't give up. When you see others in your school or work giving up, then let that be a signal to you that it is time to start. The moment your start when everyone else stops is the moment that will define you for the rest of your life.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Halo 4 first impressions
Ok, so I just got Halo 4 for my birthday and I thought I would write a little bit about it.
I have played all of the games in the Halo series (well I guess I didn't play Halo Wars) and I really like the games. I've been playing more PC games lately, but Halo is the reason I keep my Xbox live subscription active. I bought my first Xbox when Halo 2 came out, and I bought the Halo Reach edition of the Xbox 360 when it came out. Therefore, yes I was very very likely to enjoy Halo 4. These are my first impressions. I am curious to see if my opinion on some things will change.
The campaign is really interesting so far. I have only completed a few missions, but so far the attention to detail is amazing. I mostly play Halo for the multiplayer, but the campaign is fun too. The first little bit you are Master Chief fighting the Covenant and it feels like "business as usual." It plays exactly like previous games. The change is when fighting the new enemies that glow in a Tron-like fashion and explode when they die. Like I said, I haven't played campaign much but these new enemies make it much more interesting. I really like how the story is back on Master Chief and Cortana.
Multiplayer is crazy! There are loadouts in Halo for the first time which means I can START WITH THE DMR!! I love this. You can choose your primary weapon instead of being stuck with the Assault rifle every time. The BR is back too which is cool. I don't really like the high scratchy noise that the BR makes now, but it is a small complaint. The DMR is fun for me because I like to shoot from a distance. Another change that I like is that the radar is more useful! It is much easier to tell when an enemy is above or below me on the radar (motion detector? I can't remember what I'm supposed to call it). The little red square has a line above it when an enemy is a level above, and the line is below it when he is below. There is no little line if the enemy is on the same level. I know that in the past they make the dot dimmer when the enemy is below and brighter above (or something like that) but this new radar makes it way more clear than before. I really like that change.
The controls haven't changed much. Now everybody has the ability to sprint all the time so it is click-in-the-left-stick-to-sprint just like Call of Duty games. In Halo Reach, sprinting was an armor ability that you used with LB. One major problem I have with this new sprinting control is that in Halo I'm used to clicking the left stick to crouch! Now crouching is done by pressing the 'B' button and I couldn't find a way to swap the left click with the B button! Anyway with the toggle crouch option I should be able to relearn it ok, but for now it is annoying. Crouching isn't a huge mechanic, but I like hiding away and crouching when my shields need to charge.
The weapons are awesome in this game. I like that the classics are all there. Having both the BR and DMR is really cool. Some new weapons I don't get yet like the Scattershot. I have picked it up a few times, but I can't get any kills with it. Some guy killed me with it and thanks to the new killcam feature I watched him and it seemed like he was shooting all around me! I have no idea how I died. It seems like the Scattershot is a shotgun with a big spread, but it wasn't powerful when I used it at extreme close range. Strange. The plasma grenade detonator is fun. I just hate it when I set down a grenade and then have to abandon it when the enemy ends up walking a different direction. There is now a grenade warning logo like in Call of Duty games. It seems to me that frag grenades aren't very powerful unless the enemy is right on top of them. Maybe they are just seeing the warning and moving, or maybe the grenades are really nerfed; I don't know. Anyway I need to get more experience on some of the new forerunner guns. Oh I like that the Covenant Carbine is back in Halo 4 as well.
I really like the customization. I can tell that this game is really in depth. There are a lot of armor options, loadout options and all kinds of stuff. I also really like how in Infinity Slayer the player is rewarded for all kinds of things. You get points for comeback kills, being a distraction while your teammate gets a kill, getting a headshot while you are in the air, and a lot more. Instead of racing to get 50 team kills, you want to get 600 points. A kill gets you 10 points. I'm not sure if assist points go toward this total or not yet. I think that they do. I think the kill is split into 5 and 5 points or something. Obviously I haven't played this very much yet.
Ok, I think that is it. I just wanted to write down some first impressions of the game, and I'll have to read this later once I've put some time into the game. Anyway I think Halo is the best FPS you can get. It is just a solid game and a lot of fun. I wish they would make release it for PC, but MS wants to keep selling Xboxes (Xboxs? Xbox's?) so that won't happen. That's it for now. Bye.
