Today marks the two year anniversary of this blog! It was on January 20, 2007 that I made my very first post to this blog. I started this blog just after attending the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show where I met some really beneficial people, like Bob Buskirk, a fellow tech site owner.
Since that time, this blog has seen 745 posts and 1940 comments over the past two years, which is pretty decent for a non-niche blog. I have really enjoyed updating the blog, sharing aspects of my tech site and personal life with my readers.
I have toyed with the idea of monetizing this blog or perhaps starting a niche blog (probably personal finance), but thus far, I haven’t acted on either of those ideas. We shall see what happens in 2009.
Updates as of late have been few and far between, which haven’t been on purpose. It just seems that I have less and less time to devote to the blog, but I will look to change that from this point forward. So, what’s been going on since my last update?
A CES 2009 No-Show
This was the first year since I started going to CES that I didn’t make it to Vegas for the annual technology trade show. I tossed around the idea of attending late last year but ultimately decided against it, mostly for financial reasons. CES is such a blast and equally as beneficial for my tech site, as I get to network and make new contacts with potential sponsors and other site owners which is invaluable. But, I didn’t let that get me down and did what I could from home and managed to secure a relationship with Intel, which is absolutely huge!
CES 2010 is definitely in my future, granted the show doesn’t go the way of COMDEX and cease to exist next year. Attendance was down this year but let’s hope they give it a few more years to rebound.
Ole Miss Wins 2009 Cotton Bowl
Ole Miss shocked the country and took Texas Tech to the woodshed in the 2009 Cotton Bowl on January 2, coming away with a 47-34 victory and proving once again that the Big 12 is overrated. The Rebs finished the season very strong, with a 31-13 win over LSU in the 1st annual Magnolia Bowl and absolutely dismantled Mississippi State 45-0 in the Egg Bowl. Ole Miss finished 15th nationally and is already being ranked as high as 5th in preseason polls for next year.
These accolades are well earned. After all, Ole Miss was the only team to beat Florida, the eventual National Champion. 2009 will be a great year for sure. Can you say SEC Champions?
Xbox 360
I told myself I would probably never buy another gaming console, especially a current-generation unit. They are just too expensive and I don’t play games enough to warrant the expense. But here I am, with a 360!
I ended up buying a Pro model from Josh after our last LAN party. He purchased two additional units for use at the party but turns out, we didn’t need them. I got a heck of a deal which is really the reason I bought it. And thanks to Left 4 Dead, I have actually been playing it quite a bit, as a group of about 5-6 of us play multiplayer almost nightly. If you are on Live and want to add me, just leave a comment with your Gamertag or e-mail me at: playafly187@ocia.net
Paying Off Debt
Since I started following Dave Ramsey about a year ago, I have cut out a ton of useless spending in my budget and have been working very hard to pay off debt that I have accumulated over the years. About 85% of my debt is student loans and I have been paying those off as fast as I can. I have only a single payment left on the one loan I have been attacking which is pretty exciting. My focus after that is the one remaining credit card balance I am carrying, then it is full steam ahead on my large student loan.
At first, it was really tough to cut back on unnecessary spending and trying to save money, but now that I have been doing it for almost a year, it is actually fun. I enjoy seeing how frugal I can be each month and how little I can get by on. Odd, yes, but it is very motivating.
Keeping Busy With Work
Many people wish they could work for themselves at home, create their own schedules and be their own boss. The reality is, it is tough. The reason I say this is because you are never “off work”. With a traditional job, once you leave the office, you are free. You don’t have to worry with work until the next day or after the weekend. When you work for yourself, you are always thinking about work and what needs to be done and when you are going to do it. I love what I do but it is pretty stressful and there is a lot of responsibility. I don’t think most people could do it.
Anyway, things with OCIA.net are still going strong. I have been focusing on attaining more sponsorships for the site, which means sharing the latest and greatest hardware with our readers. Things look bright for 2009 and I can’t wait to see what the year brings!
