Mike Roberto's Blog

Two Paths From Here

Berto — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:53:51 +0000

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
–Robert Frost

Tomorrow is the big day. My first day as a fully self-employed entrepreneur.

Over the past few months, as I’ve seen this time coming, I asked myself who I was going to be in the foreseeable future. And the more I thought and talked about it, the more clear it became.

I could really see it going one of two ways.

The first way is the easy way. As it stands now, I could very easily live off of the profits from my websites without dipping into my savings. I’d have to watch the expenses, but could easily do 15 minutes of work per day and become a total beach bum. I’d play volleyball, become a better surfer, work out all day, drink cheap malt liquor, and do whatever the hell it is that all of these California bums you see wandering around all day do. Occasionally, I’d get inspired and launch a new web campaign and make it profitable.

The second path is the exact opposite. Go for The Empire. Dominate several tiny niches of the web, then aggregate them into a massive network that feeds into an enormous machine. Attack industries that need attacking, and inform users that need informing. Hire employees, learn social media, and even do “In Real Life” marketing. Buy a fancy house, own a boat, and invest in land – all in cash. Stay healthy, keep racing, and learn some new weapon skills, but occasionally go on some ridiculous international drunken bender and let things coast for the week.

I really could see me doing either for a while. But it’s pretty much one or the other.

And as things become more and more clear, I am pretty sure I know which one it’s going to be. You probably do too.

SHIT JUST GOT REAL

Quitting a Job is Hard

Berto — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 16:31:16 +0000

Wow. Ever since Shit Got Real, I’ve been one busy guy. You’d think it was because I’ve been working on my own business, but I wasn’t. I was transitioning my sales territory to the new guy. It’s kind of funny, but since quitting my job, I’ve worked harder for it than I have for years.

I never realized how many people I’ve met over the past four years, and how hard saying goodbye would be. There are literally hundreds of people that I’ve helped, supported, and have become professional friends with. Their feedback has been incredible – they all support my endeavor but know that the new guy will be better than I was. Honestly, I’m gonna miss nearly all of them.

All of my customers kept telling the new guy how big of shoes he has to fill. Really? I guess I didn’t think I was that great of a sales guy, so maybe I’ll have to write something on how I operated as a technical sales rep, because I guess it worked. In short, my four pieces of advice would be these:

SHUT UP, ask questions, and listen
Follow up
Don’t be a douchebag
Delegate anything and everything to the geniuses at corporate.

Customers knew that I wasn’t the guy with all the answers, but they also knew that I’d crack skulls in an effort to get the answers for them. With an incredibly proactive company like NI, skull-cracking usually isn’t necessary, but sometimes it is. And I will fuck you in the ass if you dare downplay me and my customer. I really wasn’t a sales guy OR an engineer, so much as I was a “Resource Manager”. I liked that. It was the closest I’d ever come to being a pimp. Why spend 45 minutes trying to figure something out when I could get someone in corporate to do it in 5? Delegation is key, and something I’m trying to figure out in my own business (and kinda failing at thus far, admittedly).

Everyone says it’s good to not burn bridges. But let’s face it – I will NEVER return to National Instruments, the Test and Measurement industry, nor corporate America in general (unless ClutchWave IPOs – which isn’t part of “the plan”). I’ve made some of the best friends ever at NI, but don’t really care about the professional bridge. No doubt, the NI connection is great, but my gripe is more with Corporate America in general. I don’t want or need back in. So why did I bust my ass transitioning the next guy in when it wasn’t in my personal best interests? Well, in a few words… because I’m one helluva nice guy. I want to leave something better than the way I found it. And I can truly say that I did that.

Anyway, come September 1st, I’m going to wake up and be on my own. I’m nervously excited. I have a plan and I know what I want to do. And I’m gonna do it.

What I Learned From Being a Reality TV Character – Part 1 of 3 – On the Set

Berto — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:27:48 +0000

This is part 1 of a 3 part series. Part 1 is about being on the set of a Reality TV Show.

Crash Test Lobby Card

Exactly a year ago, I was thrown into a reality TV pilot titled Crash Test, which aired on Spike TV on April 27th, 2010. On Crash Test, we used top-notch stuntmen and stuntwomen to recreate accidents and crime scenes to see who was really guilty or innocent.

