Let me just say the picture of the two lambs has nothing to do with this post. I’m just testing the new WordPress application for Android. All the blogs are reporting on it, so I figured I’d give it a shot. It’s alright so far I guess. Maybe I’ll use this more often. Maybe.

Q101, my favorite radio station from Chicago is no more. Ever since I moved out of the area, I haven’t been able to keep up with everything the station was going through. Thanks to a tweet from WWE wrestler CM Punk yesterday, I learned Q101 had been sold last month. The new owner is believed to be turning it into a news talk station. That’s a far stretch from Q101′s alternative rock format. I thought I should pay my respects to Q101 and its former employees by reflecting on my history with the station and the influences it had on me.

I don’t remember what year it was when I first tuned in to Q101. All I know was that I was in middle school in the late 90s. I was at my grandmother’s house and feeling quite bored. I was trapped there until my mom was ready to go back home. In an effort to entertain myself, I got my hands on a radio. My intention was to rotate the dial (it wasn’t a digital radio) until I ran across a song I hadn’t heard in a while. I wanted to feel that moment of blissful nostalgia in order to combat my growing frustration. While I slowly moved through the frequencies, a song came through very clearly. It was “Black Balloon” by the Goo Goo Dolls. At that point, I had no idea who this band was or what this song was called. I recalled hearing it on a commercial and thinking it was pretty catchy. I listened to the whole thing and couldn’t have been happier with the song I stumbled upon.

Just as soon as the song was over, it was time to go home. I didn’t know what station played that song I liked so much, but I did know it was between the 100 and 105 dial on the radio. When I got home, I tried to find the station again. Like clockwork, another familiar song came through the speakers. It was “Guerrilla Radio” by Rage Against the Machine.  This was another song I heard somewhere in bits, but really liked it for some reason. I knew I had found the right station. From there, Q101 played music from the likes of Stone Temple Pilots, Live and 311. I enjoyed all of it.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Besides going through the typical teenage angst stage, I grew tired of rap music. You see, I’m from Gary Indiana. You may have heard things about the city that are both true and untrue. But I’m about to drop a truth bomb on you now. The fact is, there wasn’t a lot of black people from Gary that listened to anything other than rap and R&B. Alternative rock was seen as white people music, and in some cases, crazy white people music. With all the screaming, loud guitars and powerful drums, alternative rock was viewed as somewhat demonic. I didn’t feel that way at all.

Rap had entered what I call “The Bling Era.” Master P, The Hot Boys and artists similar to them were taking off. Frankly, I didn’t like their music. I always thought the old school gangsta rap was some of the best rap music. They shared a message that was backed up by raw talent. It wasn’t about who could make the catchiest hook, who’s beat could be louder and what song was better fit for the club. Some of the artists then and now lack that raw talent. They don’t talk about anything. They’re just talking for the sake of talking.

Alternative rock resonated with me more. I understood what a lot of those bands were conveying. This was especially true when I had to isolate myself when listening to Q101. Virtually no one understood the music where I’m from. The more flack I got for being a fan of alt. rock, the closer I got to it.

I had Q101 with me at all times. I found this old Sony Walkman portable cassette player with a FM radio that I took with me everywhere to listen to Q101. When I woke up, I tuned in to Mancow’s Morning Madhouse. When I got home from school, it was Road Rage with Sludge. Before I went to sleep, it was all about the Top 9 at 9 followed by Loveline. I kept that schedule for years.

The fact is that without Q101 in my life, I wouldn’t be the same person I am today. Q101 inspired me to go into radio. I wanted to do what my favorite DJs did everyday. I chose my college major to be radio, television and film broadcasting with an emphasis in radio. I was a DJ on my college radio station that played alternative rock. I tried to spice up my shift in ways that Q101 did. I wanted someone out there to be as inspired by what I was doing just as I was back in Gary while listening to Q101.

I still have radio spots that I wrote, edited and produced from college. The style, delivery and message were all influenced by Q101.

Even though I make my living writing about videogames and consumer electronics, Q101′s influence still sits in me. The podcasts I participated in and later produced for That VideoGame Blog never would have happened if it weren’t for that inner radio DJ in me trying to get out. I still want to do podcasts and I hope we can have one at Gamertell or Gadgetell one day.

I know I’ve rambled on for nearly 1,000 words, but I really wanted to write about how much Q101 means to me. That station was there for me through the worst of times. It molded some aspects of my personality for the better. I’m truly thankful for Q101 and I hope all of its former employees land on their feet.

Chicago won’t rock as loud now that Q101 is gone.

It has been nearly two years since I’ve purchased a new cell phone. These past two years in the mobile phone industry has moved like dog years. What do I mean by that? I’ll provide an example.

I own the myTouch 3G which is the second Android smartphone that was released in the United States. Do you know how many Android phones have been released since then? Too many.

My phone is a relic. I almost feel as if I’m being cheated out of my money now. The myTouch has become so sluggish, unreliable and a pain to carry around. I don’t even attempt to surf the web on this thing. I’m also afraid of putting apps on it out of fear that they’ll just slow the phone down even more. Yet, I’m still tied to a mandatory myTouch web plan with T-Mobile for $30 a month. That’s $30 for a smartphone that’s not even all that smart anymore.

