I cannot say I am really active with open source projects, but I do take interest in a number of projects, including Mozilla Firefox. Firefox is not just an alternative to Internet Explorer, it is a significant improvement over Microsoft’s web browser. The fact that it is not integrated directly into the Windows operating system makes it significantly safer than IE. That does not mean that Firefox is not free of vulnerabilities, but it is unaffected by viruses that target IE. I know people who have been spared of viruses because they had Firefox running as their default browser.

That’s not necessarily why I continue to use Firefox though. I love its improved interface, which includes tabbed browsing. When I first started using Firefox I didn’t use this feature much, but now I am hooked. It is so much nicer than opening half a dozen windows. Firefox also adheres to web standards better, so web pages may actually look better in it than in IE. I have just been continually impressed with the robustness of the browser and its user interface.

Anyway, they released the final 1.5 version today and I am very pleased with the new features. They are have also unveiled a new website today that appears to be geared towards consumers in hopes of attracting new users. These changes should be matched with a open source marketing blitz of some sort soon.

In any case, I just wanted to babel on about Firefox for a bit because some of my non-techie friends may read this. I highly recommend you download the new version and try it out.

My friend and I were going over the best films of the year, that we’ve seen so far and we could only come up with two: Crash and Sin City. Both are dark horse Oscar nominees at best. This was supposed to be a better year for films, but frankly I’ve been a little disappointed. Still, there’s some good stuff still to come.

I already got my pick for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Picture: Munich. What’s that you say? It’s Steven Spielberg’s upcoming movie about Israel’s response to the 1972 Munich Olympics attacks. You mean its not even out yet? No its not out yet, but the trailer is available in glorious HD. Sounds kind of controversial for the guy who made Hook? Sure, but Spielberg is also the serious filmmaker who brought us Schinder’s List and Saving Private Ryan.

Munich is sure to stur up plenty of movie controversy unseen since The Passion of the Christ. Spielberg’s wants to let the movie speak for itself. He has decided not to do a premiere, press junkets, or Oscar publicity about the movie. It will be in theaters in only a few weeks and the studios just saw their first look this weekend. Longtime Spielberg producer Kathleen Kennedy saw it for the first time at the screening and came out saying it may be his best.

I am pretty intrigued by it all. I have always been a Spielberg fan and I appreciate him wanting to offer a new viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the broader topic of terrorism in general. I doubt it will come down to much on either side, but will definitely raise the level of debate about the issue. I look forward to seeing it this Christmas.

My Thanksgiving break is winding down to the end now. Here’s a rambling recap of the last couple days:

Thursday morning I got out to the annual Haverford-Upper Darby Thanksgiving game. The outcome was disappointing, given Haverford lost 40-7 to Upper Darby. I did get to catch up a bit with some of my old football teammates though, which was good. Its the only time of the year I really get to see most of these guys. Most of the conversation is reduced to a few lines of school is great and happy Thanksgiving. Some people have turned 21 since last time, so they were a little more hungover than usual. A lot have moved on to new jobs or transfered to new schools like Temple. A lot has changed since high school, but on Thanksgiving it seems very little has since we’re all gathered around a football game complaining about our team.

Friday my family went out before 5 to Best Buy to take part in the annual Black Friday shopping. I don’t think my mom really got as much out of it as we normally do. We didn’t even get a new computer. Still, I got 10 DVDs and a couple other things really cheap. Most of the DVDs I had could go for $15-20 and I averaged $8 a movie. I have posted my updated DVD listing now on this blog. I think that drained my DVD budget though, so I doubt I’ll be getting many more before Christmas.

Then last night I bundled up and went to the Strath Haven-Pottsville playoff game. It was probably one of the coldest games I have attended. The field was also frozen, which made it hard for players, especially the Strath Haven ones, to gain footing. Strath Haven couldn’t pass much on offense and could stop the pass on defense. The final score was 32-0. I think my dad was happy to have gotten this far, but ultimately pretty disappointed with the way they played. He started planning for next year this morning.

