I switched hosting companies at the beginning of December, because I needed hosting with a little more power and flexibility than I had. I looked at some of the hosts listed on the Wordpress site, which all seemed like good options. Then a friend of mine recommended Dreamhost, so looked it up, and was impressed by just the numbers I saw: 500 GB disk space 5 TB bandwidth $5.95/month I looked a little deeper, and found all the standard stuff that the other big guys offer - unlimited email address, unlimited hosted domains, etc.

I just discovered Qik, and it makes me want a phone with a data plan even more. Ever since I got a camera phone that could record video, I’ve wanted to find a way to have live video streams, or ultimately have video calling. Well, Qik has finally answered the call for live video streaming. Qik is a new service that allows you to stream live video from your phone to viewers around the world via the Internet.

I have decided that in the year 2008, I’m really going to make my blog a priority. I’m resolving to add a new post at least every other day, and will hopefully be able to make it every day. That’s why between now and January 1st, I’m going to devote time to coming up with new topics and post ideas to provide fresh content to readers on a regular, frequent basis.

This morning Captain Bushy notified us that we have changed the port we will be visiting in Costa Rica. We will now be at the port of Golfito, and will be at a dock instead of anchored off shore. This should make it much easier for us to go ashore and return to the ship. The schedule will remain the same, it will simply be a different location.

This coming week officially starts final exams here at Mass Maritime. However, many teachers have decided to either give their final exam early, to alleviate the stress of having all finals in one week, or to give the last test of the semester. As a result, the past two weeks have found me busy studying for tests and finishing projects. All this has resulted in a lack of updates to my blog, due to a lack of time both to find new topics to write about, and to actually write about them.

MMA got its first snow of the season on Thursday, resulting in afternoon classes being cancelled. I took some pictures of the snow-covered campus, which I’ve posted below. The Regimental Staff, as snowmen

Today is the one month mark from departing Buzzards Bay for Sea Term 2008. In fact, as you may or may not have noticed, I’ve added a countdown on the right side of the page until we are scheduled to cast off from the pier, and head out to sea. It’s incredible to think that in a mere 30 days, we’ll be standing on the decks of the T.S. Enterprise, leaving for a once in a lifetime journey through the Caribbean and the Pacific!

Google announced yesterday that they have partnered with AOL to allow GMail users to sign in to their AIM accounts in the GMail Talk interface, and chat with them right from there. I decided to try it out, and I have to say, it’s wicked cool. Once you sign in to your GMail account, and are brought to your inbox, you simply go over to the Google Chat buddy list and click Options, then sign in to your AIM account.

This morning at 0400 we were woken up Orientation-style for the Viking Bath, a rite of passage for freshmen. Everyone gets into PT gear, and after doing about 30 minutes of intense warm-up in the passageways, we all run down to Cadet Beach and jump into Buttermilk Bay! This is considered a “Recognition” for being able to go on Sea Term, so now we’ve earned our spot on the ship.

Verizon’s recent announcement to open their network to all CDMA handsets, as well as applications, marks a major transition in the mindset of wireless carriers in the U.S. and presents a great opportunity for innovative development. With the option for consumers to use any handset they like with Verizon’s service, manufacturers and developers will have fewer hoops to jump through when it comes to bringing their product into the market mainstream.