I have played all of the games in the Halo series (well I guess I didn't play Halo Wars) and I really like the games. I've been playing more PC games lately, but Halo is the reason I keep my Xbox live subscription active. I bought my first Xbox when Halo 2 came out, and I bought the Halo Reach edition of the Xbox 360 when it came out. Therefore, yes I was very very likely to enjoy Halo 4. These are my first impressions. I am curious to see if my opinion on some things will change.
The campaign is really interesting so far. I have only completed a few missions, but so far the attention to detail is amazing. I mostly play Halo for the multiplayer, but the campaign is fun too. The first little bit you are Master Chief fighting the Covenant and it feels like "business as usual." It plays exactly like previous games. The change is when fighting the new enemies that glow in a Tron-like fashion and explode when they die. Like I said, I haven't played campaign much but these new enemies make it much more interesting. I really like how the story is back on Master Chief and Cortana.
Multiplayer is crazy! There are loadouts in Halo for the first time which means I can START WITH THE DMR!! I love this. You can choose your primary weapon instead of being stuck with the Assault rifle every time. The BR is back too which is cool. I don't really like the high scratchy noise that the BR makes now, but it is a small complaint. The DMR is fun for me because I like to shoot from a distance. Another change that I like is that the radar is more useful! It is much easier to tell when an enemy is above or below me on the radar (motion detector? I can't remember what I'm supposed to call it). The little red square has a line above it when an enemy is a level above, and the line is below it when he is below. There is no little line if the enemy is on the same level. I know that in the past they make the dot dimmer when the enemy is below and brighter above (or something like that) but this new radar makes it way more clear than before. I really like that change.
The controls haven't changed much. Now everybody has the ability to sprint all the time so it is click-in-the-left-stick-to-sprint just like Call of Duty games. In Halo Reach, sprinting was an armor ability that you used with LB. One major problem I have with this new sprinting control is that in Halo I'm used to clicking the left stick to crouch! Now crouching is done by pressing the 'B' button and I couldn't find a way to swap the left click with the B button! Anyway with the toggle crouch option I should be able to relearn it ok, but for now it is annoying. Crouching isn't a huge mechanic, but I like hiding away and crouching when my shields need to charge.
The weapons are awesome in this game. I like that the classics are all there. Having both the BR and DMR is really cool. Some new weapons I don't get yet like the Scattershot. I have picked it up a few times, but I can't get any kills with it. Some guy killed me with it and thanks to the new killcam feature I watched him and it seemed like he was shooting all around me! I have no idea how I died. It seems like the Scattershot is a shotgun with a big spread, but it wasn't powerful when I used it at extreme close range. Strange. The plasma grenade detonator is fun. I just hate it when I set down a grenade and then have to abandon it when the enemy ends up walking a different direction. There is now a grenade warning logo like in Call of Duty games. It seems to me that frag grenades aren't very powerful unless the enemy is right on top of them. Maybe they are just seeing the warning and moving, or maybe the grenades are really nerfed; I don't know. Anyway I need to get more experience on some of the new forerunner guns. Oh I like that the Covenant Carbine is back in Halo 4 as well.
I really like the customization. I can tell that this game is really in depth. There are a lot of armor options, loadout options and all kinds of stuff. I also really like how in Infinity Slayer the player is rewarded for all kinds of things. You get points for comeback kills, being a distraction while your teammate gets a kill, getting a headshot while you are in the air, and a lot more. Instead of racing to get 50 team kills, you want to get 600 points. A kill gets you 10 points. I'm not sure if assist points go toward this total or not yet. I think that they do. I think the kill is split into 5 and 5 points or something. Obviously I haven't played this very much yet.
Ok, I think that is it. I just wanted to write down some first impressions of the game, and I'll have to read this later once I've put some time into the game. Anyway I think Halo is the best FPS you can get. It is just a solid game and a lot of fun. I wish they would make release it for PC, but MS wants to keep selling Xboxes (Xboxs? Xbox's?) so that won't happen. That's it for now. Bye.
Friday, August 17, 2012
First time building a computer
A few months ago I built a computer! It was my first time building one, and I'm very happy with how it turned out. I bought the processor from microcenter.com and everything else from newegg.com. The whole process wasn't too difficult and I ended up with a great system for about $1,000. (I already had a monitor and keyboard.) I learned how to build it from a community site on Reddit called Build a PC . If you have ever wanted to build a PC by yourself, you should check it out.
