American Idolatry

For some odd reason, I got sucked into American Idol-atry this season. The show to me is part car crash (can't help but stare at the incompetence), part Whitney Houston wannabes, and part real talent.

My favorites this year are:

Adam Lambert
Allison Iraheta

I'm sure both of them will have long careers.

Anoop Desai & Megan Joy were also fun to watch. Looking forward to hearing what Megan will do on her own.

Of course the winner was Kris Allen. I enjoyed his stuff, but I wouldn't buy an album by him. He is pretty good, but not my style.

The question is, why did Adam lose to Kris? If you look at the iTunes stats (released by mistake), you can clearly see Adam outselling everyone else. Matt is in last place.

Could the results be the influence of Vote for the Worst website? They wanted to sway the vote for Matt, then Cokey (calling him a woman's feminine hygiene product), then finally Kris. The site leaves no doubt about Adam's preferences, calls her Paula Rehabdul, has the mug shot of Jesse who was arrested for driving on a suspended license...everything you need to know about the show!

But the single most interesting thing about this show that surprised me, was how nice most of the top contestants were. Even after winning, Kris would ask for applause to his runner up Adam, when on the talk show tours. It's refreshing to see a bunch of kids that seem to show respect, honor and good sportsmanship.

I just wonder how long till they turn DIVA on us. "I asked for ONLY blue M&M's in my trailer!"

Swine flu in Mexico

Alot of people are asking me: How bad is it in Mexico?

Well...no cases in our area. I think the pandemic is not the disease, but it's the fear that Americans will leave the country and spend some money in Mexico! Ah...the propaganda machine hard at work. Scare scare scare the flock.

This video shows you what is really up in Puerto Vallarta.

Swine Virus in Mexico - got bacon?

Two days after arrival in Montreal, the news was inundated with stories about the Swine Virus in Mexico. How do I feel about this issue, a Canadian spending lots of time in Bucerias, Mexico?

Mexico is getting a bad rap these days. It started with the violence in border states, which is a real problem, but does not affect us here in Bucerias, Mexico (which is as far from the border as Seattle!). Like everyone, you take safety precautions in everyday situations. Most of this violence is related to drugs...so don't take drugs and you will likely avoid much of these issues. Don't go after Mexican women, you might feel the wrath of a over protective brother trying to preserve the "Virgin Mary" reputation of his sister. Do I feel safe in Bucerias, yes. Safer than any major US city for sure.

The press always take a story, injects fear in it, and presents it to the viewer. "Find out how spaghetti can cause spontaneous combustion in adults...film at 11h00." Let's face it, news is all about fear, so they can sell their ads.

I don't want to catch the Swine Virus. I have been having "weird" cravings for bacon, but don't take me behind the barn and shoot me just yet! If you think about it, there have been close to 150 deaths in Mexico City, but the population is over 18 million! If we go back to the violence in Mexico, according to this blog 5,612 people have died in 2008, executed because of the drug war.

According to CNN, swine flu is more contagious, but I'm still flying back to my family on Thursday. Am I scared? Not really. Might have to have some Tequila to kill disinfect myself, but I'll live.

Family Pictures

When I was in Montreal this summer, we had a chance to get our family pictures done by our favorite photographer Monique Simone who does Montreal Wedding Photography. She did our pictures a few years ago. Here are my favorite ones:

I will put up a link to our pictures once I get it. Monique will even make a book with all the pictures in it. A perfect gift!

Online Billing Solution

I am addicted to Freshbooks. I've been searching for an online billing solution for my IT business for years, and I stumbled onto Freshbooks.

Try it for free here. It's free for up to 5 clients.

This is how I use it. I'm at a client, I do some work, sell some gear and I log on to Freshbooks. I make sure the client is created, I make my bill, send it by email to the customer, print it on the spot, accept the check, apply payment, send an automated email back to the customer that the bill has been paid. Done. I leave with a check in hand, my billing done.

It will track expenses and make reports for taxes (GST, QST). You can add your own logo, choose the colors...it's great!

Try it today! Customers love it.

https://compuquest.freshbooks.com/signup/

Making sense of the world

I recently finished reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins.

This book was hard to put down! Controversy follows John Perkins which you can research in Wikipedia but I have to admit that it does ring true, and makes sense.

Enjoy.

Windows XP - RIP

Just got advised by Dell, that XP will no longer be available on Dells...kind of. July 18th was the last day to buy a Dell with an OEM license of XP.

On June 30th, Microsoft will officially kill XP. Oh sure, they make it sound better with the acronym EOL (End of Life), but really, Bill is taking XP behind the Microsoft Campus and will Tarantino XP.

What about those who don't want to go to Vista? You can buy a Vista Business/Ultimate downgrade option, in which you pay for Vista, but Dell will ship with XP pre-installed.

So...Bill...XP escaped!

iPhone & Zune in Canada

After all this time, the iPhone will finally come to Canada via Rogers. Story here.



The Zune, which is now in it's second generation is also available in Canada. This product seemed to have been pushed out the door of Microsoft pretty early, and with many missgivings. This latest version is much better and a nice competitor to the iPod.