The 3rd World Rocker

Alright, here is an update on my living situation:
I now have a bed, kitchen utensils and WiFi! =). Also the 32″ flat screen that my mother got me (I love you mom). I have my laptop connected directly to the TV and watch all my DVDs & anime, very cool.

Bitter Good News.
Last time I was visiting the family, I found out that my beloved desktop has crashed, Dad of course must’ve deleted something, or tried to be a techie and totally killed my machine . Luckily I didn’t have anything of extreme importance on it. So the plan now is for me to bring that sucker to the AshPad, re-format the box, and turn it into my entertainment system. It being a desktop, makes it much more robust than my laptop with the dead battery, also it has a larger capacity as far as hard drive/RAM and all that jazz.
ALSO, I’m thinking of downloading Steam, and that way it could also be my console. I think I still have the USB game controller, if not, they are easily found, and from my school experience I know that with the correct adapter, I could end up using XboX controllers, its a win win situation. =)

I’m very sycked about getting this done, not sure if I’m implementing project AshBox this weekend or not. So far all I’m thinking about is getting home, having some ice tea as I watch the series conclusion of “Outlaw Star“.

Hopefully I’m meeting up with a friend on Saturday, or going to see friends perform. Sunday is very much low-key so far. We’ll see, I’m so excited about this that I might actually go through with it sooner than I think.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Salaam.

I was very delightedly surprised when I found that I was not the only one doing this research =). I found a few of sites that actually compare the two, amongst MANY that praise the super awesomeness of the BlackBerry. Believe it or not, there was one main feature that I am looking for. After my research, which was done in one day, I have decided to stick with the Plam Centro as my next super-gadget.
The main reason (for me): Categories in the calendar.

In my Palm z22 (which uses the same OS as the Centro), I am able to categorize the items I add in my calendar with different colors and names, there for with a quick glance at my monthly calender view, I can tell what days I have gigs, work projects, or bills due, by a simple colored dot. HUGE time saver, from having to go through each freaking day.
Apparently, you would need to install a 3rd party application to do just that with the BlackBerry, but its a built in feature with the Plam. Awesome.

From my z22 experience, I believe you should also be able to plug the Plam Centro into your PC, and actually manipulate data through the computer, add/remove calendar items, tasks, memos, and all that good stuff, and it would update through a quick ’sync’. I have done this with the z22, so I’m assuming that this awesome feature is still there. BlackBerry doesn’t have this feature (as far as my research has shown).

I don’t think my research is ‘too’ bias, I just wanted to make sure that the specific features that I use on a daily basis are still provided, sorry BlackBerry, your awesome, but not for me =)

Salaam.

Sorry for the delay, here are the latest in Ash world:
-I have now officially moved into my studio apartment in Mt. Vernon Baltimore, and I’m loving it. It will be referred to in the future as The AshPad =). It will become my tiny little digital playgroud, I have acquired most of the toys, including WiFi, and 32″ flatscreen TV. No couch, tv stand, or coffee table yet..but they are coming =)

-I am now a proud employee of Johns Hopkins HeathCare, I have been in orientation for 3 days, that’s right, three days! today was my 1st day on the job. The culture here is amazing, they promote a lot of team work and innovative thinking, they also take pride & joy in helping the community ON THE CLOCK, I know I’m in the right place, and everyone has been so nice and helpful, from the wonderful ladies who gave me the orientation, to my co-workers. Good Peeps as we say these days =)

-Still no progress on the studio album, Ehab was preparing for a CAD test, and has been having trouble finding time to take it, its been a couple of weeks since I’ve spoken to him, so hopefully when I call him later on this week, he would have some good news for me.

-A group of my UB Alumni comrades have openly discussed starting a little Simulation company with us being the core people. I was one of the people very interested, and have received an email with a username & password to the companies site, that’s right. They have been so pro-active (and I love it) that they have created a site already. Good thing about the situation is I won’t have to leave my job, most of us actually have jobs, or actively looking. The Company is meant for the time being to be a side project, the target product would be Educational Games for schools & universities. I believe they have their sites on Public Schools, but I can see that changing in the future, heck, I can even see us creating Educational Software for other industries.
I have a lot of faith in my fellow Alumnis, I have worked with many of them during my years of schooling, including projects that had very specific & very tight time frames (such as the 24 hour games and what not). I am confident that with our combined talents, we will be able to do some great stuff in the future.

-I am now researching to see if I should get a BlackBerry Curve or a Palm Centro, I’m still leaning towards the Centro simply because I’m familiar with the OS already, but I’m keeping my mind open. May the best Gadget win.

-And now, I head out to the Java Mamas, its been while, so this should be a pleasant evening for us all.

Salaam

So this past weekend was nice.
Friday I Djembed with Teporah, & later on that night with Rob of ilyAIMY and Tony. Had a nice Patty Melt with some awesome fries, saw a guy completely drunk, calling people angels and puking. It was on hell of a night.