I was the “biomedical scientist” of the bunch, and took measurements to determine if the real-life accidents would have really occurred in our simulations had we not been using professional stuntmen and women.

70MPH Remote-Controlled Crash

For reasons I’d rather not get into, the show is not moving forward with a whole season, despite its rave reviews from both sexes and all age groups (further despite the bad rating on IMDB… who’s the clown that gave us a 1/10?!). So at this point, I’d like to add my perspective.

I was thrown into the project at the absolute last minute, and even missed a day of filming. I had one full day to prepare, which included finding sensors, programming my hardware and software, doing the research on the accidents we were about to recreate and how I should take measurements.

Being on set was absolute chaos, and probably the coolest experience of my life up to this point — and I’d like to thank Reveille Studios, Tim Prokop, and Spike TV for giving me this incredible opportunity. So here is what I learned from being the geek on the set of a Reality TV show:

Come Prepared (Gear)
If you’re doing anything technical, you better make sure your stuff works PERFECTLY before getting there, and is completely self-contained. When your gear is needed, there is absolutely no time to make last-minute changes or fix a programming issue.
Your devices need to be self-contained. You are not guaranteed how far away it will be or if there will be power nearby. You need to be able to flip a switch and have it ready to go.
There might also be a lot of time between turning it on and when the film is actually rolling (see the “Hurry up and Wait” section), so make sure you have a lot of memory and battery life.
At this point, I must give a shout-out and thank NI Systems Engineering* for their assistance, specifically David Harding. Also Otmar, Caroline, and Simon in NI DIAdem and LabVIEW Marketing, and my good buddy Paul Mandeltort for being all-around smart as hell. Thanks guys!
*(side note: If you’re an NI customer working on a very large project and are not leveraging these resources, you’re crazy NOT to contact your local rep and make sure you’re doing things right!)
Come Prepared (Research)
SCIENTISTS > Engineers!
You are the expert on whatever the hell you’re doing. Or so the country believes. One of the directors is going to be asking you questions from your perspective. You need to know what’s going on, and how to compare it to real world stuff so that the audience has a clue what you’re talking about?
There was 40g of force? Guess what, geek – that means nothing to 99.5% of the country. But “it’s the same impact force as getting hit by a college lineman off the line of scrimmage”? Cool, now you’re talkin.
This one was tough for me, as I had to worry about programming my gear on top of knowing what amount of force typically breaks a vertebrate, information not always easy to find.
And am I an expert biomedical scientist? Fuck yeah.
Be Aggressive
Get your ass in front of the camera! Tell the camera guys that you have something cool to show them. If there’s a critical scene that you pretty much KNOW will make the final cut, make sure your face is visible and you have some decent input (unless told not to). There were a lot of times when I was behind a computer but should have popped my head in to make some comments.
Additionally, don’t let any crew members do any setup stuff that could get you on TV more. Do all things that pertain to your role.
In our show, Casey was operating the high-speed camera. That should have been MY job – because it would be my job to take the video and synchronize it with my data. Another example is the guy who’s hammering in the stake that connected to the chains that held the trailer down. That should have been Casey doing that. Get aggressive.
Research YOURSELF
I learned a lot about myself by watching myself on video. Before you go on set, have a friend videotape you doing similar things that you’ll be doing on the show. For me, I would have taped myself walking around, using the computer, hooking stuff up, standing and arguing, etc.
Front row seats to this crash? Priceless