Here is the parts list of my build: (It doesn't have a top-of-the-line video card, but the 560ti does fine for the games I've played on it. I also HIGHLY recommend installing a SSD. With the solid state drive my computer boots up and is completely ready to use in 10 to 15 seconds.)
Case Corsair 500R Carbide Series - $105
PSU: Corsair TXV2 750W - $70
Motherboard: ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 - $121
CPU: Intel i5 3750K - $196
SSD: OCZ Agility 90GB - $115
HDD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - $90
RAM: G.Skill 8GB Sniper RAM - $40
Video Card: EVGA 560ti 1GB - $230
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder - $50
Before pictures.
I got this Corsair TX 750 when it was on sale at newegg.com. A 750 watt is overkill for this system, but at least it should last a long time.
I like this case because it has a lot of room inside to move stuff around.
Great motherboard for a great price. I recommend ASRock.
The SSD. It only has 90GB so I have Win7 on it, and a few programs.
This little guy caused me some grief in the process. This is the BIOS chip for the motherboard. I bought the processor after I bought the motherboard, and the BIOS had to be updated to support the gen3 i5 processor that I bought. So I was caught in a Catch-22. I couldn't boot up until the BIOS was updated, and I coudn't update the BIOS without being able to boot up the computer! Luckily ASRock has good customer service. I just mailed in the BIOS chip and they updated it and mailed it back. Lesson learned: Always buy your processor and motherboard at the same time to ensure they will be compatible!
All done! I haven't had any issues with it so far and I like that I can upgrade it easily because I know all of the parts that went into it. Add me on Steam: halcon15 and please post a comment. - Dallas
Friday, January 6, 2012
Where am I?
How's it going?
While I have not written much on this blog, I am proud of the fact that I own the name dallashawks.com.
DallasHawks.com used to be taken. The website was for a junior league ice hockey team in Texas named the "Dallas Ice Hawks". I also found out that there is/was a basketball team in Dallas called the Hawks. I sent an email a few years ago to the coach of the Dallas Hawks basketball team requesting a jersey. I explained that I thought it would be cool to have a jersey that happened to have my first and last name printed on it. He returned my email saying that it could happen, but unfortunately I never heard from him again and I don't know if the team still exists today.
Well, that's it for now. I'm not much of a blogger I know, but you can follow me on Twitter or something. Peace.
Ideas for the future of dallashawks.com
While I have not written much on this blog, I am proud of the fact that I own the name dallashawks.com.
DallasHawks.com used to be taken. The website was for a junior league ice hockey team in Texas named the "Dallas Ice Hawks". I also found out that there is/was a basketball team in Dallas called the Hawks. I sent an email a few years ago to the coach of the Dallas Hawks basketball team requesting a jersey. I explained that I thought it would be cool to have a jersey that happened to have my first and last name printed on it. He returned my email saying that it could happen, but unfortunately I never heard from him again and I don't know if the team still exists today.
Well, that's it for now. I'm not much of a blogger I know, but you can follow me on Twitter or something. Peace.
Ideas for the future of dallashawks.com
- A plain vanilla blog about my life with lots of pictures.
- A collection of travel pictures and stories.
- Celebrity page where you can find where to purchase my latest book or rap album.
- Self-absorbed semi-profound website full of life advice.
- Parody of a blog full of false stories.
- Chili's coupons
- . . other?
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Android tablet (Xoom) first impression
"I love this. My mom would hate this."
The Motorola Xoom running on Google Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" is amazing! I have used iOS a lot more than Android and I have found that I really like how much you can customize this tablet. However, I think the less technically inclined are better off with an iPad.
I love this.
The Xoom. As the title of this post shows I have had very little time using this tablet. My first impression is very positive. I like the android operating system. The interface of the home screen with custom widgets is great. No more am I confined to the iPad interface of uh . . rearranging the app logos? Creating little folders of app logos?? With Android I have instant access to information from many sources. It feels like a personal data center displaying all of the input that I am interested in. Multiple email inboxes, my Facebook news feed, my Twitter feed, my RSS feeds are all right there. It is great to have all of that information in one spot. I also like how open the tablet feels compared to the iPad. Do you want to change your default browser to one that you downloaded? Go ahead. Never have I had so much control over my tablet, but maybe you don't want that.