Am I wrong for thinking that two-year contracts should be done away with? In two short years, we’ve gone from 3.2-inch phones with 3 megapixel cameras, single-core slow processors and no flash support to 4.3-inch phones with HD displays, dual-core 1Ghz processors, 8GB HD cameras and more media options than we ever thought we’d need.

I want to get the HTC Sensation, but I’m afraid of the next wave of smartphones that will inevitably come out. Will the Samsung Galaxy S II be far better than the Sensation? Will the next iPhone come to T-Mobile as rumors suggest? Someone help me!

I shot this quick video with my phone this morning showing what I was up against.

The first month is free, but I can’t see myself paying $15 a month for it. As tempted as I am to write about it here, I may save that argument for a Gamertell piece.

My character is named Enziguri if you’re interested. He’s a villain, has plant powers and is an expert at martial arts. Look for him on PSN why don’t you?

I’ll likely create a new character on a PvP server so I can play when my friends aren’t around.

Well I’m getting back to work now. Byez.

Wow have I really not written anything here since October? It’s amazing how easily you can neglect your own blog when you’re off writing somewhere else. Anyway, I’m revitalizing this space to talk about the crappiest thing that has happened to me this week. Someone stole my identity.

I’m not quite sure how it happened. I went to Walmart on Monday to pick up the essentials. I needed various toiletries, food and some cat stuff. At the end of the day, I spent less than $60 for all of it.

When I got to the register, I had the most brilliant thought. Since that bank that issues my card grants me points for using it as credit, I felt I could use that to my advantage. I thought if I racked up enough points, I could convert them into real cash! I’ve done it before.

For some reason, it’s store policy to show your card and ID to the cashier whenever using a credit card. I used to work in retail so I can confirm this. I went through the motions and headed home.

The next day, I decided to check the spam in my inbox. I’ve sent various e-mails to sites looking for freelancers and thought it would be good idea to check the spam just in case Google filtered their replies. I came across an email from my bank that said I may have been a victim of fraud. I thought I was going to have a laugh at this point. Scammers send authentic looking messages to people all the time asking for their information so they can rip them off. The weird thing was that no one was asking for my information. Instead, there were a list of charges the bank thought were suspicious.

In a confused panic, I quickly checked my account online only to find that someone had knocked me off for almost $800. Two of the charges were from Walmart.com no less.

I called my bank and stopped the card. After a few days, all my money was returned to me. That’s good news, but it sucks having to cancel everything associated with the old card, and changing passwords to every site I used that card with.

You know what particularly sucks about this? I can’t access Netflix anymore because they can’t access the card now. It’s Saturday for crying out loud! I don’t have cable and there’s obviously nothing on TV.

I guess the moral of this story is to always check on your accounts. Even tech savvy people like myself can fall victim.

Can I live without Facebook? Yes. Do I want to get rid of Facebook? No. Despite all its critics, Facebook is still very useful. There’s no way I would keep up with some friends and family without it. However there are some big annoyances I have with the way some people use it. It’s time for a list of the most irritating Facebook habits as seen on my feed.

1. Countdowns – 5 days… 3 days…. WTF man?! If you’re going to count down, at least say what you’re counting down to. Do you just want people to comment on your status?
2. Thinking About Master Plans – Do you really have a master plan? Let me guess. You went to work, had a bad day and now you have a grand scheme to get you everything you want? You’ll forget about whatever you thought you had planned the very next day.
3. Virtual Self Fellatio – You’ve seen these people. The people who go out of their way to make themselves sound important. “Going into the VIP room tonight. Then I’m gonna get on this plane and head to the meeting.” Screw you douche.
4. Single People Pretending to be Happy – Chances are if you constantly talk about being single, you’re not enjoying it. Especially if nearly every post you write deals with how someone isn’t good enough for you or how much “swag” you have.
5. Fishers for Attention – These people always ask questions hoping for a response. When they don’t get comments, their questions become more extreme. They’re like,” Ask me anything, anything at all and I’ll answer honestly.” Do you have herpes?
6. Facebook Twitterers – Why can’t you differentiate between Facebook and Twitter? Take your @ replies and hashtags back to Twitter. And please don’t allow all your Tweets to cross-post to Facebook. It’s dumb.

Oh there will be more once I think of them.

Today is the first Saturday I’ve had in a long time that felt like a day off. Ever since I started writing full time, I created a schedule for myself that demanded I write every single day. I recently changed my schedule again to allow me a couple days off on the weekend. I must say, it feels pretty great.

I woke up and watched THREE HOURS of Sell This House. My laptop sat next to me closed and cool. My cat sat next to me fat and loud. Part of me felt like I was forgetting something. I had to keep reminding myself that I could  rest easy today. I’m recharging my batteries so I can jump back in to this writing thing Monday morning. Now all I have to do is find something constructive to do besides going to the store to buy juice.

