December 2011
3 posts
Episode 109: A Heifer Wheezin →
November 2011
2 posts
Episode 108: The Ultimate Egotist →
April 2011
2 posts
Episode 089: You Asked For It →
5 tags
Growing Up Geek Part 4: NCC-1701 vs. The Universe
I have several drawings in my collection which I affectionately dub the “Enterprise Blowing S#!% Up” series. Star Trek was perhaps the biggest psychological and creative influence on my early life, even more so than Star Wars. My earliest memory of deliberate mischief is of sneaking out of my room after bedtime to peer around a corner and down our hallway as my parents watched reruns...
March 2011
2 posts
Growing Up Geek Part 3: End of an Era
The Space Shuttle was in my life from very early on, and served as an incredibly strong source of inspiration. One of my earliest computer memories comes from watching grainy, compressed video of the first 60 or so STS launches and landings off a CD-ROM. It’s a tired cliche that every kid at some point wants to grow up to become an astronaut, and I was no exception. As this particular image...
Episode 085: Three Long Pigs →
February 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Growing Up Geek Part 2: Epic Confrontation
Star Wars played a huge role in my geek upbringing. I remember first encountering the iconic sci-fi saga through a couple of scenes from Episode IV’s entry in Microsoft Cinemania ‘95. Oddly enough, my parents let me play the plethora of DOS-based Star Wars games long before they allowed me to see the full movie. I spent many an afternoon and evening engrossed in the DOS classics X-Wing...
3 tags
Growing Up Geek Part 1: Introduction
A long time ago in a childhood not so far away, I was somewhat of an artist. I produced over 300 pieces of artwork over the course of my childhood. Recently I took it upon myself to scan this collection and over the next several weeks I would like to share some of my favorite creations with y’all.
The title of the series says a lot about the content of these works. I was, am, and always...
December 2010
1 post
Episode 079: Twelve Inch Razor Blades →
November 2010
4 posts
Episode 078: Big Bad TV Daddy →
So this is what the kids call "sexting?"
I just now had about the most bizarre text conversation of my life. It started with a random incoming text and went down some pretty strange roads. I played along, as you will see, and “she” seemed to as well. Kind of NSFW in some parts, but whatever. Have a read:
[12:12am] Them: Hey baby girl.
Me: I don’t think this is who you think it is.
Them: Chelsea?
Me: Definitely not...
Episode 077: The Untimely Death of Stephen →
9 tags
W00tstock 2.9: A Spunky Elephant's Review
“Take a moment to look around you. This is what the Internet looks like.”
As I sat there on the mezzanine level of the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin, glancing playfully from side to side and up and down the rows at smiling nerds, I felt a tremendous rush of camaraderie that would set the tone for the epic extravaganza that was W00tstock 2.9.
For the uninitiated, W00tstock was...
October 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Are you more of a talker or more of a listener?
Depends on my mood. I can do both with equal comfort. If you really forced me to choose, I would say I’m slightly more a talker.
Be blunt, be adventurous. Ask away:
1 tag
What was the happiest moment in your life?
This is a hard one, mainly because the word “happy” contains many facets (such as contentment, euphoria, and joy), each with their own distinct moments of greatest intensity.
My most content moment was this past February, and it’s a bit too personal to describe in detail. Let’s just say that a window, a girl, and a fresh snow were all involved.
My most euphoric moment to...
September 2010
1 post
1 tag
Hey Steven,
Hope all is well with you. Given your...
I really wish we still lived in the age of patrons. If so, I would love to devote a couple of decades to designing and building real-world manifestations of maps and locations from iconic video games, starting with Myst and then continuing with Halo, SimCity, and anything else I had time for.
Alternatively, I would love to work with Virgin Galactic on designing and realizing the world’s...
August 2010
3 posts
Episode 071: What’s in the News, Robin? →
Episode 070: The Internet Says No →
July 2010
3 posts
Episode 068: Unfortunate Convenience →
Episode 067: We Love You, Torgo! →
June 2010
4 posts
1 tag
What would you call the best night of your life...
