I did it! I made it! I’m on WordPress 2.5

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/31/08 at 03:03:58 pm

WordPress 2.5It feels like WordPress 2.5 came way sooner then expected. I didn’t put upgrading my WordPress install onto my to-do list for this weekend but I decided it would be a good idea to start upgrading the websites at 3am on a Saturday night, I mean what better time?

Here on Markus Land the upgrade went without a hitch, I’d like to thank my Savant-like web development skills but in reality I just lucked out. I also upgraded the install on my mother’s website and unfortunately she wasn’t so lucky. What she doesn’t know is that her website had a nice brokenness to it for a good hour before I could figure out the problem, and then the next morning we discovered another issue with the WordPress dashboard that turned out to be a glitch specific to her K2 theme.

Once I got everything updated I spent a little time exploring the brand new interface which at first was a bit of a shock with everything moved around but overall I’m really digging the minimal Happy Cog redesign. Besides the revamped dashboard, some of the changes I noticed right away include the tag management interface, semi-automatic plug-in upgrading, redesigned visual post editor, media buttons, and of course the gallery functionality. When you look at all of the new features of 2.5 it’s almost overwhelming, I’m not going to bother listing them all - I’ll just direct you folks to the Official Release on the WordPress Development Blog.

Movie Review: 21

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/30/08 at 02:03:44 am

Bringing Down the HouseI read the bestseller book Bringing Down the House while I was in high school, so when I was going to see 21 on Friday I was interested in how accurate the movie would be in comparison to the book or the true story behind the actual MIT Blackjack Team. The problem is the movie is loosely based on the book and the book is loosely based on the factual events so rather than expecting accuracy I just wanted to know if this movie is really worth the hype. I’m not going to sit here and write this review with a pompous “the book was better” kind of perspective as I was required to read Bringing Down the House for a class years ago and I only vaguely remember the basic elements of the story. Actually, the movie takes place in present day which already throws off the chronological setting as the MIT Blackjack Team originated in the 70’s and the book starts in 1993 meaning we can stop referencing the book altogether and just focus on the film.

21

The movie starts with Ben Campbell, an MIT student trying to find a way to pay tuition for Harvard Medical School. His amazing math and statistics abilities amaze his unorthodox math professor Mickey Rosa whom later invites him into a group of other mathematically-gifted students that have developed an intricate system of signs and signals combined with basic card counting. The group flies to Las Vegas every weekend with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds of blackjack in their favor subsequently taking the casinos for millions.

I have to admit I was impressed by how the movie was put together. The story felt complete and gave just enough information without getting too sidetracked with the characters. While there may have been a heavy Hollywood influence with some of the scenes it all fit well with the basic plot. I think part of this high quality vibe I received from the film was simply the good acting. All of the characters were spot on including Kevin Spacey as Professor Mickey Rosa, Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell and Kate Bosworth as a very beautiful Jill Taylor. However the acting didn’t make the movie completely; some of the special effects including a great score and some very slick camera work added a fresh definition to what was going on in the film.

21

Tonight’s review is going to be short as there isn’t a lot more that can be said without giving away all of the details. Overall, 21 may not have been entirely accurate to the book but the clever dialogue, cool effects, scattered hilariousness, and quality acting make it a great film that is going to be enjoyed by geeks and fans of the genre alike. This movie is easily one of the best I’ve seen so far this year.

Earth Hour 2008: Join a global movement in energy conservation.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/29/08 at 11:03:17 am

The above video pretty much explains what Earth Hour is all about. Tonight, massive cities and huge corporations all around the world will participate in a unified effort to raise awareness about our global needs. It doesn’t stop there - You too can take action by getting involved with the Earth Hour movement or just simply by turning off lights, computers and appliances tonight at 8PM for a mere 60 minutes.

Jon Lee blogged about Earth Hour earlier today which is how I learned about it, he points out how even technology companies like Google are raising awareness for this event.

You too can easily do your part by spreading the word to family and friends. Turn off the lights tonight at 8PM.

I lost a good friend today.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/27/08 at 07:03:27 pm

Not long ago I wrote about Morpheus my cat and his infection of the feline immunodeficiency virus. While telling people that my cat had AIDS was all fun and games, recently it has become a harsh reality. Since he was diagnosed Morpheus hasn’t been the same, it’s almost like he knew what was going on and while he definitely didn’t lose hope his crazy lifestyle got the best of him.

No matter how hard we would try to keep him in the house Morpheus would always manage to find a way out to enjoy the nightlife and every time he would come home it seems that nightlife came with a price. He had scratches, gashes, lumps, chunks of his ear missing, it was almost as if he joined a fight club and he would run off to a basement in a bar somewhere to battle the other neighborhood animals. I could see it, I guess I never put the pieces together until now. I mean when I’d ask him where his latest cut or bruise came from he would only say that the first rule is he couldn’t tell.

Maybe my theory is farfetched, I guess I’ll never know what really happened but I do know the results. Morpheus illness meant any damage he retained would become more of a problem then it rightfully should. When that problem is a serious infection with little chance of recovery there isn’t a lot that can be done.

At approximately 1:30PM today I lost a friend and a family member of 5+ years, he was put to sleep never to awake nor experience the pain and suffering of his recent months again. Morpheus was a strong cat, he would have fought until the very end despite being in a vicious cycle of a weakened immune system. While us intervening today may have ended his life early, I know he would have thanked us for saving him from the harrowing future that was to come.

Morpheus the cat will always be in my thoughts and while I hate myself for not spending as much time with him as I should have in recent times I do hope he knows he will never be forgotten.