My mom would hate this.
The iPad 2 is great for the less tech savvy. While using the Xoom (tweaking settings, changing the interface) I kept thinking of how confusing it could be for some people. I think that the interface would be overwhelming and it would be harder to get to apps and all the content on the tablet. The iPad is simple. I could see my mom for example picking up an iPad and being able to browse the web, email, and listen to music without any problems. I know somebody at my office who got an iPad and now she barely touches her android phone! She is scared of it! She loves the iPad for email and web browsing. Keep that in mind if you are looking to buy a tablet.
Do you need a tablet at all?
No.
That is my honest opinion.
They are too expensive for what they do and completely unnecessary because you have a laptop and a smart phone already right?
What do you think of tablets? Comment below.
The Motorola Xoom running on Google Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" is amazing! I have used iOS a lot more than Android and I have found that I really like how much you can customize this tablet. However, I think the less technically inclined are better off with an iPad.
I love this.
The Xoom. As the title of this post shows I have had very little time using this tablet. My first impression is very positive. I like the android operating system. The interface of the home screen with custom widgets is great. No more am I confined to the iPad interface of uh . . rearranging the app logos? Creating little folders of app logos?? With Android I have instant access to information from many sources. It feels like a personal data center displaying all of the input that I am interested in. Multiple email inboxes, my Facebook news feed, my Twitter feed, my RSS feeds are all right there. It is great to have all of that information in one spot. I also like how open the tablet feels compared to the iPad. Do you want to change your default browser to one that you downloaded? Go ahead. Never have I had so much control over my tablet, but maybe you don't want that.
My mom would hate this.
The iPad 2 is great for the less tech savvy. While using the Xoom (tweaking settings, changing the interface) I kept thinking of how confusing it could be for some people. I think that the interface would be overwhelming and it would be harder to get to apps and all the content on the tablet. The iPad is simple. I could see my mom for example picking up an iPad and being able to browse the web, email, and listen to music without any problems. I know somebody at my office who got an iPad and now she barely touches her android phone! She is scared of it! She loves the iPad for email and web browsing. Keep that in mind if you are looking to buy a tablet.
Do you need a tablet at all?
No.
That is my honest opinion.
They are too expensive for what they do and completely unnecessary because you have a laptop and a smart phone already right?
What do you think of tablets? Comment below.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Selecting ALL of your friends on Facebook.
Ever try to invite ALL of your friends to an event on Facebook? No? Thats because you are supposed to click on every single friend ONE person at a time. However there is a way around this.
Why doesn't Facebook have a "select all" button? Probably because if it did, people would be spamming event and page invites all over the place.
I am a little reluctant to share this secret, but alas it is for a good cause . . .
CLICK HERE to find out how to select all of your friends on Facebook.
This is a powerful tool, please use it wisely. : )
Friday, December 17, 2010
Google Chrome trick
Here is a little tip for anybody using Google Chrome.
Pin the tabs that you use the most!
Try this! Just right click the tab and click "Pin tab".
A pinned tab can only be closed by right-clicking and selecting "Unpin tab."
I really like having Gmail and other websites (like simplenote for taking notes) ready to go.
Google thinks of everything.
Monday, November 15, 2010
life without facebook
Last week I said that I was taking a facebook break, and I am still going to limit the time that I am on here for a while.
Facebook is awesome, but too much of a good thing is blah blah you get it.
This is what happened.
I realized last week that I checked facebook multiple times in one day. Realizing that this was a horrible waste of time I decided to take a break. I used my phone to update my status to say that I was taking a break. I wasn't trying to prove a point, and I am not trying to prove a point now.
So with that out of the way here are five points lol. I have learned a few interesting things about facebook that maybe you haven't thought about . . .
1) You're profile gets a lot more attention than you probably think it does. Just over the past week I have just been talking to friends or family and they will say "oh yeah I read that on your status last week." What really? People who aren't even on facebook find out about what you do and all of your life's happenings because of your facebook page! Several people have reported things to my mother that I have said online. My mom! This brings me to another interesting tidbit.
