I'm a YouTube Partner

I got an e-mail from YouTube a few days ago:

As you may have heard, we're expanding the YouTube Partner Program and we thought you may be a good candidate. Becoming a partner will enable you to participate in ad revenue sharing and new syndication opportunities.

It went on to tell me where to sign up and such. It's been open to the public for quite some time, but I never bothered to apply for whatever reason. When I got this e-mail though, I figured I'd go ahead and sign up to see what would become of it. I was pleased when I was approved. This means ads get shown on my YouTube channel, and YouTube shares a portion of the revenue earned from those ads with me. From what I keep hearing, it's really difficult to become a YouTube partner, so I feel for the first time that maybe my efforts on YouTube haven't been a waste after all.

My plans are to sort of "relaunch" my channel. This means getting rid of a vast majority of my videos and focusing purely on videos that will retain visits to my channel rather than doing completely random videos with little effort put towards them. I have nearly 500 subscribers right now, so I want to make the effort worth my time. I already have my first new video in 7 months filmed, but I'm tweaking some things on it before making it public.

For anyone reading this who has visited my channel in the past and been supportive of my efforts, I am grateful for it!

Break is Here!

The fall semester is officially over! Here are the results: I got a 2.786 GPA for the semester (a tad bit disappointing, but not bad), and my overall GPA is now up to 2.565 from 2.496 in the summer. So things are good!

The bad part is I don't know that I will have enough money to go back in the spring to finish up and get a degree. I have never been this strapped for cash in my life. Luckily I am a saver at heart, but it doesn't help all that much if there's not much there to save.

I'm keeping my head up though. I'll probably figure something out, and if not, I can always finish up in the summer.

Cash Budgets

I was freaking out. Here I have my financial management final that I'm doing from home, and my professor asks us to do a cash budget. I did this on a previous test, and it took me forever to get it. I completely forgot how to do it, and so I was searching through my book trying to figure out anything I could.

Of course, the book is one of the worst text books I have ever seen -- it doesn't explain much about anything, and what it does explain isn't explained so people like me can understand.

I finished the exam though. I probably didn't get an A on it, and perhaps I didn't get a B either. I'll be happy with a C though. As a matter of fact, I'll be glad when all my classes are completed!

That reminds me, I got a 90 average for my bowling class. I checked his grading, and a 91 would have gotten me a C for skills. So I'm guessing I have a D. I have to work really hard to ace the exam on Wednesday (which I thought was today since he didn't tell anyone.)

It's been a long day!

Playing with Fire

For one of my classes, I have to use Adobe Illustrator. For one of my projects, I had to do something with translucency. This is what I came up with:

People Getting Punched

I love this!

It's interesting to think something this stupid could be so funny! I like that little dance he does after punching the second guy. For those who don't know, the star of this short is Andy Samberg. He's not only been featured on Saturday Night Live, but he also played in the movie "Hot Rod" which I loved to death.

Things Are Boring Right Now

I'd like to mention I haven't been working on anything lately because of school. ProSonic hasn't been updated in a while, and the reason is mainly my mood. I'm not in the mood to work on it. I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. I'm not even in the mood for my classes right now, although I have to attend and do the work. I think my classes are the major contributing factor to my overall mood.

I hate four of the five I am taking. Bowling is the one I love. However business law, financial accounting, webpage design, and computer graphics are all boring! I don't mean a little boring, I mean majorly boring.

I sit in my business law class, and I can't focus. I hate the subject itself, but it doesn't help that my professor is soft spoken and generally very boring. He seems like a nice guy, but he doesn't capture my attention at all. I have a professor who's a bit more energetic in financial accounting, but the subject is of no interest to me. I know how to design a webpage, so the webpage design class is boring. Finally, I have no interest in computer graphics. I generally know how to do the things I need to do with graphics programs, and even then I find no real interst in doing computer graphics. I'd rather be drawing on a sheet of paper.

I'd ask someone to shoot me, but I enjoy life way too much to ask something crazy like that! It'll get better, I just have to get through these classes that I hate so terribly much.