Here’s what I would have improved about myself had I seen myself on camera first (and yes, this will sound horribly lame and egocentric, but it’s the truth):
- I didn’t realize how much I hated my beard length until I saw it. I was on setting #3 throughout the show, and will always be at #1 or #2 from now on. I can’t believe I’ve worn #3 that much without noticing!
- My eyebrows need trimming. Not waxing or grooming, but trimming – they’re just too damned long. My barber, Daisy, now takes care of this… but I wish I would have done this earlier… like 15 years earlier. Very “gay” of me to say so, but very true.
- I hate those jeans. And I wear them ALL THE TIME (note: despite writing this… 1 year later, I still wear those. I really am a lazy POS)
- Build up my traps. I’m a swimmer, my shoulders should look better under a polo shirt than that!
A picture is NOT worth a thousand words – a video is.
Get some sleep before filming.
Because I was pulled in at the last minute, I was spending all-nighters coding up my experiments. And boy, did that take its toll. I was a zombie by the end of the filming days, messing things up, and had huge bags under my eyes. This may conflict with rule #1, but we all have a minimal number of hours of sleep in order to function properly and you need to get that much. For me, it’s 4 hours.
Hurry up and Wait!
Me, TJ, and Casey take a break from the heat
Being on the set is nothing short of pure chaos. You will be sitting around, waiting for your part, and then when it’s time, you better be in the vicinity and ready to rock and roll. Not out back flirting with that cutie Kelia or the stunt girls (heh). And then you’ll be called over for your part… just in time to get yelled at and probably wait another 10 minutes for no logical reason whatsoever.
Hurry up and wait – Be prepared but chill out. It’ll take time as the other ongoing chaos unfolds.
Know who is who on the crew.
Matt Discusses the Tornado

You will get a “Call Sheet” that has everyone’s jobs and names. Understand what their roles are and try to remember their names. If you have time, research what is a “Line Producer” vs. an “Assistant Director”, what the Grips are, and so on. This will pay MASSIVE dividends. Treat them all incredibly well. Also note that if it’s a pilot, defined roles are not clearly set and everyone wears a zillion hats, so if you need something, just keep asking for it (or keep asking who to ask) until you get the right person.
Also, the director is KING. Do whatever he says, with little argument unless you know it’s awfully wrong. Otherwise, guess what… you will get cut out of that scene! Don’t try to “write” over what they want you to say, you’ll just get yelled at. Right Casey?
Day Before Shooting Chaos!
The day before filming will be the most chaotic day you’ve ever lived through. Nothing will be ready. You’ll have to go to Home Depot and Radio Shack 35 times. There will be studio employees driving all over the city trying to get stuff for this project to work. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life. And somehow, you’ll get through it with flying colors. And get some sleep!
Acting!
There is definitely a component of acting. You will be asked to say and do certain things multiple times, even if they already caught your natural reaction. Do your best – you’re a shitty actor and everyone knows it, so there’s not a ton of pressure, but they might be able to get a few seconds of better crap out of you.
Product placement
Pimpin DIAdem? You bet!
As an engineer using tools on the set, you’ll get a ton of companies wanting to give you free stuff for product placement. It’s really cool. However, those placements will be FAST and the company needs to decide if it’s really worth it for them to waste a whole day getting it in the show. I personally think it’s worth it, but don’t expect your product to be slowly called out and for us to pop your website onto the screen. Action is too fast.
As the rep for National Instruments at the time, I had access and know-how to use NI gear. I put it freaking everywhere. I finally got PXI on TV. I put DIAdem and LabVIEW logos in my software for the screenshots (see image). Get aggressive but don’t go over the top. Note: NDAs and other contracts will need to be signed between the studio and the vendors.
Have Fun
Matt havin fun in the Tornado
It was stressful at times on that set, but things started slowing down by the final couple of days. Remember you’re on there to make good TV! Have fun and be yourself! It’s an experience you might never get again, so enjoy it, make friends, and smile.

As I finish writing this, I am kind of bummed out. Working with Tim Prokop, Casey, TJ, Jack, and the Stunts Unlimited guys was such a cool experience. John Schneider is a total pimp. This show was fucking awesome, and I really wish we could have received a full season.

I have to admit that it PISSES me off to see such garbage that is on TV nowadays, and when we try to put something out with some semblance of intelligence, we get one episode. But money talks, and as you can imagine, it cost a lot of money. It was simply too risky, and I understand that business decision. But it doesn’t mean I can’t be jealous or mad at society for watching nothing but slop when our show doesn’t work out!

As I become fully self-employed next month, I am going to throw my hat in the ring and audition for a few other geeky reality shows. I would be happy to be the geek on or off the set. It’s fun and a great challenge.

This concludes part 1, on the set. Coming next up next: Post-filming.