2) It is written in ink. I am friends on facebook with the following people: My boss's wife, my Mission President, people who I taught on my mission in Mexico, and parents of some of my friends. I'm just saying that I have to keep in mind that whatever I post will be read by these people. You probably have to filter what you say as well.
3) Facebook allows you to be in the middle of everyone else's business. Pretty much anytime I talk to my mom she will tell me about something that happened to a family member, or somebody from Richfield etc. Almost every single time she says something like that I say "yeah I knew that." She asks how and I say "facebook." Isn't this strange?? Isn't it weird that I know so much about the people around me even if I haven't talked to that person directly in years! I don't know if this is a good or bad thing.
4) There is nothing better than facebook for getting together with people going to the same event/party. It is very nice to be able to check who else is going to something, and you can get together. The old way was texting/calling everybody you know so yeah that is not very effective. I realized this during the past couple days.
5) Facebook affects your brain. I am going out on a limb here. Have you ever witnessed something interesting or funny and instantly thought "How can I post this on facebook?" I bet you have. Is there anything wrong with this? Probably not, but isn't it interesting that you might consider posting something online before telling someone in person?
So yeah. That is what has been on my mind the past few days. As a white middle-class 20-something college student, it turns out that facebook has a pretty big impact on my life. I encourage any fellow facebook-addicts to take a some time off and see what you think. Please give me some feedback on anything I have written here, and feel free to tear apart any of my off-the-top-of-my-head false logic.
- Dallas
TL;DR I stopped using facebook for a few days, and I noticed that facebook has a bigger impact on my life than I thought.
P.S. Thanks again for all the B-Day wishes!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Did You Know?
If you have 5 minutes check out this cool video about our world and what is happening with technology.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
remembering passwords sucks . . try this!
How many passwords do you have? Just think about it.
I have a ton of usernames and passwords for all kinds of things. It isn't good to have the same password for everything, but it sucks having to remember a lot of different passwords.
I came across this article a while back that recommends downloading a really small really simple password managing program called KeePass.
I have used this program to store all of my passwords and usernames and it is great! Now I only have to remember one master password that opens the program, and all of my usernames and passwords are right there! This is so much better than writing down a list of passwords and risk losing the paper, or creating some .doc or excel file with passwords in it.
Ok so all you have to do is click here and install KeePass. You set your master password, and KeePass creates a file that ends in .kdb. (I personally use two .kdb files - one for work and one for everything else) So just think of this .kdb file as your little KeePass database of passwords that can only be looked at by entering your master password.
Using the program is stupid easy. Just add entries with usernames and passwords. It starts you off with folders for email passwords, network passwords, internet site passwords, and more. You can also create more folders. After you add entries you can also copy any username or password to the clipboard for signing into things quickly. (It clears the clipboard after 10 seconds by default.) Just close the program after you look up the password you need. The next time you open the program it will require your master password.
Using the program is stupid easy. Just add entries with usernames and passwords. It starts you off with folders for email passwords, network passwords, internet site passwords, and more. You can also create more folders. After you add entries you can also copy any username or password to the clipboard for signing into things quickly. (It clears the clipboard after 10 seconds by default.) Just close the program after you look up the password you need. The next time you open the program it will require your master password.
To prevent losing your KeePass .kdb file, you should back it up on a flash drive or something else. The BEST option, I think, is to save your .kdb file in your dropbox. (dropbox is a tool that allows you to save up to 2gb of data for free on the web and it syncs the files in your dropbox across all of your computers.) To set up your dropbox in about 30 seconds, just CLICK HERE.
So if you hate remembering passwords as much as I do, try this out! Now you can rip up those post-it notes that you had so cleverly hidden under your keyboard :)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Organize your music files
Having a lot of music saved on my computer in a bunch of different locations drives me crazy!!!
I am working on putting all off my music into ONE organized directory. Why? OCD? maybe. Point is that hopefully when I'm done I can keep track of all of my music.
A hired a monkey to help me out.
His name is Media Monkey and he can help you too!
Just click below and follow the instructions of the article
Good luck!
How do you keep your music files organized?
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Import all Facebook contacts into Gmail
This is cool. I just accidentally found a way to import all of my Facebook friends' email addresses into my Gmail contacts list.
