Update! RSVP on Facebook!

Who: Anyone who wants to come.
What: An improv comedy event. Everyone freezes in place for a specified period of time, thaws, then leaves.
When: April fools day… Briefing starts at 6:30PM
Where: Thriftway in Afton
Why: For fun.

For anyone who cares, I stole this hilarious idea from the genii in charge at improveverywhere.com.

How

Execution of this shenanigan will be crucial. Everyone must be in the Thriftway parking lot on time at 6:30 for briefing. The briefing will let you know of any important changes to the plan.

Since documentation will be so crucial, we’ll have a few people filming the whole event. Melanie Robinson will be there with her purse/video camera. We need more hidden camera videographers. If you have a small digital camera or something, please bring it and hide it! Hide it on a shopping cart and drive around. Place it between some Macaroni and Cheese on a shelf and leave it. Just make sure its in a good spot.

1. 6:30pm: Briefing.  This won’t take too long, but it’s super important!  I’ll go over final details and changes.  Be there or don’t participate!
2. 6:45pm: Everyone will enter the store inconspicuously (in a way that isn’t obvious). You might enter with a group of friends, but we won’t herd in together. Everybody should be in the store ready at 6:50
3. Shop… browse… do whatever—just act natural.
4. When 7:00 hits, listen to the intercom system.
5. When you hear the first intercom after 7:00 (if it’s not happening, Mel will get a bag boy paged), FREEZE!
6. Wait for five more intercom announcements, and then unfreeze after the last announcement finishes.  (Emergency plan: if it’s been about 5 minutes without an announcement, Mel will have a bag boy paged to help her.  At that point, leave.)
7. Act like nothing happened. Leave. It’s as simple as cake.

If you’re still confused, watch this video (it opens in a new window): Frozen Grand Central.

In summary

We’re freezing in Thriftway on Tuesday, April 1, 2008 for the duration of 5 intercom announcements (subject to change).

Be at the briefing in the Thriftway parking lot for final details.
Briefing: 6:30 PM
Everybody in the store by 6:50 PM
Freeze: the first announcement after 7:00PM

If you can, bring a camera or something so we can document this feat.

I got my iPod touch the other day. I’m not going to post photos. You can go to Apple’s website if you want to see it. I’m a little frustrated with it. It has less features than the iPhone. The features are missing for no apparent reason.

Dear Steve Jobs,

I recently bought one of your newest iPods, the iPod touch. It upset me very much that most of the useful applications, such as Mail and Notes were taken out. Even more, the calendar application was deliberately stripped down. Why can events be synced to the iPod, but not added in the application, like they are on the iPhone? It doesn’t make sense.

It could be argued that PIM features, such as the Mail and Calendar features are smartphone features. Any pocket-sized, internet-connected device has an obligation to provide email, and internet, at the very least. What does this iPod come with? Internet and YouTube (stripped down, too, by the way). I’ll be honest: I expected a little more productivity built in.

Eventually, myself and dozens of other iPod users would like this thing to be as powerful as it can be without being a phone. That includes a full featured calendar, and Mail.app, so I can stop using my ugly, non-iPod ready webmail solution. I also suppose that the iPod will mercilessly hacked until these features appear in their gorgeous, eye-candied interface.

On the bright side my iPod shipped early, makes Internet surfing convenient, manages multiple Wi-Fi profiles brilliantly, it’s definitely the best iPod ever made (at least that I’ve owned), and has a roomy-considering-it’s-a-flash-based-player 16 gigabyte hard drive.

Sincerely,
Brad Kovach
bradkovach.com

If I lost my iPod this is probably what would happen…

7:00 AM - Wake Up. Wait. Why didn’t my iPod’s alarm clock chime. I didn’t plug it in last night… But more importantly… WHERE IS IT NOW!?

7:30 AM - Stop looking for iPod. I have to go to work. Crap… I need my iPod for work today! I don’t want to sit around for 8 hours listening to the dull whir of the tractor… MUST FIND iPod!

8:00 AM - Work begins. My tractor has a dead battery. I have to sit around and wait for it to charge enough to start the engine.

8:15 AM - Tractor Starts. I begin to drag the plow around. Without noise canceling headphones, the tractor seems really loud and annoying.

9:00 AM - Sanity intact. I begin to wonder about my life, my friends, how everybody’s doing. Charming thoughts… Charming…

Hag

9:15 AM - Sanity still intact, although I’m beginning to sing Shania Twain songs.

10:00 AM - Braindead. DURRRRRR.

10:30 AM - Fuel running low. Must run to the tank and refuel. FINALLY: A REPRIEVE.

10:45 AM - Done fueling.

11:00 AM - GETTING HUNGRY. 45 MINUTES TO LUNCH… I think I may consume a delicious hamburger.

OM NOM NOM.

11:45 AM - LUNCH TIME! OM NOM NOM!