Another Good Semester

I took three classes this summer -- Microeconomics, Consumer Behavior, and E-Commerce. In E-Commerce I got an A. The other two classes I got B's. That bumped my not-yet-great GPA from a 2.423 after the spring semester and a 2.292 after last fall, to a 2.496 cumulative GPA. It continues to go up, which is what I need it to do.

The funny thing about Consumer Behavior is the percentage. I got an 80.00% in the class. According to my professor's grading scale, an 80.00% is a B, but a 79.99% is a C. He doesn't do rounding. What makes this more interesting is I wouldn't have had an 80.00% had I not gotten an extra bonus point on my final exam for pointing out an error in one of the questions. Talk about being lucky!

Anyway, I'm hoping to acheive at least a 2.6 cumulative GPA after this upcoming fall semester. That would require at least two A's and three B's. We'll see if I can meet that goal. I'm feeling really good about college these days!

Another Update on ProSonic

I have yet to rename the engine as I've been planning to because they survey I performed will cost $20 to see the results. I question if the results are really that important, especially since I have preliminary results. Also, the money must be paid by credit card. I haven't had a credit card in several months, and I'm not too interested in getting one right now.

I would like to say I've been working on the engine, experimenting with a lot of code. I'm playing with some very complex code, and it's giving me a headache. I don't even know if what I'm doing with it currently is going to work out, but I'm definitely going to do my best to see that it does work! Again I wish I could be more specific, but I'm not ready to get specific just yet for various reasons. I do feel it's important I at least keep people updated and let them know things are happening. Hopefully I'll have more to say in the weeks ahead. Please continue to check back!

Scam from Dealer Services

I found another scam in the mail. This one is from "Dealer Services", also known as "National Auto Warranty Services". The top of the letter reads as follows:

Dealer Services
100 Mall Parkway
St. Louis, MO 63385

The letter then reads:

Our records indicate that the factory warranty on your 2003 Ford has expired or may be expiring soon. As a loyal Ford owner, you qualify for extended vehicle coverage of up to six additional years or 140,000 miles. Only your vehicle qualifies for this program. Please refer to your customer ID# 334-636-097 when you call.

Call immediately, 1-866-847-6655. It is important for you to take advantage of this direct purchase program to protect your investment. This program was designed to save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary repair bills.

With labor rates as high as $100 per hour, mechanical repair costs continue to climb. The average cost just to replace a transmission is $4800 and an average engine replacement is $3800. Without extended vehicle coverage you will be responsible for these costs.

Due to the nature of this program, we can only authorize your vehicle for 72 hours from the receipt of this notice. This program is in conjunction with top rated nationwide insurance companies.

We will be taking calls for this program Monday - Thursday 7:30 AM to 8:00 PM; Friday 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM and Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Central Time).

Our coverage specialists can be reached at 1-866-847-6655. Please have current mileage, (VIN) vehicle identification number, and your customer ID number when you call.

Sincerely,

Kent Finley
Senior V.P.

P.S. Call toll free 1-866-847-6655 and refer to customer ID 334-636-097 to discuss options on your vehicle and receive free roadside assistance, value $600, and interest free same as cash financing on your purchase.

There's a couple things wrong with this. First, I don't have a 2003 Ford. Second, it looks like something you'd get from a Ford dealership, but why would a company called "Dealer Services" be commissioned to send these letters (the answer -- they wouldn't!) I showed it to my mom to see if she'd be fooled. To my surprise, she thought it was legitimate. I can only imagine what an elderly person would think after seeing this letter.

There have been claims that they've violated "Do Not Call" rules with the Better Business Bureau reporting 401 complaints filed over the past three years. The Attorney General of Missouri is suing. I also found the following paragraph interesting. It comes from a Ford dealership:

I actually just received a call from one of our customers who had recently purchased an extended warranty directly from us for her 2002 Ford product. Her extended warranty was about to lapse and she wanted to continue with the same amount of protection as she has had for the past six years. I took care of her needs and she was very appreciative until this morning when she received a letter from this company and a number to call. During her conversation with them, they told her that I had scammed her and that they do not require any inspection prior to placing a warranty on her car and that my 100 point inspection required by Ford was an outright lie on my behalf. They also said they could extend coverage above and beyond my abilities for a much cheaper price. I did a little homework on these guys. Their website is see through and the fine print will astonish you. Glad to see you folks are taking a stand. Warranties are great but only trust the people who made the car to stand behind it. Thanks again.

