What if...

Hey there. My wife and I were watching TV the other day and my wife brought up the idea of "what if...". She was telling me how she does that often in her head. She'll wonder about the decisions she made and how exactly they have affected her life. It's a fair thought. I'm sure many of us have wondered how our lives would have been have we not got married, gone to college, or took that other job instead of the one you have now. I told her that I don't think like that. I don't see any good in thinking about "what if". She asked me if I thought it was normal that she seems to think that way a lot. I told her that I think it is. If it wasn't normal, we wouldn't see that idea in TV, movies, and books. I think that our minds are naturally curious and a thought like that is bound to get in your head from time to time. But as for me, I don't think I'm the normal one.

I have not had a thought of "what if" since I was a kid. My dad passed away when I was 9 and I remember the day that changed my life forever. My pops loved soccer and played in an adult league. That day, he went to his game and asked me to go. I refused. I decided to stay home that day. He ended up going to the game and afterwards, hung out at his friend's place for a few brews, which was the norm. What took place soon after was not. From what I was told, an argument broke out between a friend and his wife. I am not sure if the friend struck his wife or what, but my pops intervened and when his friend stuck him to free himself, my pops struck back, but struck the wife by accident. Before we know it, my pops is in jail and that was his last taste of freedom. While in the L.A. County Jail, I'm pretty sure he was murdered. Cops said it was suicide, but from seeing graphic pics of his body (which I should not have at such a young age), the bruising and cuts did not fit in to a suicide attempt.

I drove myself crazy during that point in my life, wondering, "what if I went with him that day?" Would we have gone home earlier? Would the argument between husband and wife even occur if I was there? It's a terrible way to think. What if, what if, what if... To be 9 and have this burden on you, it's just not healthy. It was a daily struggle to not think "what if". Once I came to grips that no matter how much wondering and playing different scenarios in my head and my pops wasn't coming back, I refused to allow myself think like that. I do not wonder or think in the form of "what if" anymore. No point in it. I've dealt with those demons and I don't need to step into that realm again. What's done is done and what happened is in the past and unless someone has that DeLorean from Back to the Future, there really isn't anything you can do about it.

All that has occurred in my life, the decisions made and not made, the good times and the bad, have made me the Metallman that I am today. There really isn't anything that can be done to change that. Later!

Dropped By Project Wonderful

Hey there. I received an Email about an hour or so ago from Project Wonderful stating that I am in violation of their terms of service (TOS). I've been a member of the Project Wonderful family for about a year and have never come across any issues. Nothing has changed (content wise, at least) from since I submitted this blog for their approval. I must say that I was fairly pleased with the service. I met some cool people there and now, it's all gone. Their apparent reason is that I accept sponsored posts and now that violates their TOS. It's extremely upsetting that the terms were changed without notice. Maybe they've always been that way and I merely fell through the cracks. Nevertheless, I am no longer part of the Project Wonderful family and I'm disappointed that I'm no longer there. Quite frankly, I probably make more on one sponsored post than I do in a month using their service. That's not a knock on Project Wonderful, it's just that I did not really think out the layout to provide the best real estate for advertising. Thus, minimizing my earning potential. I'll rethink that idea some other time and maybe sell spots on here on a private basis. Even though it was a small portion of my "online income", it still was online income and it sucks to see it go.

I will say that their Customer Service is excellent. I received the decline notice about an hour or so ago, and I've been sending Emails to them asking for specific and answers as to why I was dropped and actually got them. So different from the mega-giant Google that will drop your ass like a hot potato and not give you the light of day as to why. Project Wonderful is even going to cash out my account even though I'm not at the $10 minimum. So even though I will no longer be with the service, they are still treating me rather well. I'd say that pretty damn efficient. Well, let me put some thought into this advertising business and see where it goes. Suggestions are more than welcomed. Later.

Is Ethical Hacking Right for You?

Hey there friends. Our economy is beginning to look stronger and some job fields are on the rise. One such field is online security. Think about it for a second. When times are tough, crime goes up. People that feel that they have nothing to lose will go to great lengths to get what they want, and that includes resorting to crime. Online security is just as important as mall security and that's where you come in.

Big name companies are paying big bucks for those that are willing to hack into their infrastructure and report the weaknesses so that they can better secure their consumers. Ethical Hacking is a form of Internet security. As an ethical hacker, you may use all the malicious tools that a criminal hacker uses to compromise a web site's network infrastructure. It works similar to a crash test for cars. You want to be assured for safety, right? So you smash a few cars, take notice of the areas that are not performing well, and you make adjustments. This is no different. IT Security plays a vital role in assuring that personal information will be safe, the same way a car manufacturer will conduct crash tests to assure that our bodies will be safe.