12:45 PM - Back to work. I wish I had my iPod. I could be listening to Security Now! or something like that…

1:30 PM - Suicide crosses my mind. Quickly dismissed…

2:00 PM - Suicide crosses my mind again… Not-so-quickly dismissed…

2:15 PM - I wonder if the plow could do the job…

3:00 PM - Nope…

3:30 PM - Get told “to go over that one spot again” and “you’re not plowing deep enough.” Change plowing strategy: go even slower…

4:00 PM - Cheat at my new strategy: go faster…

4:30 PM - Get scolded for going too fast…

5:00 PM - Work is over… FIND MY iPod!

6:00 PM - Found iPod accessories. iPod must be near…

Can you find the iPod!?

6:30 PM - Finally realize: a sock is too generic looking and I shouldn’t keep my iPod in one…

7:00 PM - Finish sifting through all the socks only to find my iPod’s headphones and nothing else… WHERE COULD IT HAVE GONE?!

7:30 PM - Brother comes home, claims to have had a “boring day” that “would’ve made Ghandi cry.” I respond: “Oh.”

8:00 PM - Thoroughly melancholied…

8:30 PM - Decide to blame my iPod’s disappearance on Thomas…

9:00 PM - Watch MythBusters with my brother. Mention that I can’t find my iPod.

9:02 PM - Stop attacking my brother.

9:05 PM - Explain to mother that “my day has been hell” and “my brother is satanic” and ask “Why didn’t you abort this thief?”

9:10 PM - Threaten legal action against my brother.

9:15 PM - My iPod is back in my hands, but the battery is dead. Stick my iPod on its charger.

9:30 PM - I have work tomorrow. Set my regular alarm, since the iPod is too dead to wake me up. Go to bed…

9:45 PM - Sleeping.

Evil Teletubbies take over the world…

12:00 AM - Wake up from dream where Tinky Winky steals my iPod and paints it purple. If Steve Jobs wanted a purple iPod, he would’ve called Jonathan Ive and threatened him with “deadlines,” employment termination and gratuitous usage of the words “BOOM!” and “oh-toe-matic.”

1:00 AM - Sleeping well. Game speed automatically switches to 3 until my alarm wakes me up at…

6:45 AM - Wake up.

After over ONE WHOLE MONTH, I give you MSN 14 with guest Megan Dustin.

Megan and I apologize for the lateness of this show, discuss her dramatic monologue for state drama (she doesn’t perform it), discuss the RAD Talent Show, dubbed the “Rad Review,” her deceptive relationship with Caleb Cheshier, ballroom dancing and the listener questions

• What does Santa get for Christmas?
• If you work on MLK Jr. Day, are you racist?

It’s been 100 posts and almost 2 years since I started doing my website. It’s matured quite a bit, too. It started out as a little design. The design had no colors it was grey and dark grey. It’s moved from that to a multi-colored version, to the version that was before this. I moved from unprofessional hosting at brad.starvalleysod.com to the present bradkovach.com

I’ve underwent few marketing moves. The latest, however was really fun. Whitney Buckley gave me 150 pencils with WWW.BRADKOVACH.COM emblazoned on them. The traffic response was minimal, but handing out the pencils was fun!

THE timeline of Brad’s Website

1. April 2005 - I started blogging. You can still read the first post. It was an email forward that I recieved days before that. You can read the first entry entitled “Very Important Question” that started this phenomenon.
2. October 16, 2005 - I release my best post ever. It was titled “Inconsistencies.” It covered a couple of things that people say and do that just don’t make sense, such as low-carb dieting. Read the article called “Inconsistencies” »
3. November 2, 2005 - Just days later, the transition from brad.starvalleysod.com to bradkovach.com is accomplished. This was the dawn of a new era, and my new favorite catchphrase: “BRADKOVACH.COM!” Read the announcement »
4. November 18, 2005 - Briefly after attending the Sadie Hawkin’s Dance, I satirized it with the first bradkovach.com cartoon entitled “The Dance” Enjoy.
5. February 9, 2006 - I take a picture of the SV Independent who highlighted the risk of students using MySpace.com. I agreed with them. Little did I know, months later, I’d have a MySpace of my own. For posterity, view the trash-talk here
6. March 3rd, 2006 - I release a movie review on my website. My sarcastic nature lent to a non-objective review of the movie which was topped of with a list of thing that could’ve made the movie better. One of which was a refund. Read the review of When A Stranger Calls »
7. May 2006 - Brad Kovach 5.0 was completely in the works. It featured a light-on-dark complexion and bright colors to draw the eyes to the important areas of the site. You’re looking at it right now.
8. June 2006 - I discover the sound and start rebroadcasting it on my website. You can listen to it on the page.
9. July 17, 2006 - I write a little program for my computer dubbed “Print Flush.” I distribute it on bradkovach.com and it becomes quite popular. Testimonials are still pouring in. Download your copy now!
10. September 2, 2006 - The idea for the biggest thing to hit bradkovach.com since bradkovach.com is here: Meet Someone New! My podcast went live with the first guest, Jessica Tanguay.
11. Halloween 2006 - The emo costume is a huge hit! Everybody loved it and it made bradkovach.com. Check out the Emo Costume and reminisce.
12. November 1, 2006 - MSN 7 with guests Mari Miles and Michelle Bowers are posted. This is still the most popular show. To this day, it’s almost had 700 complete downloads! Listen now!
13. Sometime soon: Brad Kovach (dot com) version 6 is coming…
    
    

    Yes! That’s what it looks like.