Do not give out any personal information. Do not call the number. This is definitly a scam. Unless it came directly from your dealership (read carefully to find out where the letter is from), ignore it. Also, a reputable company would give you more than 72 hours to respond. Keep all of that in mind.

I'm Sick

I was in bed all day Sunday, and I've been in bed all day today. I did manage to get up and move around at 7:30 tonight, and I thought I was getting better. But about 10 minutes ago I started feeling bad again. I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. It feels like a migrain, but it doesn't seem to want to go away. I can't eat much because food seems to only make me feel worse. A couple times I felt like I had to puke.

Anyway, that's why I haven't been on lately. My homework for one of my classes is late thanks to this crap. I tried to finish it by 7:00 (when it was due), but I just felt too bad. It's almost done, but this professor seems to have some very strict word requirements. So I need to make my answers more lengthy. I have yet to meet his requirements even though I have provided what I think are really good and detailed answers. It doesn't help my head any. I hope I feel better tomorrow because I can't take much more of this.

Interesting Stuff in ProSonic

I've been working behind the scenes lately on ProSonic. I'm doing some interesting things with it. If I can pull off these secret "things" I'm doing, I will likely release a demo to those who have advertised my project on SSRG and/or Sonic Retro (see my new strategy document for details). The demo will be exclusive to those people. I am not ready to reveal what I'm doing because there's a chance I might not be able to pull it off. So far however, the results I have produced are very promising to say the least.

Keep checking back here for updates on my progress.

Final Warranty Notice

I got a card in the mail today with "Final Warranty Notice" in big bold letters. Above these letters is a customer number (10 digits long), the vehicle, year and manufacturer, and a deadline date (May 30, 2008 -- wow, that gives me one day to take care of this, oh no!)

Anyone with a little bit of common sense knows it's a scam. There's not even a return address, although the area code of the phone number is in Michigan.

On the back, it reads as follows:

Call and Activate Now: 1-866-442-5552

Dear Valued Customer,

This card is to notify you that this is your FINAL NOTICE to extend or reinstate your warranty on your vehicle. Please call us immediately with you exact mileage. This is your FINAL chance to renew your warranty and requires your prompt attention.

- Coverages Available Up to 200,000 Miles
- Low Monthly Installments Available

Call Toll-Free Today: 1-866-442-5552
Monday-Saturday

With some research, I also discovered their website -- www.endurancewarrantyservices.com. Don't even bother with these people. First of all, vehicle information can be sold. Second, there's a very good chance the cost of this warranty is very high. The state of Nevada has also issued a consumer advisory to alert people of this.

I'm posting this on here because after all the trouble I had with those stupid phone calls warning me about my warranty, getting this card annoyed me further. I hate dishonest business practices like this. These are the kind of people that give business such a bad reputation. Don't give these people the time of day. They're greedy. Throw away or recycle your card.

Is Overclocked ReMix Infested with Hate?

That is the big question. I've been a member at those forums for five years. I have posted many song clips over the years, and have even posted about my ProSonic engine there. I have made a couple friends there. I have generally had a very positive attitude towards OCR... that is until I ran into some trouble.

What I'm linking to has some vulgar language just to warn you. In this thread, I set out to promote a video of mine on YouTube. The video of course is not serious, and most guys I know personally think it's great. It's a joke for guys is what it really amounts to. Yet, I have been smeared half to death by these 4chan-like fools who apparently don't know what it's like for a guy to get frustrated with the way women sometimes are (although we still love them!) You'd think these guys have never even known any women in their lives the way they talk.

I have never seen this at OCR. Ever. I have never posted in the Off-Topic forum that I can remember, so it was a learning experience for me. I guess the Off-Topic forum attracts people filled with this sort of stupid behaviour. OCR is a better site that what these people are showing, so why aren't the administrators there doing something about this? Had I known I was going to be ganged up on, I would have never posted. I expect this at a place like 4chan, not OCR.