SHIT JUST GOT REAL

Berto — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:24:15 +0000

This week, I tendered my resignation to my employer, National Instruments, in order to focus on my own internet marketing business that I started.

I spent 1.5 years as an Applications Engineer at NI Corporate in Austin, TX, and almost 4 years as a technical sales manager in the South Bay / Aerospace Corridor of Los Angeles (where I currently plan to stay).

There is never a good time to leave a sales job. It wasn’t even my intent to put my notice in this week, but after discovering that there were other changes occurring in the territory, I thought it would be best to notify my managers as soon as possible so that they could get their house in order.

My original plan was to stay until the end of the quarter to help transition the next guy in, but that’s nearly two months out and we don’t need that much time. Thus, my exit date has been pushed in to the end of this month. I now jokingly tell my friends that “I got fired” but that is nowhere near the truth. So as of September 1, 2010, I will be self-employed.

As with any job, there are ups and downs. However, I have absolutely no ill will towards NI, and this was a decision that was going to happen no matter what I was doing or who I was working for. I simply want to run my own ship. National Instruments is a great company to work for – but sales has given me a taste of freedom and now I want even more.

You will NOT find a finer, nicer group of ridiculously talented engineers than those that work at NI. I am serious about this. The relationships I’ve developed at NI will last a lifetime, and I know that many of you NI employees are on to doing some great, world-changing things. I may even join you. The reactions I’ve received from fellow employees regarding my decision have been extraordinary, and honestly the most interesting part of this process.

As a salesperson, you are the face of the company to thousands of people. As such, I often had to temper the things that I publicly wrote here. Over time, I simply stopped blogging because of this. You can’t risk a business relationship because of some opinions that you hold (and those who know me know that I hold my opinions). But starting in September, I won’t have that concern.

I’m not going to go into my future plans just yet, as I am still an employee of NI and have a job to finish (and I WILL finish it right), but I just wanted to chime in that things are going to change around here. One of those changes is that I plan to write more about my experiences as a struggling entrepreneur who admittedly has very little clue what he’s doing. I hope you can join me on my journey

It’s been a wild, weird week, and I’m ready for it to end. But first, I am going to enjoy Austin, TX with some of my best friends.

Announcing Crash Test – Tues 4/27 11PM EST on Spike TV

Berto — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:46:33 +0000

Last fall, I filmed a reality TV pilot for Spike TV called Crash Test. On Tuesday, April 27th, Spike TV is going to air the pilot at 11PM EST (check your local listings – DirecTV and other satellite networks will be off of the east coast feed!).

In Crash Test, Hollywood stunt expert Jack Gill leads an elite team of stuntmen, scientists, and investigators as they recreate full scale accidents to prove who is guilty or innocent.

Here are two YouTube videos to check out:

Spike TV Commercial – Look who’s talking at the end!

Stunt Teaser videos

If Spike TV sees enough viewership and DVR recordings, it will may get greenlit for a full season.

So please pass this e-mail on, post the videos and DVR times to your Facebook and Twitter feeds, and spread the good word!

I am the biomedical engineering expert on the show, wearing red. It is my job to measure and determine whether or not these accidents would have created the injuries that the defendants claimed… had we not been using stunt pros.

I was brought into the show at the last minute after filming had begun. I had no clue what was going on (which often shows), but it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. The guys on the show all rule.

The show stars four of us, not including the stuntmen:
Jack Gill – Stunt Expert / Leader
Casey Noel – Stunt Rigger / Safety
TJ Josefy – Investigator / Crime-Scene Recreator
Mike Roberto – Biomedical Engineer

Our IMDB (yes I actually am on IMDB now):

And see the Facebook page for Crash Test

The show is also known as Crash Test: Real Wrecks, Real Stakes.
Cheers!

Click here for the Lobby Card and a cool picture too!

And another commercial:

Parenthood Review (TV)

Berto — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:35:21 +0000

Tonight, NBC aired the first episode of its new family drama-comedy, Parenthood. Inspired by the hit 1989 movie that starred Steve Martin and shared its name, Parenthood brings a modern edge to a genre that was in dire need of a spark.

It is now clear why NBC decided to unshamedly promote the living hell out of Parenthood: The show and its star-studded cast delivers big.