NCMR 2008 in Minneapolis, MN June 6-8th

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/26/08 at 06:03:10 pm

The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) is coming to Minneapolis, Minnesota this June 6th through 8th. NCMR is put together by FreePress.net which is the same organization that coordinates the efforts behind the SavetheInternet.com Coalition for Network Neutrality. NCMR is an event for everyone from concerned citizens and activists to educators and journalists who are calling for change in our nation’s media system.

The people who know me personally should know that I’m a firm believer in media reform and with NCMR in Minnesota this year I just might drop the cash for registration. Passes aren’t cheap but right now they are offering early bird discounts until the end of March, scholarship opportunities are also available for those who qualify.

Want to learn more? Check out the video clip and PSA posted below or visit the NCMR website here.


Looks like I’ll be going after all.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/25/08 at 08:03:13 pm

I recently blogged about the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Launch Tour and the limited seating the events have this year. I was bummed that it was showing all of the spots as taken or ‘sold out’ for Minneapolis on the tour website and I didn’t think I’d be attending this event, I guess I thought wrong. I randomly checked the website today and to my surprise I had the ability to register for my city but only for a select number of tracks. The track system is essentially the set of workshops and breakout sessions that the attendee prefers but if you manage to get into the event in the first place you’re really free to attend any of the workshops you want. I immediately filled out my registration as a partner and I will be attending the launch event a week from today at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Aside from the Keynote and loitering in the sponsors pavilion some of the workshops I hope to sit in on include – ‘What’s new in Windows Server 2008‘, ‘Reach End-Users with Next Generation Web Applications’ and ‘Securing your IT Infrastructure with Windows Server 2008’. I’ll try to take some pictures while I’m down there and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about.

When does a collector make the switch?

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/24/08 at 07:03:34 pm

Over the last 7 years or so my DVD collection has easily claimed its own space in the bedroom. I did a count yesterday and I have a grand total of 268 DVD movies, about 150 ‘retail’ and the others well… we’ll call them ‘permanent rentals’. Now that I have a fair amount of money invested into these DVDs I got into thinking about where they will stand a few years from now.

The problem is the transition from standard definition to high definition discs won’t be quite the same as it was with VHS to DVDs in the 90’s. Eventually most of the new Blu-Ray players will feature backwards compatibility with standard DVDs and the only real difference will be the picture resolution, sound quality, and a handful of new features including the online functionality (which hasn’t really surfaced yet) and better copy protection Yippee! When compared to the transition from VHS to DVD where the advantages were night and day as it stands right now the whole upgrade doesn’t seem worth it.

So the real question is, with Blu-Ray being the clear winner of the HD Optical Disc War, when is the right time to pick up a Blu-Ray player and start buying overpriced Blu-Ray discs? Will regular DVDs soon become worthless, only to be found at garage sales and K-Mart stores or will Blu-Ray turn out to be merely an upgrade rather than the new standard?

Health Insurance: Throwing my money away.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 03/21/08 at 08:03:48 pm

My big challenge lately has been minimizing my expenses. With the value of my hard earned money dropping near exponentially and the prices of everything around me skyrocketing, I (like many others) feel the need to make sacrifices and cutbacks to keep my budget in check. I figured out that one of my biggest expenses is insurance, my required full coverage vehicle insurance and medical insurance combined costs $363.00 each and every month, that’s essentially 23% of my money being blown on an unused service.

Granted, the health insurance plan that my work is on happens to be one of the best that Medica has to offer but even good insurance shouldn’t cost someone this much. From the research and comparisons that I’ve done for a reasonably healthy person that rarely visits the doctor a $203 premium is just unacceptable. Keep in mind that in reality the actual rate is double what I pay and my employer covers half.

The insurance through my work goes up every year and this year is no exception. The company did consider other slightly more cost effective plans but decided to stick with the current ‘Medica Choice Select’ program. However, I realized that just because my work decided to keep their existing health benefits unchanged I do have other options. In fact I found that if I get a plan through the insurance company directly I can get similar out-of-pocket pricing compared to the other plans the company was considering which gets me thinking - Is it really the consumer that’s being ripped off? Or the small business?

Had I been born just a few hours North of here in Canada! I could be getting all of this for free. It’s irritating, but it also shows the medical coverage crisis our country is going through and the control the insurance companies have over the situation. I could just not have medical coverage altogether but I have no doubt that as soon as I’d drop it something horrible (and horribly expensive) would happen to me. It would have to be ironic too, like getting run over by an ambulance.


I shopped around and I found that by law it doesn’t matter which reseller I went though, my premium would be the same because the rates are actually filed with the state’s Department of Insurance. With that in mind I decided to go through Esurance which is the same company that does my car insurance, because Esurance doesn’t actually sell health insurance they refer customers to ehealthinsurance.com which in turn resells plans for all of the big companies like Health Partners, Medica, Blue Cross/Blue Shield etc. The plan that I picked out is actually one of the programs my work was considering and that’s a Health Savings Account (HSA). Apparently high deductible HSAs have become popular over the years as they offer more flexibility to the consumer’s needs. The premium is low and you have the option of paying towards the deductible out-of-pocket or through a dedicated savings account designed for the service. The money in the tax-deductible savings account can also be used for dental work and over the counter medications. I crunched the numbers and initially I would only be saving maybe $30-40 monthly over my work’s insurance plan but the ability to use the saved money for dental is a big plus and over time I have the potential of saving much more depending on how much I actually end up visiting the clinic.

The online application process I had to go through was easily the longest insurance application I have ever filled out. That includes the initial health insurance paperwork that I completed for the plan through my work which just so happens to be the same insurance company. The website knew I was already an existing Medica customer right away and yet they had me perform an online medical exam in the form of a billion questions, I feel violated. Now that the application is submitted I get to wait 3-4 weeks for approval.

So there’s my rant of the week, health insurance and its ability to crush dreams of buying things that I can actually use.

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