November 1st, 2008.
I woke up at about 4 in the morning and joined my friends in line at “RaiderVille,” camping out for the TTU vs. UT game. We waited the whole day in line with thousands of other students, got into the stadium around 4pm, then watched the epic match where we won right at the end with an incredible catch. The whole crowd rushed the field. We were the center of the...
Louis Gray's Take on the iPhone 4 →
This pretty well sums up my thoughts on the iPhone 4 keynote today. I’m getting an EVO tomorrow and I couldn’t be happier with that decision.
2 tags
Step Into "The Expanse"
About seven years ago I started another major fan fiction series, unrelated (at least in my mind) to Star Trek. This one has gone through a lot of stages, starting with fantasies inspired by the game “Stargunner” combined with my own delusions of grandeur and ideas for epic sci-fi story arcs. This slightly more mature iteration is not the most recent one, but it’s probably my...
May 2010
6 posts
1 tag
Why CaptainValor?????
Now that’s actually a semi-interesting story. Back about 10 years ago I started a Star Trek fan fiction called “Star Trek: The Elite,” and in this story the main character was Captain Smith. His ship was the USS Valor. Now, when it came time for me to pick a better handle than my first Internet name, I chose to make one from these elements. So I went by...
Episode 066: 6 Years and It’s Over →
Episode 065: Whoa… →
Episode 064: Foremanslaw →
Portals to Knowledge →
A photo diary of all the classrooms I could access where I had courses over my time at Texas Tech University.
3 tags
My Life in Red and Black
I came to Texas Tech in the fall of 2006.
Four years, 89 papers, 96 tests, hundreds of quizzes, dozens of professors, thousands of study hours, thousands of reading pages, two sleepless nights, three laptop batteries, dozens of parties, thousands of classmates, a few lovers, a couple dozen close friends and tens of thousands of dollars later, I will have a diploma.
In that period of time, I...
April 2010
20 posts
1 tag
What inspires you to sign a song?
Usually getting it so stuck in my head that I can’t get it out. Making it into a video ensures that I never get it stuck in my head again.
Ask me anything
10 tags
Data Control is the 21st-Century Nuclear Arms Race
Imagine a world without the Internet.
Scary, right? Even though it was a mere 30 years ago that we lived in a world virtually devoid of large-scale computer networks, it is almost impossible to imagine living a comfortable modern life without the Internet.
Networked computer automation is all around us. Consider the simple process of buying a meal from a local fast food restaurant. The teller...
1 tag
When did you feel the most alive?
Summer of last year (2009) I spent about an hour standing on the roof of a 7-story building in Lubbock as a massive thunderstorm engulfed the city. There was lightning all around and I played a mix of Nightwish and Explosions in the Sky on my iPod. When the pouring rain finally came I sprinted through it across campus to my car, music still blasting. I’ve never felt more alive.
Ask me...
Episode 063: A Big Shiny Piece of Paper →
5 tags
Apple's Drunken FAIL of the Year
Apple got a chink in its brushed aluminum armor this week.
First, a brief summary of the story as it stands (according to Gizmodo.com). On March 18th, Apple software designer Gray Powell decided to have some drinks at a local German bar in San Francisco. It would have been just a normal happy-go-lucky evening except for one very important detail.
Powell was carrying a prototype 4th-generation...
Episode 062: iKevin2.0.net@blogspot.com →
“He doubted they’d seen the last of Sergei Veshkev…”
– Last written line of the two-part pilot to Star Trek: The Elite, a fanfic I wrote about 10 years ago. I had the whole first season planned out in my head, along with a sufficiently epic story arc for the first three seasons. It’s humorously bad stuff. Read at your own peril.
What Stormtroopers Do On Their Day Off – Part 2 |... →
Study Hacks » Blog Archive » Corrupted Callings:... →