Yahoo! mail has a new feature to directly import Facebook contact info into your Yahoo contacts list, so if you use Yahoo! mail you are in luck because it is stupid easy. If you are like me and use Gmail you can use a workaround to do the same thing.
The following instructions are for people who:
1. Have a Gmail account.
2. Have a Facebook account with friends who they would care to email.
3. Do not have a Yahoo! mail account.
Ok so first off you are going to create a Yahoo! mail account. Just go to mail.yahoo.com and click Create New Account and follow the instructions.
Next, click the link to import contacts from your Facebook account.
Yahoo! mail has a new feature to directly import Facebook contact info into your Yahoo contacts list, so if you use Yahoo! mail you are in luck because it is stupid easy. If you are like me and use Gmail you can use a workaround to do the same thing.
The following instructions are for people who:
1. Have a Gmail account.
2. Have a Facebook account with friends who they would care to email.
3. Do not have a Yahoo! mail account.
Ok so first off you are going to create a Yahoo! mail account. Just go to mail.yahoo.com and click Create New Account and follow the instructions.
Next, click the link to import contacts from your Facebook account.
Then you will see a popup like this
Just click Okay and your contacts will be imported into your Yahoo! contacts list.
Now that all of your Facebook friends' email addresses are in your Yahoo! contacts list, all you have to do is export the contacts from Yahoo! and import them into Gmail.
The best way to do this according to Gmail Help is the following:
Go to your Yahoo! contacts and select "Tools" and then "Export..."
It will give you options to export to different file types. This is the one you want.
This will download a single file to your computer with all of your Yahoo! contact info in it. Make sure you know where you saved this file because you are now going to import it into Gmail.
Now log into Gmail and click on Contacts. There is a link in the upper right corner that says "Import" click it.
It will look like this. Just click the "Choose File" button and choose the file that you just exported from Yahoo! mail. I also created a Gmail contacts group called "from facebook" just to keep the new contacts separate for now.
Q: What if my facebook friends are already in my Gmail contacts list???
A: It doesn't matter. Gmail will automatically recognize that and merge the multiple entries into one.
Thats it! You can delete that Yahoo! mail account you created if you aren't going to use it.
Now you have all of your Facebook friends' email addresses in your Gmail contacts list.
Was this helpful?
Saturday, June 26, 2010
5 Reasons to Use Google Chrome
Google Chrome is an internet browser like Internet Explorer or Firefox except it rocks! If you are like these people and don't know what a browser is you can click here to watch a video. Here are 5 reasons to use Google Chrome . . .
5. The Omnibox.
You are probably used to using Internet Explorer or Firefox. There are two boxes at the top of the browser. One is for typing in a website's URL address and the other is for searching the internet using Google or another search engine. Google Chrome only has one bar at the top of the browser. You can type in a web address or type a word or phrase to search on Google. Just type what you want to find and press enter. Done. A lot of times the site will pop up as a suggestion before you hit enter.
5. The Omnibox.
You are probably used to using Internet Explorer or Firefox. There are two boxes at the top of the browser. One is for typing in a website's URL address and the other is for searching the internet using Google or another search engine. Google Chrome only has one bar at the top of the browser. You can type in a web address or type a word or phrase to search on Google. Just type what you want to find and press enter. Done. A lot of times the site will pop up as a suggestion before you hit enter.
4. Chrome is fast!
Google tested it. watch.
Google tested it. watch.
3. Extensions.
These are plugins that you install as buttons on your browser. For example if you use Gmail there is an extension that shows the Gmail logo along with the number of unread emails in your inbox.
My favorite extension is the delicious.com extension which lets you tag websites using delicious.com. If you use Blogger there is a blogger extension that lets you blog instantly about whatever site you are looking at.
2. Bookmark sync.
If you have Google Chrome installed on multiple computers and you have a Google account (Gmail) you can turn on a feature that keeps your bookmarks synced across all computers. Very handy.
1. It has a simple, well-designed interface.
The bar along the top doesn't take up as much room giving you more space to see your web pages.
The best part about all this is that you can download Chrome for FREE and it installs in about one minute so click below!
Download Google Chrome
Do you use Google Chrome?
Friday, June 25, 2010
tumblr sucks. more to come.
I deleted my blog on tumblr.com, and I am going to start posting on this blog. see you around.
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