I won't be recommending the site to anyone anytime soon. I have posted links to it in the past, but I won't be doing that after this episode. I won't be posting any songs there anymore either. The only way these sites change is if people punish this behaviour by leaving. That's absolutely the only way it will ever get better. I'm not calling for a boycott -- people are mature enough to make up their own minds, but I'm certainly never going to view it the same again.

UPDATE: The administration took action! I'm very surprised. I guess they do care about what goes on with the forums. Check this out:

Another train wreck thread. I'm going to start warning people, as some of you are beginning to resemble the idiots we had to deal with several years ago. I'll say the same thing I said in the Bluefox thread. Don't like something? Don't post. Trolling and spamming is against our rules.

What can I say? I judged too soon. Good job to Zircon for taking a stand against this garbage. An otherwise fine place like OCR doesn't need that.

Best Semester Ever

My college experience has been very mixed. The first two semesters were great, although I lacked the motivation to do better. With each semester, I got worse and worse, failing some classes here and there. My GPA fell to around 2.1. Last semester I picked up the pace and actually tried, and I passed two of my classes and failed one (because of my stupidity).

So this semester I wasn't going to make the mistake of failing a class because of not reading the syllabus carefully. I put in the effort, took five classes, and today I have gotten my grades. I earned four B's and one A. That's a 3.2 GPA for the semester, and it bumped my cumulative GPA to a 2.3. This is the best I have done. I have never gone through a semester not getting anything below a B. I made it my goal to get all A's and B's this time, and I was successful in that venture.

I know half the people who will read this don't really care, but I write this because it's important to me. I have said for a good while now that my 23rd birthday was a turning point for me, and I believe the proof is showing. I have the capability of becoming anything in the world, and the grades I have gotten today have really given me a boost in confidence I have needed for quite some time.

Eventful Day

My day was good and bad at the same time. I'm going to talk about the good part first so I can get it out of the way. Basically, I spent the entire day at my college with a friend of mine. We (along with several other people there) watched YouTube videos half the time. The other half I spent playing "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" on Nintendo Wii. I enjoyed the game, although I'm not as good as the people I was playing (they probably have played it a lot more than I have I'm sure). I got to show people some of my YouTube videos to which they found hilarious. It was a lot of fun.

Now the bad part -- I was working in a group I'm in for a project I'm doing in one of my classes. This one girl I have never had a very favorable opinion of, mainly by a distant first impression. I always like to give people a fair chance though and figured maybe I could form a friendly collaboration between us. After all, we have a paper we're all going to be graded on, so it's in our best interests to try and work nicely together. So when me and her collaborated a few weeks ago to try and share ideas for our portions of the paper, I gave her a lot of insight that I thought might help her. When it came to my portion of the paper, she threw out two basic ideas, didn't elaborate on them at all, and then got on her laptop and checked her e-mail the rest of the time. I was a little annoyed by that, but I let it slide. By the way, her part didn't arrive until today, the last chance we had to work together before turning it in Tuesday.

Today, we're debating my portion of the paper. There's an idea I had in my part that raised a few eyebrows, and understandably so. I formed an idea of how McDonald's could combat their troubles in the UK and elsewhere where governments have made it harder for McDonald's to advertise.

Once I explained it to others, they got where I was coming from and why it made sense. The other girl I mentioned above however wasn't satisfied. We ended up in a debate over it. Now I encourage any kind of debate if someone doesn't agree with me. My attitude is if someone doesn't agree with me, convince me that I need to change my opinion or see things differently. I stuck by my guns and provided an aggressive argument as to why I felt the plan could succeed. I listened to her, but I wasn't convinced. I can compromise, but not when the compromise means writing my part all over again. I wanted an alternative and she didn't have one.

Eventually, she told me that she felt like she was being attacked. I am an aggressive debater, but it's never personal. She didn't seem to get that, and proceeded to explain that she doesn't debate things with people because she gets very jumpy... and she was! She was very jumpy, and so as a natural reaction (and without thinking about it -- I wish I hadn't done it now), I put my hand on her shoulder and was basically going to try and tell her I wasn't attacking her. I wanted to defuse any tension that existed. She pulls away and tells me in a frustrated tone "don't touch me". I laughed and quickly backed away. It made me mad, but I tried to keep my cool.

