Cocktail Confessions

Trying another experiment here.

Even though I really liked the WP to Twitter plugin, I’ve been experiencing some odd, unexplained, and indecipherable formatting issues when trying to post to Twitter.  The ‘shortcode’ was always getting fouled up to one degree or another here when using the #url# fast code when publishing a new post.

Even though I re-registered my application with Twitter (successfully per the app no less), refreshed the API key, seemed to have ‘passing’ tests behind the scenes, as soon as I published live, the shortcode errored out.  After spending a lot of time going line by line, and various combinations of URL’s, API keys, and format tweaks and saves, the results would always end the same: in error.

So I downloaded a new plugin called ‘Tweetable’ and followed their instructions very closely for activation. I also deactivated ‘WP to Twitter’, and everything seems good to go on the back end.  So this entry is more a test run and I’m crossing my fingers.

For those that are interested, it is version 1.1.8 and it seems pretty robust.  It actually adds a few pages to WordPress which seem pretty intuitive and you’re able to track those Tweets you follow within WordPress itself and also you can post your own Tweets directly within as well.  That’s a pretty neat feature that seems to take the next logical step that WP to Twitter didn’t.  So hopefully this will work out.

A few changes made today and I’m not sure of all the ramifications just yet.  I did notice that my WordPress to Twitter plugin stopped working a few days back, and it appears that is because the plugin now needs OAuth to authenticate communications between Twitter and WordPress.  Still would like to find a better plugin for this, but it works pretty well….when working.

I also noted a few other plugins also had updates available as did WordPress itself.  So….

• WordPress 2.9.2 to new version 3.0.1
• Askimet Antispam 2.1.0 to new version 2.4.0.  Hopefully this will cut down on the bogus crap I get all the time.
• WP to Twitter: upgraded to new version 2.2.1, BUT currently it is not working.  I need to go back and sign up with the new OAuth regsitratuion servers, get new API keys, blah, blah, blah.  Maybe sometime this weekend I’ll work on it.  I’m surprised there wasn’t more buzz or heads up on this.  It’s kinda a big deal.
• NextGEN Gallery to new version 1.6.1.  I have no idea what changes were made here.  Need to go and read changelog later.
• Bluebrry Powerpress to new version 1.0.9.  Would be something i suppose if I started podcasting again….but have been lazy to do such as of late.

I watched the second episode as it aired on the west coast and here are my thoughts, as jumbled and unreliable as a Lindsey Lohan court appearance are:

Speculation on this years twist, the saboteur, was on the tip of all the houseguest’s tongues.  The saboteur, (whose sole job is to screw with the rest of the players in a covert fashion) only has to survive through week five.  If that person makes it through by not getting voted out wins themselves a cool $10k.  Wild theories began to fly from various players, and while some ‘plausible’ points were brought up, not many of them are standing out as holding a lot of water.  Although the viewers have only seen two events up to this point, (and they were pretty tame) there really isn’t much to go on.  I can say this, whoever the saboteur is, either CBS is doing a fine job of editing thus far, or that person really is a good actor.

Some of the players are seen speculating in a room powwow that it is one of the girls, where as a few of the guys who started their own alliance called ‘The Brigade’ are eyeing Andrew, the tall, athletic swim coach who strangely decided to brush his teeth in the dark during the first event.

Personally, I don’t have enough information to form my opinion based in any fact, but it is fun to speculate.  I hope that CBS doesn’t reveal the saboteur prematurely because it is fun to try and guess this out as well as reading all the other BB forums and tweets doing the same.

So in my own un-scientific way, here are my top picks for the saboteur, (thus far) and why:  A) Annie – just seems a bit mousy and ‘too’ innocent right now as if she is purposely trying to fly under the radar and suspiciously quiet when all the others are taking about it.  B) Ragan – basically the same reasons as Annie.  C) Matt – this real life Mensa member is smart and seems a bit eager to point out other theories and seems to deflect speculation naturally, before people even begin to look at him.  D) Kathy – for a cop, I can’t help but wonder if she’s throwing challenges.  She just seems weaker than she should be and her reaction to things seems a tad ‘off’. E) Brendon – What the hell was he doing lying on the floor near the door, behind the couch when the lights went off?

But like I said, right now my guess is as good as anyone else’s.