I have been looking to hire an additional reviewer and have taken a chance on two people in the past several months, both of which have screwed me over and basically stole the review items without doing any work. Its frustrating when someone with no morals comes along and throws a monkey wrench into what you have worked hard to do just for a free product. Its even more frustrating when you see these people move on to the next site they plan to scam.
On that note, if you are into the tech scene and think you might be interested in writing for my site, shoot me an email and we can talk.
I have also been doing some freelance writing for another tech site based in Mexico, Techspot. Things with this site have been going really well and I have had a good time reviewing for them and look forward to continue our relationship in 2009.
Texas Pickle
I had never heard of a Texas Pickle until just recently. Adam had been telling me about then for a while and finally decided to make a batch.
Basically, you take jalapenos, remove the insides, fill with cheese then wrap the entire thing in bacon. Bake in the oven or cook on the grill and you end up with what you see above!
I love trying new foods and the Texas Pickle was no exception and in fact, it was very good. I am not a huge fan of spicy foods but once gutted and cooked, the jalapeno was not spicy at all. I would recommend you give them a try sometime for sure.
and to say they just won is an understatement. It was absolute domination from the get-go. The most stunning display of offense, defense and special teams I think I have ever seen.
So, how bad was the 45-0 defeat of Mississippi State?
Here are a few stats to chew on. The Ole Miss defense set a new school record with 11 sacks. The Ole Miss defense was also responsible for hitting State’s quarterback nine out of the first 10 pass attempts. The Ole Miss defense intercepted two of their first five passes. And perhaps most impressive of all, the Ole Miss offense put more points on the board than State had total offense - 45 points vs only 37 all purpose yards. Seriously, who does that?!
With a win in the Egg Bowl, Ole Miss is all but locked into a bid for the Cotton Bowl. Reps from the bowl, along with other bowls, were on hand and Ole Miss staff even dropped cotton balls from above the media booth onto the fans below!
The “land shark”, Jerrell Powe, posing for photos after the game.
John Jerry waving an Ole Miss flag for photographers.
Below is a video I recorded of the final minutes of the game and post-game celebration!
In all, an excellent way to close out the regular season. This team (8-4) has come a long way from the dismal 3-9 effort just a year ago and deserve every bit of what is to come in the post season. Congrats guys and let’s bring home another bowl game trophy!
Houston Nutt, that is. The new Ole Miss football coach kicked things off in style Saturday night against the local rival Memphis Tigers. I have been looking forward to the start of college football season… oh, about 8-9 months now! 2008 looks to be the year that Ole Miss turns things around with a new head coach, a new quarterback in Texas transfer Jevan Sneed as well as a fine supporting cast on both the offense and defense.
Josh and I took the hour-long trip to Oxford to check out the season opener. As anticipated, Nutt’s Ole Miss team put a hurting on the lowly Tigers, resulting in a 41-24 win for the Rebs. Below are a few photos and videos from the game.
Memphis trying to execute a trick play.
The new 6 million dollar video screen, the largest true HD screen in the SEC.
Looks even better at night!
For reference, the old screen. Talk about a major improvement!
I went to check out Eli Manning / Patrick Willis Day on campus this morning. I had to wake up around 9:30 a.m. (not a morning person) in order to get there by 10:30, just before the Walk of Champions.
I got right up front… well as close as I could to the roped off section. Then, they removed the ropes… odd… and then, it was like a stampede, so I ended up not having the best view. Oh well.
As the team left he Student Union and headed down the Walk of Champions, Eli jumped in front of coach Nutt and led the way. During his interview, he mentioned this, saying he might not ever have a chance to do it again, and coach Nutt didn’t seem to mind.
Both Eli and Patrick were given keys to the city of Oxford.
The pair was also presented with framed copies of the Manning / Willis poster (yes, I bought one heh).
This is the cast that Patrick wore on his right hand during his junior season. That year, he suffered from a broken finger, sprained knee, right mid-foot sprain and a partial AC joint separation of his right shoulder… and still led the NCAA in solo tackles!
After the awards ceremony / interview (which will be up on YouTube soon), I headed over to check out the Red vs. Blue spring scrimmage game. The Blue team came away with the victory, 40-14
The annual Ole Miss Grove Bowl is set for tomorrow at 1 p.m. The Grove Bowl is an intra squad scrimmage game that takes place each year at the end of spring practice. This event gives fans a look at next season’s team, which, for football fans, is always fun.
This year will be a special one for Ole Miss and football fans in general. Tailgating starts at 10:00 a.m. in the Grove. At 10:45 a.m., Super Bowl winning New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Patrick Willis (both former Ole Miss players) will lead the football team down the Walk of Champions on their way to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Gates open at noon and kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
Tomorrow will be a good opportunity for me to test out my new camcorder. The two photos above were taken with it, and I shot some video last weekend back in my hometown, but nothing really too great.
Well, this game was a bit closer than you would think by looking at the final score on the board at the end of the game. Ole Miss lost to LSU by a final of 41-24 in front of a crowd of 61,118 (4th largest in school history), despite outgaining LSU 466 yard to 396 on offense, 25 to 21 on first downs and 5 to 4 on third-down conversions. Either way, it was a good game on both sides of the ball and the better team won the game.
Below are some photos from the game, enjoy!
The stadium was packed!
Rushing against the LSU defense.
Fumble on the 3 yard line, typical Ole Miss antics!
The defending national champion Florida Gators took a trip to Oxford today to take on the Rebels. Everyone thought the game would be a major blowout, as the #3 ranked Gators destroyed Tennessee last week 59-20. But, things turned out much different than anticipated…
The pre-game festivities were wrapped up with a fly-over from a pair of fighter jets. If you have never experienced this in person, I must say, it is quite awesome… and LOUD!
Former Ole Miss linebacker (and now starting linebacker for the NFL’s 49ers) Patrick Willis led the opening “Are You Ready”.
Attendance for the game was just over 55,000. Not too bad, but I expected more for such a high profile team like Florida.
Kiwi and I decided to get some Corkys BBQ Nachos… delicious, as always.
Florida QB Tim Tebow running around the edge for a touchdown.
Ole Miss wide receiver Michael Hicks making a nice grab close to the endzone.
As mentioned earlier, everyone expected this game to be a huge blowout, but that was not the case. Ole Miss took the lead early, but gave it back to Florida, and things stayed that way until late in the 3rd quarter. With Florida leading 27-9, Seth Adams completed a pass to Shay Hodge for a 19-yard touchdown, bringing it to 27-16. Then, with 17 seconds left in the 3rd, Adams throws a 77-yard BOMB to Mike Wallace for a touchdown strike. Ole Miss goes for the 2-point conversion and scores; the score is now 27-24 with a full quarter of football left to play.
The entire 4th quarter was a back-and-forth struggle. Florida scored a field goal to bring it to 30-24, and with a last ditch effort on 4th down, Ole Miss goes for a very obvious punt fake and comes up short with 3 minutes left… and that was the ball game.
Despite the loss, I think Ole Miss really showed people a lot today, taking the # 3 team in the nation to within a touchdown of winning. Either way, a great game!
Saturday was the first home game for Ole Miss, as they took on the Missouri Tigers. As most people predicted, Missouri walked away with the win, but there were certainly a lot of good things that Ole Miss showed in this game.
The first half was a complete blowout, with Missouri leading 28-7. The Rebels came back stronger than ever in the second half, completely dominating both sides of the ball. The deficit was just too much to overcome, however, with the final score of 38-25 Missouri.
Even with the loss, there were many positives with the Rebels performance. The Ole Miss offense exploded in the second half, turning in their best offensive performance in four years. BenJarvis Green-Ellis rushed for 226 yards while quarterback Seth Adams threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns. Ole Miss walked away with 534 total yards of offense, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the spread offense of the Tigers.
Ole Miss heads to Vanderbilt next weekend for their first SEC conference game against the Commodores. Both Ole Miss and Vandy enter the game with a 1-1 record and look to secure that first conference game.
Below are some random photos from game day. Enjoy!
The Grove…
and from another angle.
Hotty Toddy Potty.
Walk of Champions.
The team takes the field…
Archie Manning leading the opening “Are You Ready?!”.
