TheBrianMeyer.

In this world of big box retailers and pre packaged stores, its good to know that the local guy is still supported. This is why I think it is so important to support local business whenever you can. If that means going to your local hardware store, or eating at the locally owned and sourced restaurant, we all need to do our part to show big business that local is where it’s at.

I really feel that things like foursquare, gowalla, and other location based tools of the sort help these businesses to show they exist, and to gain a local foothold with people that use the tools. I also feel that having a superior product is equally helpful.

Local craft beer bars/ restaurants have been growing in the area, and are doing wonders to small business. Places such as Bocktown in Robinson, and Bowsers and the Backdoor Tavern in Beaver County help to show people that the little guy (or girl) can make it big, and offer more than much bigger chains.

Well, it has been a while since I updated my blog, and I am feeling the need to get back into it again. I am typing this out on the word press app for my brand spanking new iPad 64 GB. I have to say, I was somewhat skeptical about the iPad, but I really like it so far. It does definitely seem to be an in between product, as it kind of does the things my MacBook does, and it definitely does the things that my iPhone does better. But I think the win is the in between. There are many times that I don’t want to turn my laptop on, and my phone is too small to do heat I want correctly.

The iPad seems to be what the iphone could be if we all had enormous pockets. I’m a fan, and I am glad I didn’t wait. If you’re reading this, you should get one too.

Here are some great Stock Photo sites, mostly free, all Royalty free:

http://everystockphoto.com/ Great Multi-Site search (one of my favorites)
http://sxc.hu/ (Searched in above site, but one of the best single sites for images)
http://freerangestock.com/
http://pics4learning.com/
http://freedigitalphotos.net/
http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
http://freephotos.se/
http://www.freephotosbank.com/
http://geekphilosopher.com/
http://pdphoto.org/
http://photos8.com/
http://morguefile.com/
http://photogen.com/
http://stockvault.net/
http://unprofound.com/
http://openphoto.net/
http://freepixels.com/
http://www.pixelio.de/
http://www.bigfoto.com/
http://www.istockphoto.com Pay site, but royalty free.

I had my first bout of spam today on the old web page. I don’t quite understand what people expect when they post spam. Are there really people out there that still see random links in comments on a web page, or in their email, and think “Hey self, you should click on that.” There must be, or spam wouldn’t exist.

I honestly blame the people who click on spam way more than the people who make the spam. If people quit clicking on the damned links, people would quit using it as a way to get their penis enlargement pills and their Viagra, and their viruses onto computers.

Seriously, there needs to be a way to quell it, and it needs to start with the end user. I think people should be taught in school what spam is, and why to not click it. No good advertisements ever come through spamming, and many contain some form of virus. All it takes is some stupid person wanting to see “Hot chicks” to click that link, and BAM!, now they have the virus, and when they give me a file or email that I actually want..BAM! now I have it just because they can’t stop from clicking.

I think the penalty for sending spam should be having to teach all the people who click your links how to properly use a computer, so they never click another link again.

Its Friday, the Scott’s and Menda’s are in town, we’re gonna tear some shit up.

I am not hitting up Black Friday like normal. I am enjoying it at home, working a normal day, instead of the other crazies out trying to save a few bucks. We’ll hit up some food and bowling tonight, obviously with drinking involved.

Should be a good time.

I really need to get off my ass and start accomplishing some stuff. I think I’ve been a little too passive as of late. SO, I’m thinking work like a fool during the day and do some serious damage at night/on the weekends.

This weekend should be a good start….

I am trying out the app for the iPhone that allows posting of updates to my blog from the phone. It took a little time to fully register with my site and set up, but this will be the ultimate test.

Color Saturation

Spent a good deal of the morning today creating images similar to this one for a course. I think they turned out pretty well. It really helped remind me how to use Illustrator. Illustrator is one of those programs that Is super powerful, but I rarely get to use.

Here is a link to the program I wrote for my Java class to input 3 students with 5 scores each. It’s a great example of “for” and “if…else” loops.

Grades Program

The idea of Java is to find a smart, simple way of doing a repetitive task or to do something more eloquently that can work cross-platform. This picture shows both of these ideas.