Saturday I got to move a bed into my place, w00t, and hung out at my aunt’s house for the day. It was mostly a chillaxing kind of day, except for the moving the bed part =)

Sunday Meezo & I went up to Mom’s work, took her & a couple of her friends to iRock, it’s a new Karaoke bar in Shady Grove, we thought it was restaurant. Her co-worker Hu owns the place, and we were invited to come see it. It was pretty cool, we had bubble tea and some appetizers, afterwards Meezo & I took mom to dinner in Rockville.

Now I’m at work, tomorrow is my last day at BSU, then I have a few days off in which I want to get some errands done, like get that “permit 28” sticker to be able to park on the street with no worries of tickets, oh yea.
I also signed up online with Verizon DSL, its only $20/mo (including a wireless router) which is just the right amount, true I don’t have chairs, TV, tables, or anything, but I do have a bed and my laptops, so with WiFi I could stay in touch, and stay entertained, until I get the rest of the place set-up. True being the lazy boy that I am, it may take a while, but hey! I have roof on my head, & WiFi..What more could I need =)

I have my eye on a few toys that I’m planning on getting, I just think its smart to wait until I settle with the new job and see how my finances will be, before I go on a tech spree for my pad =)
I hope you all had a great weekend.
Salaam.

Holy crap yesterday was great, Al-hamdulillah (Thank God).
Meezo & I went and saw our first (and not last) Breakdance faceoff, it was great. We made a new friend, his name is Kamel, he is in town from Paris with his wife visiting family for a week, he heard about the Break-off and came to join in for fun…guess what! he won! =)
Meezo & I were rooting for him, he’s freakin amazing. He of course didn’t have a crew, so usually when your doing a Break-Off members of your crew would sit on your side of circle to show support..he didn’t have anyone, so I would go sit on his side to show support for him, it was bad ass =)

After that we drove up to Bowie and got to see ilyAIMY & The Weathered Road rock the house, Meezo even got a chance to show off some of his flying finger skills on the Tabla with ilyAIMY on the 2nd set.
There was a lot of dancing, a lot of love and support, and a lot of fun that was had. Meezo and I bought some hemp jewlery from Libby of The Weathered Road, and she was so nice to us and thanks us for it. I believe they’re shooting a music video today in Arlington, VA, and then heading back to Pittsburgh. Hopefully they decided to come again, cause they are so good.

Today its a little toss up between going to see my friend Peter’s play, or go the Best of The Best auditions that are happening at the National Harbor here in Oxon Hill. I just heard about this yesterday by my friend Ehab who is recording the event, so Meezo & I are thinking of going in as a group and audition just for kicks, but nothing is official..its one of those days that makes you just want to sit home with a nice cup of tea and watch a movie or something.

anyways! I hope your weekend has been going well, this one ended WAY too fast, I need more, like very soon. =)

Salaam.

If everything goes as planned, this could be one of the coolest weekend’s ever.
Here is the plan so far: Insha Allah (God Willing)
Tonight | Friday 5/1
I take my brother Meezo and go meet up with my UB crew at Arundel Mills, for a midnight showing of “X-Men: Origin”.

Tomorrow | Saturday 5/2
Meezo & I go see a “Break-Off”, yes a Break Dance-Dance Off in the Mattine Center at John Hopkins University. That is then followed by us going to see ilyAIMY & The Weathered Road play a kick ass show at the Old Bowie Town Grill.

The day after | Sunday 5/3
I go see my buddies performing in a play at the Greenbelt Art Center

Not bad for my 1st May weekend, so many events shall be coming up this month, including a few small gigs here and there.

New News:
I am now officially a board member of the Baltimore Songwriters’ Association, I shall be submitting an article for the Newsletter they send out. I’m also one of three people in a sub-committee to help re-vamp the BSA’s website.

One thing I’m a little pissed at though, I was not able to get a slot to play at HonFest this year, the reason: Only bands are allowed to play. That kind of pisses me off, just because one is a singer/songwriter doesn’t mean that people won’t come to see them, I think that’s performance-ism. There is only “one guy” who is calling the shots on this, and his mind is made up, the event isn’t run by the BSA, and the rest of the members simply said “It’s his event, & his equipment, so its his call”, well I don’t like the number he’s calling from. I don’t want to make any decisions on the situation, because I’ve never been to HonFest before, but I doubt that it’ll be bigger than Artscape..and last year Mike Doughty got up there with just a guitar, and his buddy Scrappy on chello..that was it, and guess what, people showed up, and it was great.
We’ll see how this whole thing goes, I just don’t like the fact that I would have to have a “band” to play WTH x(

ANYway, its Friday, I have some good plans for the weekend, so let me focus on that =)

Have a safe and awesome weekend guys.
Salaam.