Now onto the guests themselves and other events:

• Andrew – I don’t have much to say about him yet, but his ‘kosher’ kick is already beginning to wear on me and we’re only on episode two.
• Annie – The bisexual who proclaims to have a girlfriend to Ragan, and then cries about it.  Why are you crying and why do we care?  She seems so quiet right now that I expect her to have a ‘dramatic event’ later on if she makes it that far.
• Brendon – Talks science to Rachel, and perhaps the first signs of a budding showmance and alliance with her early on.  The ‘Brigade’ alliance (more on this later) sit up and take notice, especially Hayden.  Hayden thinks it’s a good idea to squash this possible alliance between Brendon and Rachel before it really even starts.
• Britney – cute as a button, and seems like she could also have a ‘dramatic event’ somewhere down the line.  She’s already having an issue with Kathy and biting her tongue early on.  I think that’s a good strategy…not to ‘wig out’ early on, but the seeds of discomfort are starting to stew and I can see her blowing up at Kathy later on.  Her face was ‘X-ed’ out on the video wall along with Kathy by the saboteur as a possible suggestion on who the first two nominees for eviction should be and she was a bit confounded by this.
• Enzo – Sorry, but as an Italian myself, Enzo is the type of meat head that gives our stereotypes a place on Jersey Shore.  He thinks he’s running the show so far, but its way to premature for him to be thinking that.  Came up with the ‘Brigade’ alliance (Hayden, Enzo, Lane, Matt) and came us with STUPID nick-names for each of them. 
• Hayden – Won the first HoH and put up Brendon and Rachel as his first nominees.  Appears to be slightly smarter than he looks, and according to Twitter land, he’s the dreamboat for most of the women viewers out there.  Really?  The guy with a mop on his head?  The guy who seemingly has an IQ of a tree branch?  That’s what women are going for these days?  Ugh…we have no hope as a society.
• Kathy – The 40yo cop who I’d be pretty embarrassed to have on my force.  Would be criminals….go to her area and go on your crime spree as you’ll have virtually no chance of getting caught if she’s in pursuit.  Shockingly un-athletic for her size, and seems like a world class whiner thus far.  Absolutely wortheless in the Have/Have-not challenge.
• Kristen – Nothing to note this episode.  Totally under the radar right now.
• Lane – Big guy, athletic, part of the Brigade by default.  Seems like a follower and not a leader. 
• Matt – Mensa member and while appearing to fly under the radar, I think is secretly slightly manipulative towards others to deflect perceptions.
• Monet – Diva.  Under the radar in this episode like Kristen.  Only shining moment was her strategy in the carmel Have/Have-not challenge.
• Rachel – Flirting with Brendon, and when learns of her nomination for eviction vows to get both herself off and also to save Brendon in the process.
• Ragan – As predicted, already throwing out the homosexual innuendos as if no one notices he’s gay already.  I find this really weird that no ones seems to care he is gay in the house, yet he makes it a point to remind them he is, as if they could forget or are too stupid to notice.  Closet narcissist.

 So, not much really happened here again, at least not too noteworthy.  We see the formation of Enzo’s Brigade, a budding showmance, Annie crying to Ragan about her ‘secret’, the stinky (and bug laden) Have-not room, and wild saboteur theories.

Big Brother 12

So Big Brother season 12 started last night on CBS.  I don’t know why I always get so giddy about this show.  The idea of being the proverbial fly on the wall and watching silently 12 other people living in a sequestered house from the outside world for the next few months fascinates me.

Of course, there are always different personalities, but you can usually always count on one over-dramatic female, one stereo-typical gay person, one meat-head, one brainiac, and one social outcast.  The formula in how they pick cast members always seems straight forward, and as the saying goes “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”, and in this, CBS pretty much did the same as they had done in the past. 

However, there are a few differences to note this time around: 1) There really aren’t any contestants over the age of 40.  In the past, you could usually count on one or two middle aged or older players, but this season they are all in their 20’s and 30’s.  The oldest one is the 40 year old female cop.  2) As someone pointed out on a Twitter feed I was reading, this is probably the “whitest cast” yet.  I didn’t really notice that myself until I read that, and I have to agree.  The cast is indeed predominately “white-bread”, with one gal that seems to be half black (if that).  3) This has to be the best looking cast yet.  Seriously, it seems as if CBS execs and producers really went out of their way to choose people that were very pleasing on the eye and to the camera.  So much so in fact, I wonder if it is a way to boost rating here after they realized the smash phenomena Jersey Shore is with all these young, hard bodies.  The girls are all extremely attractive in one way or another, and the guys all seem like they may have come out of Surfer or GQ magazine.