It got worse. I did grammar corrections on everyone's parts, including this girl's part (apparently I'm good with grammar or something). Normally when I correct something, people are very active in seeing what I'm correcting and wanting to know the reasons behind it all. As I'm correcting this part though, the girl is talking to her friends the entire time, not even interested in any of the work I'm doing to her paper. I handed it to her when I finished. She thanked me, and I said "sure". I walked away and vented to a friend. I felt so used and treated like crap. I probably should have kept my hand to myself, but good God, she acted like I was a pervert or something. I'm still a little mad about it even now.

Auto Insurance Fraud

For the past two months, I have been getting calls on my cell phone about my warrenty getting ready to expire. It's an automated message. I don't know how they got my number, but it's very annoying at this stage. (502) 894-0098 is the number I last traced. People here have all been complaining about it. Interestingly, this number has the following listing on a website:

Weight Loss Plus 291 N Hubbards Ln #A33 Louisville, KY 40207-2295 502-894-0098

The problem is these scammers have yet to be caught. Obviously their business practices aren't very ethical if they constantly call a couple times a week. That's not the characteristic of someone wanting to do business, that's the characteristic of someone wanting to get your money unlawfully. This article on MSNBC claims their operations extend beyond cell phone calls. An interesting exchange one person had was as follows:

Rep: What is the make and model of your vehicle?
Me: Jeep, what is the name of your company?
Rep: I will tell you, what is your model?
Me: What is the name of your company?
Rep: F-you. (hangs up)

As if that wasn't bad enough, here's an even more interesting story from someone else:

I immediately went to the second option to talk to someone. Guy with the southern accent answered and asked for my info. I said I just want to be taken off the database, etc. He asked for my info again and just gave it to him because i wouldn't have gotten anywhere. Then I played this game with some a-hole who kept insisting to give me details about my car. I kept asking to just be taken off the list, at least 10 times, literally. Finally I said ok, a little suggestion. Give "customers" whether they're customers or not what they want. What I want is to be taken off and that I'd just hang up. "Well sir I'm just trying to see what I can do for you it's very easy to take your name out but let's see if I can get you a warranty. And God gave you the free will to hang up any time you want" I told him off and he said wow sir, I just had an epiphany, you're right, I went all those years to school but I should have just come to you. I'll take your name off the list right away"....Literally a 7 minute struggle.

I'll be dialing *57 from now on to report it directly to the police. If you have been getting this call, you should do the same. Also, here's a list of other numbers with the same message that have dialed my cell phone:

(240) 210-7101
(978) 570-2338
(800) 111-1114
(562) 289-8136
(973) 668-1868

QuickBooks POS Program Bug

Ever used QuickBooks Point of Sale and found that some of your inventory is wrong for some strange reason? Ever have to pay $50 for tech support only to be told it's all your fault, even though you can't possibly see how it can be? This is a common problem with QBPOS users that Intuit seems to be ignoring. Through investigating the matter, I have concluded the problem lies within the QBPOS program code itself.

The QBPOS holds two copies of every bit of information in the database. When you make changes to the database and save, a copy of the old data is created within the database. It works like a backup, and perhaps that's the purpose of having two copies. However, flaws in the program's code can cause this old data to overwrite the new data. Nobody can know for sure exactly what makes the program do this except for Intuit's programmers. Unfortunately, Intuit doesn't seem to be too connected to their customers. Nobody wants to pay a big tip to get tech support who, by the way, would know nothing about the problem. They're job is to assume it's something you're doing. It's not.

This bug is a serious problem for companies that want to maintain an accurate point of sale system, but continue to see their data being manipulated incorrectly by the program itself. The part that makes this worse is Intuit knows about this problem. It's been reported by dozens of people on their public forums. The problem has existed in their software for several years, but it has yet to be resolved. Proof of this is a print-out of inventory I have after saving and backing up the data. Days later after the print-out, some prices went back to their old values mysteriously. Try it yourself if you're having issues. It's the only way you can prove there's a problem. Intuit's program doesn't have a "feature" to do this. If you call their tech support, be sure to let them know about this blog post because they're not listening. In the meantime, there are other alternatives to QuickBooks Point of Sale.

