Life of a Web Programmer

Over the weekend, Catherine and I visited three different state parks, a first for the both of us; we are so hardcore. Last weekend we went on a camping adventure to one of the top 100 state parks in America, Guadalupe State Park. All in all it was a great trip, with its interesting camping patrons (lighter fluid and BBQ pits). This trip proved that we could handle any adversity that came our way and we were hardcore, building a fire from sticks and stone

This weekend, we visited McKinney Falls, Lockhart, and Bastrop State Parks. I just received my new Yakima bike racks for my truck bed, and we both tested them out. McKinney Falls is a great ride with the perfect amount of uphill and downhill sections. Onion Creek was too high to cross so we only rode the upper section of the falls.

We visited Lockhart State Park after we enjoyed some Black’s Barbecue. This visited was short considering it was mainly a golf course, but the barbecue was amazing.

And finally, Bastrop State Park, a new love that sparked our next camping trip. Catherine and I loved every minute of each trail we hiked on. The Lost Pines seemed as though we were no longer in Texas, but felt familiar to the Rocky Mountains National Park, minus the mountains It was a great hike and we plan on backpacking next weekend on the Lost Pines Trail.

I will leave with a few pics from our trips:

I’ve been back and forth on this subject since the start of this website. My intentions when starting out was to just life cast my day to day with some insight on web development, video juegos, and funny youtube videos. But as the site grows, I’ve consider the idea of adding some sense to my site…no pun intended.

So, I’ve come to a decision to keep this site pure from advertising and spammy looking ads for sake of the internets. Too many sites that start receiving some sort of traffic take a turn for the worse and essentially sell out their patrons. This site’s sole purpose is to relate with some of you, give advice to others, and entertain all. It’s official, no Google AdSense…no Yahoo! PN…no advertising of anything that I don’t have control over. Purity in its rarest form.

This weekend, Catherine and I plan on going camping to the Guadalupe River State Park, so I will be posting more photos this upcoming week. Thanks to all that have been coming to the site on a regular basis; feel free to comment on some of these posts, I won’t yell ‘atcha

Catherine and I had a great Sunday morning visiting the McKinney Falls State Park here in Austin, Texas. We were both surprised at how close it really was to my apartment; only 2 miles away.

At first glance, we were skeptical. Once out of the official Texas State Park truck, the Toyota Tundra, we started our adventure on the Onion Creek hike and bike trail. We saw primitive camping sites, lots of picnic areas, and the Jimmy Clay GC. But it wasn’t until we turned the corner on the southern part of the trail when we saw some really cool cacti and mulberry flowers. This was also our first time testing out Catherine’s trekking poles which really make a difference

Overall, I was impressed with the park and could see this as a quick Sunday morning bike or hike. With our park pass, it’s definitely worth it. And the views of the falls are really awesome, seeing the power of the waters crash down on the “moon surfaced” rocks. I recommend this park to anyone looking to take the family out for a quick stroll or for that last minute hike with a friend or significant other.

So I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica for about a week now, and I have to say that I am quite impressed. Thanks to Netflix, I’ve been receiving two discs at a time, the perfect time span to really enjoy a TV show on DVD. With 4 episodes on one discs, I’ve viewed all but one episodes of season one.

I have to admit I was hooked when I started with The Miniseries. The universe that is Battlestar Galactica seems as though it would actually exist in our near future. I am addicted to the realistic camera angles, color shading of certain environments, and the human imperfections of each character. Commander Adama’s words of wisdom and “slams”, President Roslin’s quick, sharp responses to hard situations, and Dr. Baltar’s sleezy demeanors really capture my involvement in the storyline.

I will be waiting for disc five of season one and the start of season two this week.

Until then, watch out for those Cylons and their 12 models…

Catherine and I did some camping over the weekend at Pedernales State Park in Johnson City, TX. We both were very excited to get out their and “rough it” out with nature to test our “Marine skills”. When we arrived there, we were met with open arms by the park rangers, although it seemed like to the both of us park rangers favor primitive campers over “park n’ tent” campers by the way they greeted the gentleman waiting before us in line for registration.

So as we unpack the official Texas State Parks truck, 2010 Toyota Tundra, we came across a very friendly fellow and his two friends who seemed to be visited by “the spirits of the forest.” It was rather strange, and we both looked at each and said “Odd!”