Too bad the season premiere was only an hour long.  There was nothing else on television except some stupid press conference regarding LeBron James going to Miami, (and what a Disneyland press conference that was) there was just nothing else on.   An hour just wasn’t enough to get a good feeling for the house guests.  It was barely even a tease.  I suspect there will indeed be some showmance hookups, drama, and alliances, but there just wasn’t enough time devoted to the players for the audience to even warm up to any of them.

Not sure what I think about the saboteur aspect this time around.  Could be fun, but I wish CBS wouldn’t reveal the player so soon, (they said next week).  I think it makes it fun for the audience at home to make their own guesses and be just as surprised, sorta like a mystery for us to solve at home and has a lot of potential to keep us hooked.  However, by revealing the ‘saboteur’ to the viewers after week one, takes some of the tense drama out of the game.  Anyway, I’ll be posting more about the strategies and individual players as the show marches on.

We finished the night by watching Zombieland, a psuedo-campy comedy horror fil with Woody Harilson.  It was ‘okay’ leaning towards ‘good’, but at 88 minutes in length, and the subject material, what do you expect?

Eye Exam

Later today, I have an eye exam.  I’ve always been very blessed with excellent eyesight.  I’ve never had to wear glasses before and at my last general exam, (just over a year ago) I was told my vision was 20/15, meaning at 20 feet, I can see what most people have to move up to 15 feet in order to see.  I also have blue eyes which do make them more sensitive to light than those with brown eyes, and I do tend to get headaches more easily in direct sunlight if I’m not wearing some sort of polarizing or quality sunglasses.

However, the last few months I’ve noticed that my eyes over all just seem to tire more easily than before.  It may be a couple of different things: my age for one (as I did just broach 40), the fact that I stare at flat panel computer screens for the majority of any given day, and finally the fact that I build very small train models (I often wear magnifying diopters along with tweezers when building them).

Needless to say, by the time evening rolls around my eyes just feel a little sore.  They still work just fine, but I am noticing (or maybe its all in my head) that it’s taking a few seconds longer to focus.  Everything is still sharp, but it seems my eyes are slower to respond now at various depths.  When reading small print, I’ve caught myself moving the paper away a few extra inches just so my eyes can relax and adjust, not because they can’t focus.

Maybe it’s time for reading glasses now.  I’m not exactly sure what’s gonna happen, but  they will most likely dilate my eyes where I’ll be wearing glasses until 9pm and I’ll have to look through that funky lens device.  That’s 2 hours from now, and I already feel like it’s a chore and my eyes are tired.  It’s hell getting old.

As technology constantly evolves, as do widgets and plugins, so must this website if I want to maintain something relevant. 

Thus, as I do on occassion, came a time for a routine patching and maintenance to the site.

For those that are interested, you’re either as geeky if not more geeky than myself, or you are so utterly bored and pathetic at this very moment, you’re desperately still reading this as to fill some void in your life undoubtedly caused by unresolved mommy issues.  If it is indeed the latter, and you’re still reading this without being insulted, then my friend….stop what you are doing right this instant and grab yourself a strong drink.

Maintenance notes:

• Upgraded WordPress to current version 2.9.2 from the previous 2.7.1.  Kinda a big deal, but only to allow other plugins and widgets to operate normally.
• Blubrry Powerpress: Now v1.07.  Still need to incorporate more functionality into this site, but at least I have a place to possibly host future podcasts and video casts and register them properly with iTunes…if that day ever comes.
• NextGen Gallery: Now v1.5.3 that adds additional features and interface for picture galleries, slideshows and the like.
• Tweetable: Now v1.1.8.  This wouldn’t work previously with the 2.7.1 version of WordPress, but will now.  I haven’t activated yet as I need to register the application with Twitter, and place a widget in the margin to accept incoming Tweets.  Oh, and as of right now, you can still follow me on Twitter @alonedisciple.
• YouTube: Registered for a channel under the name ‘jaysonolson33′ that I have uploaded a few videos I plan to embed here if they are not a direct vodcast.
• GoWalla: A mobile social check-in application on my Droid phone that has the ability to also be tied into Twitter.  You can see where I am at if I happen to check in.  Also under ‘jaysonolson33′.
• Google Buzz: Once again, created under the moniker ‘jaysonolson33′, you can find and follow my Buzzes (many with pictures).  I hope the WP plugin ‘Socialable’ adds this soon enough.