So where can you get certified? EC-Council offers courses that you can take online at the comfort of your home. We all dream of being able to work at home and being a Certified Ethical Hacker gives us that luxury. What if you're not ready to dive into the online technicalities of a hacker? EC-Council offers other courses that will build your knowledge of IT Security. Other courses offered include:

• Security Fundamentals
• Computer Forensics
• Disaster Recovery
• Secure Programming
• Penetration Testing

If you're looking for a position that is in demand, you owe yourself at least a look at the courses provided. Job positions are never guaranteed but you'll never know if you land the job if you do not apply yourself to the task at hand. Knowing that technology is always evolving, being a Certified Ethical Hacker will never go out of season. Now that, my friends, is job security at it's best. Later.

Please Welcome Shadow the Rabbit

Hey there. I week or so ago, Southern California was under a killer heat wave. Temperatures reached into the high 90s and topped 100 degrees in some areas. Well, that heat took our rabbit with it. We've had "Fluffly" for close to a year and we were not really educated in rabbit care during high temperatures. We left Fluffly outside and I covered his cage with some brush and grass to create a roof and when we got home that evening, he was no longer hopping. I did a quick makeshift burial for him and the kids were crying. The youngest one was still wondering why we didn't take Fluffly to the hospital, since there was no blood. lol She didn't understand. My wife and I were devastated and upset. We wondered if we should get another rabbit. We read up on how to take care of it during high heat and we found out that it's a tough job. You need to make sure it's cool. Rabbits do not handle heat very well.

Well, after some consideration, we decided to get another rabbit. We picked it up on Friday and we must say, we're a little surprised by it. First, it's a black rabbit, so Shadow is a perfect name for it. I was naming it "Grass Guzzler" and "Pellet Chomper" to see if any of those names would please the kids. lol They laughed them off, of course, and then my wife suggested Shadow and everyone was in agreement.

Shadow is getting used to it's new home. Jack, our cat, seems to be afraid of him so there's no in house animal fighting. lol Another thing that's tripping us out is that Shadow seems to be potty trained. Weird, no? We keep him in the bathroom during the night and he used the dog mat that I left out for him and it did it's business on the mat. We were like, "whoa..." I've never seen a rabbit do that. They're known for crapping all over the place and we're fortunate and Shadow is not like that. So far, he's only done his business in the bathroom. If Shadow keeps it up, he may be a in house bunny. So far so good. I just need to make it more of a home for Shadow instead of just taping the water bottle to the wall. lol You gotta give me points for creativity. lol Until then, later!

Blogs of the Month of April

Hey there. Major shake up in the top five this month. None of the blogs from last month carried over to this month so there's 5 new blogs to check out. Top spot when to my friends over at Septagon Studios, earning them the top prize. ECs were given out as follows:

Top Spot = 1000 Ecs

Other 4 spots = 500 Ecs

Thanks to all that stopped by, read, and dropped. I greatly appreciate the time you took to stop by and see what's going on here. Until next month, later!

Saturday Night Rock Out

Hey there. So this Saturday was our rock band / guitar hero night. My wife had asked everyone to come dressed up. Some people did, others didn't, but that was expected. We dressed up, of course. lol We never miss an opportunity to show a little creativity. We didn't go all out but just enough to make it fun. First off, I was a little upset that I could not find a white mask ANYWHERE. I went to Halloween shops, party supply shops, malls... nothing. So I had to improvise. Being Buckethead, I needed the white mask and a bucket so I just did the next best thing, painted my face white. While at the store, I decided to get black paint to get the kids in the spirit. I figured I could just paint their faces as members of KISS and they're ready to go. My wife decided to change her persona at the last minute and went with the beehive wearing Amy Winehouse.

First to arrive was our cousin, who came right from work so he wasn't dressed. He's a butcher so I told him he should have just brought his bloody apron and made up a name. No one would have questioned him. lol Soon after my compadre and his wife showed up as Maynard and Noodles. The guy looks hilarious in his bald cap. Miss B,"La Chica Dorada", and Donna member, Brett showed up shortly thereafter. We all got to playing and started laughing our asses off. Once the kids were in bed, the drinks started flowing, except for my wife, of course. No drinks for her. After many battles and songs, Maynard and Buckethead started to get into a heated showdown on who can sing Creep, by Radiohead better in Expert. Needless to say, if you're singing Radiohead, you're buzzing. lol I'm already getting questioned on when the next rock night is. I'll keep ya guys posted. Until then, check out some pics from the night. Later!

Oh! I almost forgot. One of the highlights of the night was when we went out to get pizza. I pulled up to the pizza place and Maynard says, "Yo, Buckethead, you're forgetting your bucket!" lol I put my bucket on and jumped out the car and into the pizza place to order our pizza. lol Man, did we get all kinds of looks and I swear, the people thought we were there to rob the place. Instant classic! lol So if you were in the Long Beach area and thought you saw Buckethead ordering pizza, YOU DID!!! HAHAHAHA! Later!

Mini KISS

Maynard and Noodles

Amy and Buckethead

Brett and Paul(a)
Getting the show started

Catching the show
Drinkin' it up
All Star Girl Band (feat. Jack Sparrow as their manager)
Showing Mayanrd how it's done