Parenthood revolves around four siblings and their spouses, and focuses on their various battles towards raising their children. The age of these siblings range from the mid-thirties to early forties, but Parenthood also gives plenty of screen time to their children and parents. The show begins with Sara Braverman (Lauren Graham), who moves her two teenage children back home to Berkeley due to financial trouble. Her parents (Bonnie Bedelia and Craig T. Nelson) welcome them back into the house, thus beginning the show and its amazingly complete introduction to the characters.

Lauren Graham... wow

While Lauren Graham may be the “star” of the show, the oldest brother Adam (Peter Krause) is the one who all paths cross through. He is the sage of the family that is constantly called upon to give advice and provide help to the rest of the family. Adam and his wife, Kristina (Monica Potter), however, have problems of their own when they learn that their son Max may have Asperger’s Syndrome.

In the meantime, their little brother Crosby (Dax Shepard) is hit with a bomb at the end of the episode, and the other sister Julia (Erika Christensen) is such a successful lawyer that her daughter prefers the company of her father (Sam Jaeger) due to her mother’s inexistent rearing.

The Parenthood Cast

Much of Parenthood’s initial issues are taken from the 1989 movie. Steve Martin wanted his kid to do well in little league baseball, as does Adam. Dianne Wiest had challenges as a single mom with two teenage kids – same for Sara. The “bomb” dropped on Crosby is also the same. However, these “thefts” are fine because it was a good story in 89, and with modern adaptations, it’s even better today.

My amazement with this show is how well so many characters are introduced without the loss of any plot development. Nearly a dozen characters are successfully brought in, but it is done in such a way that it supports the story. There is still plenty of drama, conflict, and resolution to give the show a proper storyline. I’ve seen shows with a third of the characters fail miserably at this. Consider this a true testament to the writers.

Father and Son

A great aspect about having this breadth of characters is that you will almost certainly find someone to identify with. Maybe you’re old-school and side with Dad in learning that parenting is a much different game these days. Maybe you’re a career woman who doesn’t/didn’t see your children enough. Or you’re single and frustrated. Personally, I empathize with Alan, who seemingly has it together and is the lightning rod for everyone else’s problems, but can’t seem to get a grasp on his own situation.

Parenthood has many funny moments (ever go to your girlfriend’s house and find a stainless steel thermos of another man’s sperm?), touching moments (Adam and Kristina’s realization that their son is different – thousands of mothers across the country cried at this part), and a few ridiculous moments (finding your single mother half naked with another man, after she had found her father’s condoms… are single mothers this desperate? Hmmm maybe so..) It kept me on my toes and thoroughly entertained – more so than most of the regurgitated slop I’ve witnessed on TV lately.

As much as I loved Parenthood’s pilot episode, the show may not be for you. Don’t bother watching if you can’t give it your full attention. If you can’t pause the TV and can’t hold your bladder, you’re out of luck – you’re gonna miss something during that bathroom break, and it will definitely come back to confuse you later on. Parenthood has no downtime; no filler. If you can’t keep 12 characters semi-straight, you will be lost. I imagine my Dad asking my Mom “Wait, which one is that?” about 10 times, at which point their arguments over whose kid is whose have made them miss half of the action on the show, ruining everything except a frustrated trip to bed.

Son and Father

There is also a lot of conflict. Feel-gooders need not apply. The best comparison to be made would be Friday Night Lights. This makes sense because the writer and director, Jason Katims, comes from FNL. Parenthood’s pilot follows a conflict-conflict-conflict-conflict-conflict-quasi_resolution-conflict-conflict-conflict-conflict-conflict-resolution formula. The best feeling you’ll get from the show is the feeling that things aren’t so bad after all, and you’ve just spent an hour watching something that was vastly more entertaining than everything else Hollywood has to offer (that is, until April 27th, at least).

All in all, Parenthood is the best TV I’ve seen in a long time, besides perhaps the Season 4 Finale of Dexter (and you can’t even compare the two). We needed this. Thank you to a wonderful group of writers, actors, and the team at NBC.

And the best thing of all? Rumors from the set are that “it only gets better”. We’ll be there ready to take you up on that offer.

My Top 15 Albums of 2009

Berto — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:39:33 +0000

While 2009 was an incredible year for me, its music will go wholly unremembered. To prove my point, there is not a single album on this list that will make it to my top 10 albums of the decade (coming soon).

2009 brings a few major themes that you will see here:

Female vocals – Anneke Van Giersbergen is everywhere. Theatre of Tragedy pulled the surprise of the year, the Gathering put out yet another solid effort, and Metric made it to the list as well.
The resurgence of Devin Townsend – Devin is in the middle of a journey in creating four albums with his newly formed Devin Townsend Project. Every time I write him off he proves me wrong.
Prolific musicians dominating – Devin Townsend and Steven Wilson are the closest thing we’ll come to a Frank Zappa in a long time. How long can they go on for? Then there’s yet another great album from Megadeth, (hed) P.E., and Hypocrisy… these guys all just keep going.

On to the list…

The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted
Devin combines a mixture of metal, pop, techno, and Anneke Van Giersbergen’s beautiful voice to make an album that is truly addicting. It’s short (especially if you discredit the two minutes of fade at the end), it’s not the most musically articulate, and it’s probably not going to last forever with me — but I can’t stop listening to or loving this album — and that’s why it’s my #1.
Porcupine Tree – The Incident
Musically, this is the top album. Steven Wilson, who I’ve raved about for years, has done it again. There are beautiful melodies, incredible solos, and even flashbacks to prior albums. The rhythm is rarely broken up, and the album strengthens to the end. Also note that it’s a two-CD set, but I am primarily focusing on the first album.
Theatre of Tragedy – Forever Is the World
My surprise of the year. Nell Sigland does a fantastic job and lays a sweet track over some melodic-yet-sludgy heavy music. Countless bands have tried doing what Theatre of Tragedy has done, but none have succeeded to this level.
The Devin Townsend Project – Ki
Devin putting out four albums at once sounds like a complete train wreck, but there’s a reason why it’s working – organization. When he was writing, if he was in a chipper mood, he could write something for Addicted. When in an introspective mood, he could switch to Ki. No more do we need to deal with the roller coaster of sociopath emotions that Devin goes through during a single album. In 2009 and 2010, I’ll be able to choose which Devin I want to hear for myself.
Hypocrisy – A Taste of Extreme Divinity
This is the first album on this list that I can crush in the weightroom. It’s not as catchy as my favorite – The Arrival – but it still slams in a year that needed a lot more slamming.
Chickenfoot – Chickenfoot
This album is total proof of what a fucking douchebag guitarist Joe Satriani is. He spent nearly his entire life doing solo guitar wanking in front of a bunch of lonely losers, but this is what you get when he actually joins a BAND and plays REAL music with other people. In one album, he did more for music than he did his entire, selfish career.
The album is catchy, fun, old school (even sometimes lame), and a total winner. Welcome back, Sammy Hagar.
Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
I almost didn’t even give this album a shot. Their past few albums (since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence) have been THAT bad. I’m glad I listened, because this is a great prog album that got a ton of airtime for me. Three amazing songs within, I’ll let you figure out which ones they are.
(hed) P.E. – New World Orphans
WHOA. What in the hell is this? I’ll tell you what it is – some unbelievably intense hip-hop slammed funk metal that breaks every barrier you have ever known in music. When Amazon says EXPLICIT LYRICS, they mean it. These guys hate women, the government, corporate America, organized religion, and sing about enough conspiracies to make your head spin. Furthermore, they’re from nearby Huntington Beach – But I don’t know if I’d ever go to a local show. I’d probably fear for my life.
Just listen to the hit Renegade and you’ll be absolutely hooked. These guys can rap, groove, and most of all, piss you off to no end.
This album should be higher on the list for the simple fact that it introduced me to the band, which has tons of music I was able to go through. But at the end of the day, it’s low because there’s too much ridiculous bullshit between the fantastic tracks on the album (Nibiru Intro? Planet X? The idiocy in Flesh and Blood at 3:10? come on…)
Note that this is the part of the list where it starts becoming difficult to listen to albums all the way through – not a good sign for the year. Every album, starting here, starts to get a bit tired about halfway through, and that’s NOT a mark of excellence for me.
The Gathering – West Pole
After the departure of Anneke (she is seriously somehow connected to every album on this list!), one would think this band was done for. Not so! Silje Wergeland is somehow a fantastic vocal replacement, and this album is a grower.
Megadeth – Endgame
Megadeth strikes again! This is one that entire metal community can pretty much agree on, and I see it being the BraveWords #1 album after all the votes are tallied up. The riffs shred, the vocals blast, and the drumming throws down bombs. Bring this one to the football weightroom.
Dave Mustaine is a metal genius and I have an incredible amount of respect for him. I should have this higher, and I should be a bigger Megadeth fan… but alas, I am not.
Metric – Fantasies
Call me gay if you must, but this is a great album. It’s catchy and sweet, yet still brings out a few explicit lyrics. If you liked the radio single “Help I’m Alive”, take a gamble on this album – you’ll most likely be happy with your decision. This is yet another female-fronted band.
Clutch – Strange Cousins from the West
Disappointment of the year. Clutch is my second favorite band behind Opeth, and I hold them to standards that I’m not sure they can achieve any longer. This album, quite frankly, is annoying and absolutely sucks compared to their rest. I DEMAND better out of Clutch. Strange Cousins, in my not so humble opinion, is UN-FUCKING-ACCEPTABLE. Track 4, Abraham Lincoln, is UNLISTENABLE. I’m disappointed in you, Clutch; you have let me down.
But I still own it because I love you dirty bastards. Maybe it’ll grow when I calm down.
Insomnium – Across the Dark
Hey, I almost forgot that I’m a melodic death metal fan! This is a fun, new album that mixes death metal with a touch of progressive. Sign me up. I’m happy to have found this band, and will start backtracking to their older stuff. A well-hidden secret that few metalheads know, and I’m happy to have made the late 2009 discovery.
Katatonia – Night Is the New Day
This is largely a placeholder. Katatonia fans are raving over this album, and while I love the band, I never got into Night is the New Day. 2009 was reserved for happy music for me – stuff like Devin’s Addicted and Volbeat, and this album is just a downer.
However, some day I’m gonna be down in the pooper, and this album will be there, ready for me to wallow with it. Until then, it sits at #14 patiently waiting for me to figure it out.
Anneke Van Giersbergen – Pure Air
A number of albums could have gone here, but the choice here was clear. Anneke’s done so much, with her appearances in Addicted, her live album with Danny Cavanaugh (In Parallel), and this album, she deserves lots of credit. Such a beautiful voice. A great year for female vocals indeed.

Honorable Mentions:
Ensiferum – From Afar, Sacred Oath – Sacred Oath (young guys playing old school metal – cool), Immortal – All Shall Fall, Paradise Lost – Faith Divides Us, Death Unites Us, Anneke Van Giersbergen & Danny Cavanagh – In Parallel

Top Songs of the Year:

Chickenfoot – 8 – My Kinda Girl
The Devin Townsend Project – Addicted – #5 – Hyperdrive!
Porcupine Tree – #14 – I Drive the Hearse

Shoulda Woulda Coulda List:
Volbeat’s entire discography. Guitar Gangsters and Cadillac Blood would have been #3 in 2008, a huge feat. I discovered these guys late, thanks (as always) to my friend Brian, and they got TONS of my airtime this year.

Too late to add:
Redemption – Snowfall on Judgement Day. Not bad so far, but I just listened to it for the first time today on the 31st.

??? List:
Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know (just could NOT get into this album, despite the extreme talent on it)

Overall, BAD year for me. That’s fine because I was due. Not every year can be spectacular – when you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.

Coming soon – My Top 10 Albums of the Decade. Rock out in 2010. Consider this my return to blogging.

Software Testing and QA Outsourcing at Pay4Bugs

Berto — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:38:49 +0000

Today I’m pleased to congratulate my good friends at Attigo in launching Pay4Bugs.com.

Pay4Bugs is a site with two personalities and was designed for two different kinds of people: 1. Software engineers, program managers, and web/application developers who want low-cost, high-quality, on-demand beta testing and bug-finding; and 2. Self-motivated people who want to play with new technologies and get paid for spotting problems.

choose the price that their bugs are worth. Pay4Bugs’ software testing pricing scheme even allows developers to try to get their applications tested for free with a $0.00 bug-finding assignment. I love this because as more and more developers join the site, there will be worldwide competition, and bug-testing prices will reach a market equilibrium — capitalism at its finest! — something this country no longer seems to understand.