I want to clarify why I watched Sell This House from 8 to 11am. I’m moving into a new apartment this month and I’m looking to spice things up a bit. Plain white walls and beige-ish carpet isn’t going to cut it anymore. I was using that show to get ideas as to what I plan on doing. I will be painting and I will create a more traditional bedroom.

Cable television is also getting the axe next month. I don’t feel spending $60+ a month is worth it. Truth be told, I only watch a few things anyway and most of that stuff can be found online. In place of cable, I will be using services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus and the array of channels that come with the Roku box. I’ll even throw in a digital TV antenna to get local channels.

Zelda gets to stay because I’m not changing complexes, just units. It’s going to be Hell getting her out of here, but it must be done. I think I’ll get a tall box and toss her in there when she least expects it. She’ll scream her head off, but that’s the only way I can move her without getting scratched. She hates carriers and being picked up.

Well I better get to the store before it gets warmer. It’s supposed to reach 88 degrees today. Lousy unpredictable mid-Western weather.

I check Facebook several times a day. Most of the time I login, scroll the page and log back out. The only things I really care about are my friend’s status messages and pictures they post. Occasionally someone will post an interesting link to an article or video that’s interesting, but it doesn’t happen very often. The one thing that remains constant in my feed are annoying updates on what Facebook games my friends are playing. I don’t care who needs eggs in Farmville or who has the current high score in Bejeweled.  Thankfully there is a way to block all those posts once and for all.

I have to thank Lifehacker for pointing this fix out. I just had to share it with anyone who may not have seen it on the site. Anyway, on to the cure!

Facebook Purity is a script that operates within your web browser. It targets all those little messages from Facebook applications and blocks them from your feed. Here’s how to enable it on a Firefox browser.

First, download and install  the Greasemonkey Firefox add-on. Next, install the Facebook Purity script from Facebook Purity’s site. Now you’re done. No more Farmville requests and no more Mafia Wars updates. Facebook Purity may block some things you may be fond of such as PlayStation Network Trophy updates or knowing who your friends befriend on Facebook. You can un-hide the blocked updates at any time.

Warning: Spoilers may be present so don’t read this if you’re planning to see it.

This is not a review of the movie. I’m not going to pretend I’m a movie critic because I’m not. These are just my thoughts on the film because it’s still fresh in my head.

The concept behind Inception is fantastic. We all have dreams but most of us never analyze them – much less try to figure out ways to manipulate them. I think this is what makes Inception so enticing. It takes something we are very familiar with, and builds an idea around it that’s crazy enough to be true. I mean, can you prove Inception is not possible? Neither can I.

Most of us have probably had a dream within a dream. We also are familiar with how much slower time moves when we are dreaming. This “me too” feeling that Inception constantly draws up is so captivating, it masks what I feel the film was missing. An engaging story, clear explanations and an overall moral.

Before you put a hit out on me, let me explain. Inception had two storylines. The one that tells of Cobb’s subconscious struggle with his wife’s death and what I’m calling the dream heist. Cobb’s story was fascinating. His greatest love also becoming his greatest hurdle fits in wonderfully with Inception’s concept. This story worked and I felt it was capable of being part 1 to the old 1-2 punch Inception could have had.

The second storyline fell short. I love the thought of entering someone’s dream and tricking them into making real world decisions without them even knowing why. I also love heists. But the setup is downright uninteresting. Some business guy you don’t care about wants another business guy you care even less about to break up his fathers business so they won’t control most of the world’s power supply. Besides Cobb facing jail time, what’s everyone else’s motivation? Why take the risk? For money? Money was barely mentioned if at all. For friendship? Half the crew didn’t know each other. To fill out 2 1/2 hours worth of movie time? That’s more like it. There could have been a more personal reason why an inception heist was needed. Maybe if the hook didn’t involve nameless corporations and focused more on one’s personality (which is what shapes dreams) they would have knocked it out of the park.

There’s also some technical issues I’m struggling with. Inception is a complicated subject. The idea of dream layers, shared dreams, forgers, chemistry and architects can easily go over anybody’s head. That’s why this complexity should be thoroughly explained. I don’t just want to “go along with it” without fully understanding.

Here are some of the things I felt weren’t fleshed out in the 2 1/2 hours Inception lasted.

1) How did they create shared dreams?
2) How did they isolate the architects creation from everyone else’s random world sharing the dream?
3) How can the architect specifically choose to enter the dream she created rather than everyone somehow ending up at a carnival?
4) If Cobb can bring his wife and freight trains into the dream, and the chemist can produce rain (because he had to pee before falling asleep) why didn’t the other dreamers bring personal feelings into the shared dream?
5) Why aren’t there any black people in this whole movie?! That was a joke. Black people don’t dream… Another joke.
6) What’s the moral? What are we supposed to take away from this?

I need answers on these questions. I feel the film had more than enough time to make this clearer for the audience. If you can spend almost a half hour showing a van plunging into water, you can put together a montage explaining how dream crafting works.

That’s all I have for now. Please comment if you want to engage in a good conversation about Inception. I enjoyed the film overall, but I was waiting for that Holy Crap! moment that never came.