Internet Bullying

This comes from Lucy Lennon of YouTube:



People who have known me for a long time know how big of an advocate I am for this sort of thing. This video is so short and simple, but I think the message is right to the point. Bullying of any kind will always exist in this world, but I have said time and time again that what people say and are find appealing directly influences young children. So by spreading this video around, maybe we can put a stop to at least a few individuals. That's better than not caring.

Loving the Apartment

I'm loving my apartment. It gives me a sense of empowerment to know that basically everything in it is mine, and that I basically run the show. I can do just about whatever I want. About the only thing I can't do is put a hole in the wall.

I am connected to the internet via wireless. I bought one of those Draft N USB adapters and routers from Netgear. My connection is okay, but it could be better. I'll have to see about trying to ground the signal better and reduce interference. Windows XP shows my connection with two bars which is pretty weak. Still I get anywhere from 81 to 216 Mbps.

College is going well, although taking five classes is still making me very nervous. I'm just trying to keep myself from getting distracted.

Internet Crimes Are Just as Bad as Real World Crimes

Someone went through my car in the middle of the night. One could say "lock your car next time", and I'd say "maybe, but if they're really bad they might break my window the next time". The whole thing can be debated. I was going out to eat dinner with a friend of mine, and the moment I opened my car door I saw my glove compartment wide open. Then I looked on the seats and saw all my stuff thrown around carelessly. The "SHIT" notepads I had in my car were propped up on the dashboard. I guess that was supposed to make me laugh histerically.

Does this remind you of anything? What kind of person would put those notepads on display while leaving my property a mess? If you guessed internet brats, you're right! I can picture this same thing on the internet -- hacking someone's account at a message board, or hacking their website and posting vulgar pictures. The problem on the internet is these people appear as regular ordinary folks that kids look up to because they present themselves as "cool", going around "owning" people. These criminals, and the people who blindly follow them, are very dangerous to our culture and social standards. I have been saying on this blog for a while now that parents need to learn more about this problem of "anonymous" on the internet. The problem is already well-known out there in the real world, but internet people come off less criminal-like and more ordinary. There are many bad sites like YTMND and Sonic CulT, but sites like 4chan stand out as the absolute most extreme. Keep your kids off these sites.

It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. If I had seen who was going through my car, I would have blown his head off. Then maybe the "SHIT" thing would be funny.

My Plans for Projects

College is going to start up very soon. When it does, I will once again turn my focus away from any projects I'm involved in and concentrate on school work. I did really well last semester (for a change) and I intend to continue that success and prove that I can be successful in life. That requires work, so don't expect a whole lot from me the next couple months. Of course I will still post here, but talk about ProSonic and my Kid Chameleon level editor will be at a minimum (I think it's fair to say that discussion about projects is already rare as it is).

I am pondering the possibility of taking on ProSonic entirely myself again. I have been criticized, quite rudely by one or two people, for not marketing ProSonic well enough. They say that if I market it correctly, that I could get people to work on it. Those people don't have a clue what they're talking about in my blunt opinion. If anyone actually laid eyes on the source code for the ProSonic engine, they'd understand why I can't market it the way they'd all like me to. It's not good enough, and I can't keep hyping something without the ability to prove anything. Don't get me wrong, I haven't misled anyone about my engine -- everything I have said it does (or did at one point) is entirely true. In it's current state, I can't motivate anyone to do any work for me. It's going to be up to me, so in a couple months when I'm not very busy, I am considering working on the engine again.

As for my Kid Chameleon level editor, it has come pretty far since the last time I wrote in this blog. It decompresses the maps and artwork for the game and loads them perfectly. The editor can change all the tiles, and there are a few features in it I feel makes the editor fairly interesting. The level editor is actually based on "Act 1", which is the level editor I designed from the ProSonic source code. Of course it's heavily modified and improved on to work well with Kid Chameleon. I have tested modified maps in the game, and they work quite well. There are many things this editor doesn't do yet that it needs to do, but I may release a public demonstration soon for anyone interested in modifying levels for the game. For now, here are two screen shots of the editor: