Subject: bend

Message: I stumbled across your craigslist posting for the bend. A little over a month ago I had a run of bad luck and had to get rid of some of my stuff on craig's list to make ends meet. One guy dropped in to buy my mitre saw and router and gave me twice what I was asking for. When I asked him why, he explained that he wanted to help me out as long as when things worked out I helped someone else out too.

I can't give you cash the way he did me, but yesterday I did come across these Walmart gift cards. I'm sharing the link, but if it works for you, I'm asking that you do the same and pass it on to someone else.

====================

Why can't you give me cash the way he did?!?!?!? I want CASH!!! I don't want crappy Walmart gift cards, I want cash! If you are not going to give me cash I am definitely not telling anyone else about this email!!!

Of course the link didn't work. The link went to a website that said "IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THAT THE KEYWORD WAS USED FOR SPAM, PHISHING, AND/OR ABUSE. AND IT WAS THEREFORE DEACTIVATED. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE." Nice web host for doing their part to stop them!

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]]> Humor Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:50:58 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=19 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=19 Comments (0)

]]> Rants Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:22:50 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=18 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=18 Rotten Tomatoes. I love Rotten Tomatoes and could easily spend a whole day on their website looking at movies. I have discovered a ton of movies on there I would have never found before. I also really like that their rating system uses a poll of all critics along with all movie viewers to give unbiased movie ratings.

Anyways, when I went on there today I found that all of bad movies are being sent to Redmond and all of the good movies can be found at the Pilot Butte theater in Bend, which is not even the nicest/newest theater in Bend. The nicest theater had a mix, but actually had mostly bad rated movies. Looks like Pilot Butte theater is the way to go.

Check it out...

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]]> Movies Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:46:23 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=17 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=17 Comments (0)

]]> Interesting Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:32:55 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=16 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=16 My appologies to anyone who has been trying to get in touch with me and has not heard back from me yet. I am starting to sift through the spam now to weed out the legit messages and respond ASAP. I have also created some email filters that should help a lot of my legit email to not end up in the spam folder. Thank you for your understanding and patience!

UPDATE 02/23/2010: All spam has been sorted through and any legit messages that ended up in there have been replied to. If you sent me a legit message and did not receive a reply, please send it again. I now have filters in place to stop my legit mail from ending up in my spam. Thanks again for your understanding!

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]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:19:11 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=15 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=15 Free PHP Website Software (my development home), Free PHP Shopping Cart Software (the name says it all), Free PHP Blog Software (again, the name says it all), and Affordable PHP Web Hosting (web hosting and complete website solutions).

This marks the completion of 3 years of software development. It was a long road that had many ups and downs. I remained determined and confident through it all though and never gave up. Owning my own web based software business has actually been a dream of mine for about 10 years or so.

This is not the end of my development efforts though! Very far from it! This is just the completion of version 1.0 of both programs. Version 1.0 of both programs includes everything I wanted the programs to have initially to feel like complete, fully featured programs. I still have years worth of development ideas in my head that have yet to be written. These ideas will only enhance and add onto what is already in place. Much more fun to come!

Of course I could not have ever gotten to this point without the tremendous support of my awesome family! My wife Amanda and my daughter Lucy both really deserve a HUGE THANK YOU!!! They have both put up with a lot from me in the last 3 years and I appreciate their patience with me beyond what words can even say.

I am very excited to see where things go now! The rest of 2010 is going to be focused on getting my businesses out there and working on feature improvements for future software versions in between. If you or anyone you know is in need of free shopping cart software, free blog software, web hosting, or a complete website package, please send them my way! My web hosting starts at 1.50/month and my complete website packages start at 6.00/month. I would really appreciate any referrals!!!

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]]> Business Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:22:52 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=14 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=14

Captain Phil Harris from Deadliest Catch passed away yesterday, February 9, 2010. Captain Phil passed away from complications from a stroke he suffered on January 29, 2010. He was only 53 when he passed away, way too young! He was my favorite guy to watch on the show. He was a real inspiration and will be missed! I feel bad for his two sons, Jake and Josh Harris. I hope one of them will take their father's place as captain of the Cornelia Marie and continue his legacy. Both served as deck hands for the last several years on their father's ship and know it well. Either would do an awesome job running it!

Meeting Captain Phil and his sons in Redmond last October at a signing for his coffee line Captain's Reserve Coffee was really awesome! I just can't believe he is gone only 5 months after I shook his hand. I'm really glad to have been able to meet him before he passed away though and will never forget my experience.

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]]> TV Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:19:43 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=13 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=13 Obama's proposal is to let the private sector handle getting humans into space. I both agree and disagree with this idea. While the private sector has made huge leaps and bounds in just the last few years, it still has a long ways to go before it could put people on the moon or beyond. Heck, it has a long ways to go before it could even get people onto the International Space Station (ISS)! Next year, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic is scheduled to begin launching SpaceShipTwo into suborbit at 68 miles altitude with paying space tourists. The ISS orbits between 173 miles and 286 miles altitude. Based on these facts, the private sector is going to need to triple it's efforts in very short order just to replace NASA's current orbital missions.

While all of this may be possible, that still leaves the issue of the moon and beyond. Many in the private sector have had plans to conduct missions for NASA close to home and let NASA focus on distant missions. Who is going to focus on distant missions now? We need to get off this planet sooner or later.

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]]> Space Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:42:14 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=12 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=12

Capt. Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie from Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel suffered a stroke yesterday. Of all the guys on that show, he is my favorite by far. Him and his sons are very entertaining to watch and also very inspiring. Having the awesome opportunity to meet him and his sons last fall was just way over the top! It was only by chance that I even got to meet them. I am hoping for a speedy recovery for the captain!

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]]> TV Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:14:29 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=11 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=11 http://www.slideoo.com!

Slideoo is a free tool that takes your Flickr photostream and turns it into a horizontal slide show. You can then copy and paste code onto your website to have it show there. On my website you can see the one I made. If you move your mouse over the left or right sides you will get a "+" or "-" sign that allows you to scroll through the pictures. You can also drag the grey scroll bar at the bottom of the pictures too.

TECH WARNING! The slide show uses Flash so I wrote some javascript that detects if Flash is enabled or not. If it's not enabled then a standard HTML Flickr badge shows in place of the slide show. If anyone would like the code, feel free to contact me.

Awesome free tool for anyone who has a website!

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]]> Programming Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:37:15 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=10 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=10 <b>WOW</b>, the Wii is SUPER addicting!!! So addicting in fact that I am calling it a "wiiddiction". Nintendo did a really awesome job coming up with a innovative new way to play video games! For years people have complained that video games make you fat and lazy sitting on the couch all the time. Not any more! The Wii will have you swinging the controller playing baseball, tilting it playing driving games, yanking back on it to set the hook in fishing games, and much more. If that's not enough of a reason to play the Wii, Nintendo even came out with a "game" called Wii Fit where you work out on a balance board to get in shape. What's really interesting is that Wii Fit is currently the second best selling videogame in history, selling 22.5 million coppies!

Multiplayer on the Wii is probably my favorite part about it. Most of the games for the Wii are designed to be played with 2 people or more. Amanda and I have both been playing Wii Super Mario Brothers and I think she is having as much fun with it as I have. I actually went to start a single player game tonight and turned it off after about 20 minutes because it's just so much more fun playing it with her. There are other games I want to get that are better suited for single player. I think the games that are designed for multiplayer just are not as fun with only one person. It's really awesome to find something new we both enjoy doing together, even if it is nerdy!

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]]> Video Games Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:27:48 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=9 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=9 here's how it looked before). I got to thinking the old colors just did not represent me or my business well. To me it looked like bank colors or investment website colors, not software website colors.

When you have five websites that all share the same design (see the tabs on the top of this page) and require unique colors that don't make the websites look like the rainbow, it is a REAL challenge. Luckily for me, I have a wife who has AWESOME design sense! I just told her what kind of look I was going for and she found the colors to match what was in my head to a T! Best wife ever!

So now you are reading this entry on my new design. Check out my other websites at the top of this page. Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the colors and page designs!

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]]> Programming Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:54:38 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=8 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=8 I listened to an interview with the director of the Prineville Facebook facility on the evening news. He said the reason they picked Prineville is due to it being an ideal climate for a data centers since it doesn't really get too hot or too cold there. Prineville is definitely a lot more mild than the rest of Central Oregon. Makes sense considering maintaining consistent data center temperatures costs a TON and creates tremendous amounts of air pollution.

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]]> Internet Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:40:15 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=7 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=7 It's a really good idea because chickens can get eaten at night if their door is left open and a predator manages to make it's way into their run. Another reason it's good is so that you don't have to get up early to let your chickens out when the sun comes up or have to worry about being home to close the door at sunset. It's also a good idea for when you go on vacations.

Link: http://www.dinosaursandrobots.com/2009/04/automatic-chicken-door.html

Plans link: http://www.buildeazy.com/photo-chicken-coop-beatarticle.html

Guess what my next or even possibly my current chicken coop is going to have! Ha ha!

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]]> Chickens Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:41:38 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=6 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=6 Comments (0)

]]> Quotes Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:37:15 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=5 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=5
(The GPL software license logo).

In my opinion, the GPL software license is the greatest software license in existence. It is in the best interest of software end users and software developers alike. For those who have no idea what I'm even talking about, the GPL software license allows computer software to be freely available, freely modified, and freely distributed. You can not take a piece of GPL software and turn it into proprietary software either, it has to remain free. This way you are not suddenly roped into paying for something you have come to enjoy having free access to.

I don't know about you, but I like free. Free as in the freedom to do whatever you want! I don't like downloading software that is *cough* free and having to worry about getting caught and going to jail. I just want it to be free period. You might think "well if all software was free then how would companies be able to exist and pay their developers, distributors, and support people". The answer is simple. If companies cared more about writing innovative/high quality software versus writing a heaping pile of crap full of bugs, then end users would be more willing to pay for the software and less likely to try to get it for *cough* free, hence saving companies from loosing TONS of money to software piracy. I need to get that cough checked! Ha ha!

A good example of what I am talking about is companies that operate on donations. These companies have to work really hard to produce quality products and/or services that people will really enjoy, otherwise they won't get paid a dime. Think of all the crappy software you have ever downloaded on your computer that has made it unstable, crashed, or even worse... gave you a virus! Now imagine those same software developers giving away their software for free and asking for donations if you liked their work. Guess who would be out of a job! You see, if all companies gave away their software the world would only have really high quality software programs to deal with and not all the crap. Sure, even a successful donation based company might not make billions and billions of dollars, but they would probably make millions and that's enough right? When you start making billions that's when you get lazy and start producing crap again.

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]]> Programming Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:32:06 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=4 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=4

Amanda and I made a decision about 6 months ago to cut our cable television. This decision was made for many reasons. Cost savings, all the crap on these days, and just to see if our family could go without it in this modern cable addicted world. We saw ourselves and our 2 year old daughter Lucy sitting in front of the TV for way too many hours per day, often not even watching anything we really cared about. So the decision was made.

Overall, I would say it was not missed. We still had our cable internet and still had the ability to watch the shows we really cared about. The difference was that to watch something required more effort to find it online, so we tended to only watch what we really cared about. While watching shows online, we also discovered that we were no longer being subjected to commercials due to them being cut out of most shows. We also had our trusty DVD and VHS players so we discovered an even greater love for movies than we ever had before.

Not being subjected to about half the advertising in our lives on it's own was very interesting. My family's desire to shop and buy things went way down! When someone I knew would ask me if I had seen the latest funny commercial I wouldn't know what they were talking about and it felt great! Saving money was at an all time high for my family and I relate this directly to not having cable. You see people on TV with all these things and it makes you want them. Jealousy is human nature.

One week ago from today we had our cable television connected once again. There were several reasons for this decision. Mostly for Amanda's mom who is living with us and recovering from surgery, but also because we thought it might be nice to have every now and then. For the first few days I didn't even turn it on to watch myself. I have since watched a few shows, but only ones I really like, no crap. I have also found myself being really careful to not be sucked in by commercials when they come on.

I don't know if we will ever turn the cable off again or not, but I will say not having it has taught me a lot and I will not be soon to forget what I have learned!

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]]> Life Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:28:23 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=3 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=3 For the last year or so I would say Amanda and I have been really seriously talking about wanting to live in the country on some acreage. We have been casually looking at different places all over Central Oregon just to get an idea of where we might like to live, figure out how much land we are actually going to want, and what we might be looking to pay for what we want. We still don't really have much of an idea except I think we have at least decided we want to live somewhere north or northeast of Bend (Powell Butte, Prineville, etc.) where the climate is a little more mild and better suited for growing and/or animals.

We have been talking about what we would want to use the acreage for. I don't really see us being into growing crops. Maybe a nice size vegetable garden and a greenhouse. What I think we really want to use the land for is to raise some animals. I have really enjoyed our small chicken operation that I setup in our backyard and could see myself raising chickens on a much larger scale. Many have called me a successful egg farmer just with my small flock of 13 chickens. I have done a ton of research on them and know just what it takes to get the most out of them while keeping them happy. We can legally have up to 16 chickens where we live now, so I can't do much more than I am currently. Amanda on the other hand would really like some alpacas, sheep, and/or goats. Can't have any of them living in the city. Even if we could I think we would get some pretty funny looks from our neighbors. Amanda makes all kinds of knitted things and has an interest in learning to spin and dye yarn. I could see our interests turning into a nice little secondary income.

It's funny because when we were younger we used to talk about how fun it would be to live in or near a big city. We moved to Oregon City (close to Portland) when we got out of high school and lived there for a few years. Then we moved back to Bend to get away from the city. Now we live in Redmond to be even further from the city. Next we want to live even further away. Funny how that has changed!

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]]> Life Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:13:00 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=2 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=2 It is going to be really exciting to see some pay back from 3 years of hard work! You might ask yourself how in the world is he going to make money when the product's names have "free" in their names. Well, I guess you will just have to wait and see. I have a pretty awesome plan in mind.

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]]> Programming Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:34:05 -0800 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=1 http://www.dustincowell.com/index.php?page=entries&request=view_entry&blog_entries_id=1 I am writing this using my new blogging software that I wrote (Free PHP Blog Software). It took me about 3 years to complete my new blog software and my shopping cart software (Free PHP Shopping Cart Software), but they are both finally done! Well, they are not totally done, but they are both ready for their initial version 1.0 releases.

This blog will mostly be about my personal life to share with friends and family. I will have a separate blog over on each of my business websites to keep personal and business separate.

Well, it's very late at night and I should turn in right about now. Just couldn't wait to setup my new blog though. Ha ha!

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]]> Life Fri, 08 Jan 2010 04:28:00 -0800