Part of me feels like I sold out to the Media Man.  I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve been fairly proud to have gone thus far so long without jumping on the Twitter bandwagon.  There’s a couple of reasons why I never felt the need to jump on this trend, and I suppose on the technological front it was because I never had a smart phone prior to my Droid and there was no way in hell I was going to use my regular phone (sans QWERTY keyboard) to attempt and fumble through pecking out a tweet.  It didn’t help either that Verizon charges like $.10 for every text message as well if you don’t have a data plan.

The second reason was more of a social ego thing for me which of course goes both ways.  On my side of the coin, I’m not sure what I would ‘tweet’ or why I would in the first place.  I’m not of the generation where this technology is second hand nature to kids have my age.  It seems that ‘tweeting’ was the next step in evolution for teens who were already maturing beyond Myspace, and now had a mobile way to keep friends updated.  I’m pretty sure that if I were 16 again, I’d really be into Twitter.  On the flip-side of things, it seemed Twitter became all that when celebrity douche’s like Ashton Kutcher, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and John Mayer got on-board and felt the need to tweet about everything they came into contact with.  Soon, ‘entertainment’ news shows such as Access Hollywood and Extra started to report the often mundane and sometimes insane musings of so called celebrities and hung on every word as if the ability to tweet now turned them into wise old sages that we as a culture needed to hang onto every word.  It was no longer about what we could do or experience for ourselves, but we were more interested, (for whatever reason) in “What would Ashton do?” or “What does Brittany think?”, as if somehow we were actually no closer to them, understood them, and now could tell others we were friends.

So why did I succumb if I am so against it?  Well, like all things, even my opinions change over time.  I still think Ashton and John Mayer are douches, but I cam to realize that there are other people out there that actually do write about things that interest me.  There are people I am interested in following as it comes to discovering new technologies, new restaurants, new clubs and venues, and even news that affects my world.

So who the hell am I following then?    Funny you should ask.  For the first time, it seems I have the ability to ‘interview’ who I want to follow on a trial basis.  Some may come, some may go.  For example, I don’t think I could follow a John Mayer even if I like him because my phone would be chirping upwards of ten times a day on just him.  Now suppose I began to follow 10 people, or maybe 20, or even 30.  If they even just tweeted once a day, I’d be inundated with chirps that would drive me up the wall.

The current list I have is relatively small (10), and there wasn’t all that much thought put into it.  Some of them I added like Neil Patrick Harris, because he actually has something to say and it has content, not like Kim Kardashian who peppers here with just links and nonsensical crap like advertisements.  I looked at a few dozen random celebrities in different fields and here’s my list thus far:  Nikkie Jackson (fitness model), Catalina Cruz (Internet entrepreneur), Niel Patrick Harris (actor), Bobby Flay (celebrity chef), Denise Richards (actress, model, animal lover), Kevin Smith (director, comic buff, actor), Blair Herter (TV personality, comic geek, video games), Adam Sessler (TV personality, video gamer), Aziz Ansari (comedian, actor), Guy Fieri (celebrity chef, tv personality).

I also realize it’s a great self marketing tool.  I’d love to get more people to listen to my podcast and if I can even attract one person via Twitter over to CocktailConfessions, then by measurement, it worked.  I doubt I will be personally be ‘tweeting’ much, I mean what possibly do I have to say to the masses who don’t even know I exist?  If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll get a few followers, although I suspect they will be friends and I can share with them some new eats I’ve discovered, or inform them of a new podcast, or perhaps an occasional mobile picture….but isn’t that what we have Facebook for?

On my Droid phone I installed ‘Tweetcaster lite’, a freebie version of Tweetcaster Pro.  It seemed to get a lot of positive ratings 4.5/5 and seems failry intuitive to use.  Not sure if it is the best one out there as it seems a few people said it doesn’t have the ability to upload video’s to Twitter….but do I care about that?  Maybe it will come with an upcoming patch or release upgrade?

Anyway, now I’m looking for an appropriate and easy Twitter plug-in for WordPress.  I’ve already seen a few, but I need to decide which one will suit my needs here.  Don’t be surprised if you see one or two come and go over the weeks as I decide which one is for me.  However, in the meantime, if you so choose you can follow me on Twitter at ‘@alonedisciple’.

Finally, if you were to become a follower of me, what would you want me to tweet about?  Recipes?  Grilling?  Cocktails?  Funny crap?