On the other end, people can make money from home by testing software. As there are more testers out there, software developers will get to lower their bug-testing prices and the competition will get their testing done faster and more thoroughly!

I have both a developer and a tester account on Pay4Bugs and they’re both very well-designed, clean, and easy to use. In fact, if you already have a Google, AIM, Yahoo, or OpenID account, you can already sign in using OpenID! I’ll be posting some side-projects and have people look for typos on this website as well, so see you over at Pay4Bugs.com!

How to Disable Root Logins in phpmyadmin with Ubuntu

Berto — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 15:58:55 +0000

This took me a bit too long to figure out. Using Ubuntu 8.10 on a server, I wanted to use phpmyadmin to graphically manage my MySQL databases, but disallow root logins for security reasons.

There are two things you must do in the phpmyadmin config file – typically found at /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php:

Change the ‘auth_type’ to ‘cookie’. This will be under the /* Authentication type */ comment. The line should read as
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = ‘cookie’;
Make sure it is uncommented by removing the “//” before it, and then change the parameter to ‘cookie’ if that’s not already set.
Add a new line below this, that says
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowRoot'] = FALSE;

That’s it! Very easy but was tough to find in the forums.

Happy administrating!

Documenting, Diagramming, and Critiquing the Pligg Database

Good Riddance to James Laurinaitis and the 2008 Ohio State Senior Class

Berto — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:16:59 +0000

This post is a follow-up to last year’s article, James Laurinaitis: Ohio State’s Most Overrated Linebacker Ever.

This post has three main messages:

The first message is one giant middle finger to every brainwashed, spiral-eyed zombie Ohio State fan who sent me hate mail regarding the aforementioned post. I was right and you were wrong. James Laurinaitis is not only overrated, but he sucked in every big game he played for us, including this week’s Fiesta Bowl disappointment. I may have seen him make about two impact plays since I wrote that, and one of them was during a Michigan State rout.

The Fiesta Bowl was over the second Texas figured that they could simply pass it over the middle a few yards over #33’s head time and time again. He was absolutely lost in coverage, and got schooled by Colt McCoy his thousand-yard passing entourage. I won’t bother posting pictures or videos, someone else can go prove me right. I’m sure whoever does it will find a few good pics where JL is jumping on piles after the whistle and is somehow upside-down too, for good measure. That is, when he’s not standing around like an idiot with his thumb up his ass during passing plays.

My second message is good riddance to the 2008 Ohio State football senior class. You have continually let us down, you never played with ANY heart, and you have diminished the respect of this University (note to spiral-eyed zombie Ohioans – I’ve lived in Texas and CA. We have zero respect and I’m getting sick of defending my degree.)

I should have known there’d be four years of disappointment from these clowns when I saw punter AJ Trapasso starting fights at a local campus bar before he even enrolled into the school. Or when perpetual-disappointment Alex Boone got a DUI and hasn’t made a block since. I’ve never seen an offensive line so out of shape as they were in the second-half of the Fiesta Bowl. I’ll lump Malcolm Jenkins in on the blame too – you all go down together – Jenkins perhaps you should have stepped up as a leader after #33 failed us the first 3 big games?

My third message is that I refuse to enter the Shoe until some major changes are made. I’m not supporting this bullshit. Fire Bollman and every other lopsided Tressel cronie, get an offensive coordinator who knows how to call plays, and find someone who knows what to do with Terrelle Pryor, who is possibly the best player in college football for the next three years unless you continue to waste him. Until then, I’ll fly to Columbus, wear my OSU shirt, hang with friends, and laugh at the morons who pay $800 to watch a truly elite team like USC obliterate us.

I’d rather go 8-4 and show some heart than beat up on the pathetic Big Ten and leave nothing on the table against real teams. Good fucking riddance.

GO BUCKS 2009.

PS – To the thousands of people who found my blog by searching for James Laurinaitis’s girlfriend – GET A LIFE.