We started our “2 mile” hike, stopping along the way to take photos and strategizing ways to cross low lying creeks. When we found the primitive camping site, we found the perfect spot, although we luckily came across it. We pitch our tent, set up our sleeping bags, and started the mini stove; it was time to eat

After setting up our campsite, we got cozy, ate our Easy Mac ‘N Cheese, and enjoyed a game of Scrabble right before our wolf scare. We calmed each other down by reading each other by reading potential state parks we’d like to visit later on this year. *Note to self: DO NOT bring beef jerky when camping.

We survived the night and woke up at the break of dawn, patrolling the perimeter for potential threats of wolves (must have been a Marine in a past life). We went on a quick morning hike of Wolf Mountain, oddly enough we did not find any wolves. Again we stopped along the way to take pictures of goofy signs and picturesque views. Our camping adventures came to a close after having no issues packing up our campsite, thank God, with a visit to the Pedernales Falls.

We had the best time of our lives and there is more to come for the both of us

Here’s another reason to stop playing and to start boycotting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the unlimited care package, sentry gun, emergency air drop glitch. Negative XP and now this, how fun can this be when there’s nothing but air support in the air and you’re the victim: AC130s, Harriers, Helicopters, and Chopper Gunners. This has been the last straw. Last night, I experienced one of these lobbies and I had to stop playing; I realized that this game needs some serious work.

Infinity Ward needs to refund the millions they’ve made on this game and give it back to those who actually are trying to play this game legitimately. @fourzerotwo, your game is broken and I’m not going to play it anymore, if anything I’ll be playing Borderlands…

So, I was thinking about my high speed internet options yesterday, and I took a look at what the pricing was to upgrade my current high speed internet package. Come to find out, upgrading to Road Runner Turbo was only 10 bucks extra a month. That’s right, just 10 bucks more.

Here are the theoretical specs of upgrading from STANDARD to TURBO:

STANDARD

• Downloads: 7mbps
• Uploads: 512kbps

TURBO

• Downloads: 15mbps
• Uploads: 2mbps

Current speedtest.net results as of 2010-01-30 14:54 CST…

So last night, I played both Borderlands and CoDMW2 and found out I’m two completely different people when I play them. While playing Borderlands, I was actually enjoying the gameplay, looting and turning in quests, compared to CoDMW2 when I was shouting and yelling at the TV because I was PWNED by some 12 year-old or killed by freakin’ LAG.

So my conclusion, if I want to live a stress-free life and enjoy my existence here on Earth, I think I’m going to switch back to playing Borderlands. I remember the endless nights of loot runs, leveling, and NPC pwnage that has sparked new interest for the beloved Borderlands. How can you resist this RPG-FPS? And, how can you beat the recent DLCs available for this game? The astrological signs are pointing towards Borderlands, and I cannot just ignore this itch; I must scratch it. So, I’m officially stating that I, Josh Dale, will take a breather from CoDMW2 and enter the world of “Pandora.”

P.S. – I’ll be streaming gameplay, evenings at 8-12PM CST on justin.tv…come check me out

I’ve been hectically trying to catch up to be able to enjoy the season primer of Lost next week. So the past couple of days and nights, I’ve caught up to season 2, episode 19. I know I have a long ways to go, but hopefully ABC or Hulu.com will post the new episodes as soon as they are broadcasted.

So far, everyone on the Island has had it for 48 days and everything is about to “hit the fan.” Hopefully tonight, I’ll be able to finish the last part of season 2. Not too sure about the “Dharma Initiative”; seems like a “cult” to me. Who knows? I think I’m about to be confused outta my mind and will be reading up the forums to try to understand all the chaos that is Lost

Pwn some snipers in this video on Underpass. This map is so sniper heavy, but I do some work with my Killstreaks and the Akimbo Rangers, and the FTW triple kill at the end of the video. I have some more uploads coming soon, sorry this time I decide to keep out the commentary and just let the gameplay speak for itself…

Also I’ll try to be streaming live on justin.tv, weeknight from 8-12PM CST, if y’all want to see me in action…you can see it on my dedicated streams page or at justin.tv…