Today was a day of rest. The children went to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but I passed since there was no room left in the minivan. I started my DVD watching with Minority Report, which was a much cooler movie than I first realized. I think I am about 85% over my cold, which is good. Tonight I look forward to leftovers for dinner and sharing my new movies with the family.

And thus ends my rambling post. I am still unsure of whether I am returning to school tomorrow night or Monday morning. Regardless of where I am, I think tomorrow night will be spent doing homework. It’s difficult to imagine going back to school, but on Monday finals will only be two weeks away. The end is in sight!

I am home again and I have a cold again. This has been going on for a while now, that I get a little bug everytime I come home from school. It may be that I am allergic to the house or that I just get hit with all the kids germs. Or it could be that our house is always freezing. It’s not really that cold out these days, but our house does not hold the heat in well.

Otherwise it has been a nice break so far. Yesterday I got out to Best Buy early, as mentioned below, to pick up the King Kong DVD. I have to say I was pretty pleased with the movie. Today I watched Madagascar with my little brothers, which was also good fun. And I finally got to see Shopgirl, which was ok but very weird. Ultimately when it comes to middle-aged comics, Steve Martin doesn’t touch Bill Murray.

Tomorrow I have the annual Haverford-Upper Darby Thanksgiving game. We’re the second oldest Thanksgiving rivalry in the country. I am hoping that I’ll be seeing some of my old high school friends too. Then we got my grandparents over for Thanksgiving dinner. Friday morning I hope to be collecting discounted electronics at Best Buy. And I’ll be out freezing at Coatesville watching high school playoff football on Friday night.

I am kind of busy nursing my runny nose and watching crappy television programs. I may break my post a day quota due to the holiday, so I wanted to check in before hand. So Happy Thanksgiving to all and I hope you are all enjoying your holiday as much as I am.

I went to Best Buy today to pick up a copy of the remastered King Kong DVD and I got a chance to see the Xbox 360 in action. Obviously they were all sold out by the time I got there, but they had a demo one working.

Even after the recent Eagles collapse, Madden is the demo of choice for Philadelphia area Best Buys. Initially it didn’t seem to different from the previous versions I had seen. It was in widescreen and the graphics looked a little snazzier, but not much else. The player selected a play and then it happened. McNabb came up to the line and you could see his face clearly. Then his eyes shift left and right and, he smiled. Other cutscenes showed a polygon filled crowd, as opposed to the typically static images.

I look forward to seeing more impressive graphical displays from other games and future versions on Madden. The next generation is here though, and I am pretty impressed. The Xbox 360 appears ready for primetime and I am sure it will be a big hit. I imagine at some point I’ll get one too.

I have to say that I have been very impressed with WordPress.com. This has not been my first test of the service, but I have used it more consistently this week than I have in past weeks. I have used WordPress for a while now and the updates to the software are pretty nice. This is simple enough for anyone to use, but has enough options for advanced users. And they announced today that now anyone can register for a WordPress.com blog.

The thing I am most impressed with, however, is the way a WordPress.com blog promotes itself. I checked it out and this blog comes up #4 on Google, #2 on Yahoo, and #2 on MSN for “quiet kid”. One thing I have started doing is treating categories as tags and I get more hits from Technorati. It also feels good to be part of a blogging community, with other members seeing your work and success through the dashboard.

Another part of my success this last week is that I have lowered my expectations. I just try to post something that’s on my mind everyday. Sometimes the posts are good, sometimes they’re not. The point is I am continuously posting.

I am a little irked about not being able to modify templates, but I guess I can put up with that for now. It keeps me focused on the writing. Anyway, I am happy with things so far. Thanks to WordPress.com, I am blogging again.

I should be leaving for the Philadelphia area very soon now. This has been a long, tough semester and this break will be much appreciated. I am looking forward to lots of friends, family, food, and football. I also want to catch some movies that aren’t playing up here, but that doesn’t really work with the previous sentence’s alliteration. I will also have to do a little schoolwork from home, so I won’t be too stressed out on arrival back to State College. Anyway, I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

P.S. I’ll be continuing to blog throughout the week, I just thought a parting post would be appropriate.