SVHS Freshman, Hannah Hokanson does a show. We finally put the band rumors to rest, discuss bumper stickers, Polly Erickson’s “Free Candy Fridays,” Dahl Simpson, the Tedd Vinson Story and Mr. Moore Shoutout!

We mentioned this video:
Copy Goes Here

And I asked these questions:

• Would you wear short shorts in public?
• Are Herbal Essences commercials effective?

I have a 30gb iPod with Video. iTunes 7, with support for games and stuff came out and it has the updater to make the iPod work with the games. It also adds new features such as the ability to adjust the brightness of the iPod’s LCD screen (good, because watching a movie doesn’t always require 100% backlight), and to set an absolute top limit to how loud the iPod can go (so that, say, your brother doesn’t take your iPod to listen to while he mows, sets it as loud as possible, and now the headphones click when played too loudly.)

Let me say that the iPod firmware update is worth it. Big time.

Windows users, including myself have had a very difficult time updating the firmware, because iTunes freezes in the middle of the update. If you’ve been ripping your hair out, because of your iPod, try these methods. I was the one who discovered the second method.

Method 1 - This method might solve the problem if you’re in disk mode:

1. Restart your computer. This is optional, but it is a good idea. The new iTunes is GLITCHY!
2. Plug in your iPod.
3. Start the update in iTunes by going to your iPod, and clicking update.
4. Wait until Do Not Disconnect disappears, and disconnect the ‘Pod.
5. Wait 5 seconds, and reconnect the iPod. It may, or may not snap out of it and then your iPod will start updating. A progress bar will appear on your screen. When it’s done, re-sync your iPod like you normally do.

Method 2 - Since method 1 only works some of the time, try method 2 when Method 1 Fails:

1. Restart Your Computer
2. Plug in your iPod
3. When it asks if you want to update, click no.
4. Start iTunes and go to the iPod’s setting screen by clicking the iPod.
5. Scroll down past the grey update stripe, and ensure disk mode is not enabled. You can re-enable it later, if you want to.
6. Click apply. If iTunes complains about anything, just click OK.
7. Unplug your iPod, and then plug it back in.
8. If it asks if you want to update, click yes.
9. The iPod should update correctly now.

If you discovered different methods, please comment with the method. If it worked, also comment with the method.

Check out this clever spoof of an iPod commercial.

iQuit

I thought that SB Emails would be extremely cool on my iPod. I started with a simple search on google on how to put the emails on my iPod. I knew that putting them on my iPod could involve conversion, but was willing. The search yielded http://podstar.homestarrunner.com. The have posted 5 of the most famous emails (Dragon, Crying, Japanese Cartoon, Kids Book, and Techno) and expect to post more. This is good news. If only it was syndicated to automatically download into iTunes and then onto my iPod. Oh well. Beggers can’t be choosers, right?

Look: I syndicated it.  You can subscribe to this in iTunes and the movies will download automatically in order and then be synced to your iPod if you have one.  http://feeds.feedburner.com/podstartopod/

Okay, it’s not so much a hack, but it will save you money. If you want to watch movies on your iPod, it’s worth looking into Videora iPod Converter. It will encode your DVD movies to fit on an iPod’s screen. Space is hardly an issue. I have 2 movies on my iPod and it took up less than 1 gig for them.

It is also suggested that you buy a video cable for your iPod so that you can hook it up to your TV. Rather then shell out 20 bucks to get a 3 foot cable from Apple, go to Radioshack and get this cable. It will work out of the box only if you switch the red and yellow connectors when you hook it up. I relabeled mine with new stickers to curb confusion. You save 3 bucks and get a ten foot cable (roughly 3 times longer than Apple’s Video Cable).

When you hook ‘er up to your television, do not forget to set iPod into video out mode.  This is easily accomplished by going to Videos > Video Settings > Video Out > On or Ask.

Play your movies.

If you want to put your DVDs on iPod, visit this website.  You will need DVD Decrypter, Videora iPod Converter and some DVDs.  Follow this good guide to get going.  Beware, though, althought the movies are small when your are completed, the entire process can take anywhere from 4 to 9 gigabytes.  I do not advocate the use of pirated movies.