Don't Back Down

Perhaps after reading my entry about the fact that Keyshawn was a bust in his draft-day coverage, the Carolina Panthers released him.

Chances are strong that this played no effect whatsoever in the team's decision to let him go, but you can never tell about these things, so perhaps I'm moving up in the world. And even if they did see the earlier entry about the subject, it's not like they would have given him a good chance for having the ability to land on his feet after football.

No, chances are much more likely that if it had anything at all to do with the draft-day coverage, it was one of two comments.

Read "Carolina Panthers Release Keyshawn Johnson" »

After seeing in the paper that Paul Stanley was coming to Charlotte to put on an exhibition of his artwork, I figured I just had to drop in. I mean first of all, who actually knew that Paul Stanley had any talent other than womanizing? Beyond that, I've been a Kiss fan for a long time, so figured if nothing else, I'd be able to spend a minute or two in the presence of one of those people that you just don't get to see very often.

I probably should have known better.

Read "The Paul Stanley Gallery Experience" »

The number of steak houses in Charlotte isn't exactly overwhelming. Until a few years ago, if someone asked me where to go, I probably would have sent them to the Hereford Barn. But since they closed, there weren't really a lot of options.

Recently even the chain places have begun closing, which isn't really a huge loss, but it does leave a certain opening for a good place to find a steak. About the only option are the "old time" steak houses, such as Beef and Bottle and The Ranch House - and neither are that great.

Perhaps it is because of all this that I don't often look for steak in Charlotte. It's just not a steak sort of town. But one night while partaking in the manager's reception at the Embassy Suites, we weren't sure where to go, and decided that we'd try the Omaha Steak House, simply because it was raining and we were a bit pressed for time. It was one of the best decisions we had made in a very long time.

Read "Omaha Steak House" »

While my wife and I met a number of years ago, it was well after we were both out of high school, and though we each went to prom, it wasn't with each other. So we decided that we wanted to have the chance to see what it would be like.

In the morning, of course, we had gone to the Girls on the Run Charlotte 5K, which helped one local charity, so we decided that we'd make this a sort of "charity day", and in the evening head to Ace and TJ's Second Chance Prom, which supports their Grin Kids charity, giving terminally ill children (and their families) the chance at a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

Read "10th Annual Ace and TJ Second Chance Prom" »

It's been a good while since I've built a PC, so when I decided that it was time, I figured that I should start with a solid motherboard. The problem, of course, is to decide how to choose. I mean it's not like there is only one motherboard out there, after all. So I did what any sensible person ought to do and I start reading. A good place to start might be somewhere like this post from Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror.

Though not specifically about building a computer, Jeff has put together a number of good posts on the subject that are worth reading if it's something you think you might do one day. Or even if you think you might want to do it one day. That, plus he shows that he has a good head on his shoulders by not automatically buying the top of the line anything. That's not to say that he doesn't - just that it's not always the best decision. It's just that it's a good place to start.

Contrast that with John Chow, who seems to take the other extreme. That's not to slight John, either. If I had those sort of parts lying around, I might do what he did, but most of us probably don't. It is just a different approach, that's all, so you can get a couple of different ideas on where you might find your own muse for the process.

For me, there were a few necessities.

Read "EVGA nForce 680i SLI 775 A1 Motherboard" »

A subject came up today about writing a regular expression to block a particular text string in comments received by a Movable Type blog. If you aren't familiar, the Spam Lookup plugin gives you great power over the processing of comments (and trackbacks, if you happen to receive them) by parsing the content of your comments in order to help try and determine if the comment - or trackback - is spam prior to posting it to your live site.

Unfortunately, the problem with doing this is that it often requires writing a regular expression in order to do so. Regular expressions by their very nature don't have to be complex - but they certainly can be daunting for a beginner. There are many sites available to you, but I've found simply searching and then trial and error can often yield the best results. Perhaps starting with a tutorial is a good idea.

Read "Using SpamLookup and Akismet to Control Spam" »

There isn't always a lot to say about a Japanese steakhouse, is there? They are pretty much the same. Sure, you get a bit of variety in what you get as far as the decor goes - sometimes the room will be simple, and sometimes you will get a bit of a fancy room, with carved wood or the like.

After that, you generally have a selection of chicken, steak (sometimes more than one) or shrimp. Then you will usually have a choice of a combination - steak and chicken or chicken and shrimp or the like. Every once in a while you will encounter a place where you can get all three.

On that front, Ichiban is no different.

Read "Ichiban Japanese Seafood and Steakhouse" »

Though I've used TiVo for some time, and though I'm really quite fond of it (we actually have two), it's done little more than whet my appetite for the day that I can create an actual media server. Up until recently, the problem has been that the TiVo itself does a great job at what it does - but what it does is make you realize how clumsy all those other interfaces are at providing you with access to your data.

The primary downfall of the TiVo is that storage space is limited. Older boxes had terribly small hard drives. Newer ones have larger hard drives (while the Series 3 has a mongo hard drive), and just about ever since they came out, you've been able to expand the capacity of the device. But movies are just so big. Even though you don't have to record at best quality to get a decent recording, a movie at high quality will take up 3 to 5 gigabytes, and that means your drive is going to fill up fast. Surely there has to be an answer. Luckily, I've finally found it.

Read "How to Create a Real Media Server with Tivo and pyTivo" »

There aren't too many lunch counters left in this world, and when you manage to find one, it's not always a good thing. Sometimes the place is run down. Sometimes the food just isn't very good. So more often than not, you might just be better off walking on past to the next place that serves food. This isn't the case with Hap's.

Read "Hap's Grill" »

2007 marks the 90th anniversary of Cheerwine - the Cherry Different Soft Drink, and with it, the company hosted a 90 Years of Cheer celebration in downtown Salisbury. The public was invited to the event, which included a display of memorabilia from years past, as well as a number of recipes featuring Cheerwine.

Read "90 Years of Cheerwine Celebration" »

Let's face it - there are slim pickings inside any mall's food court, and the Eastland Mall food court is no exception. In fact, as the stores around the mall start to fall like so many dominoes, the boards go up around the food court as well, and there just aren't that many options left.

Still, there are a few places operating, so when you're there with the family and looking for a bite, you have to get something. So we decided to give Charley's a try. The difficult part is trying to convince the kids that there is actually something on the menu that they will eat.

Read "Charley's Steakery" »