For all you Halo fans out there....

Here is the Halo 3 website copy for those of you who would like to join in the Halo 3 Multi-player Beta Test....

Greetings Halo® Nation and thanks for your interest in participating in the Halo 3 multiplayer public beta.

The Xbox Live multiplayer public beta, which is a pre-release version of the multiplayer experience of Halo 3, is scheduled for availability in spring 2007 exclusively on Xbox 360. This beta also represents an opportunity for gamers to give information that will help in the development of Halo 3. Through the resulting feedback, Bungie Studios will be able to further refine and hone the end result of the game.

Phase one registration is now closed. If you have been selected to participate, congratulations and stay tuned for an email notification on the week of January 22-26, 2007.

For those of you that didn't make it in - fret not as this phase one was just the first of three ways to secure an invite to participate in the development of Halo 3. The next two paths of entry are the following:
- Qualifying over Xbox Live via the "Rule of Three" program in early February
- Purchasing marked packages of the upcoming game Crackdown™, which hits store shelves in the U.S. on Feb. 20

Details of both of these programs are provided below.

Rule of Three Program
The "Rule of Three" program is currently planned for gamers (17 years and older) in the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) and Canada who have access to an Xbox 360 Pro console or an Xbox 360 Core console with hard drive, a valid Xbox Live Gold subscription and the Halo 2 game.

It is a two-step process:
1. Participate in at least three hours of Halo 2 multiplayer sessions on your Xbox 360 console via Xbox Live during the three (3) day period beginning February 1st at 12:01 am EST and ending February 3rd at 11:59 pm EST.
2. After the three day window is over, head back over to www.halo3.com on February 5th and register.

If you are one of the FIRST 13,333 to do this (and meet the above requirements) you will receive an invite notification in February to participate in the Halo 3 Beta.

Please note that if you registered to participate in the Halo 3 Beta during Phase One and were not selected, that does not preclude you from registering again for during Phase 2.

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So I guess for those of you who want in on the Halo 3 beta...lets plan on playing three hours online during that time and then sign up fast on the 5th! Hope to see yall online!

yesterday's lunch and a broken PPC...

Well, yesterday during lunch time Scott and I went out for a photo shoot. Scott is an amazing photographer and since I love photography...I decided to go with him every month or so and we go around the area to take pictures of different places and things. Yesterday we went to the Cincy Krohn Conservatory ad saw all the great plants and flowers they had...one entire section was closed so they could change it around for the seasons...but I still had a ton of fun and Scott is great company! So here are a few of the pictures I took, if you want to see more than just go to my Flickr photos over there on the right side of my blog and you can view them all....


Here is the waterfall...I took this one without a tripod which is why the greenery around te water is a little blurry too, but the water came out great.


The orchid room was amazing...it was not very big...but man those flowers are great!


Here is looking up a tree..... I loved the texture on the bark of the tree and just had to get a shot of it...and of course I love looking at things differently, so I decided looking up would be fun.


Barrel Cactus.... very cool cactus and just loved the shape. Ironic the shape is pleasing but the spikes are not, heh.



Not sure the name of the succulent plant, but I just loved the Black and White version of this one. The black tips came out great and the design of it is great!

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Well, Tiffany and I went to a meeting yesterday and when I went to check my pocket PC (PPC) the screen was fried and I could not see anything on it... so the piece of tech that held my contacts, calendar, (a few games), and tons of notes and tasks is now officially dead! So, I will be attempting to see if I can get by with just using my laptop for all those items...but it just will not be as convenient to get a telephone number, enter a date, etc... Maybe I can hold out for PPCs to get cheaper when the iPhone comes out, heh... anyway...it is dead...and I will get to change the way I work a little bit...but who knows this might be a blessing in disguise.


Oh here are a few pictures that I had laying around my Flickr that I meant to put up here, but just never have until now....


Here is a photo that my friend Scott shot of me for our church directory. They wanted a photo of us while at work, so we went to a local Starbucks and I thought this one was probably my favorite.

Here are a few more (this is mainly for my Mom....please do not think that I like to see my own photo...i hate it actually which is why I love photography.... most of te time you are not in yor own pictures, heh



Here is a Buffalo mounted at the Longhorn Steak house in the shopping center that the Friday night OG meets... I thought I would grab a shot of it.


Now this is a cool lamp I saw @ Lowe's! Man it looks and moves like a robot (not on it's own sadly), but what a cool lamp to have on a geek's desk!


lastly, here is Jedi Halo! Halo loves to get the covers under his nose and lift them over and over again until he is under them and comfortable...I took this shot when he decided to emerge from them in the morning.
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Well, yall have a wonderful weekend, God bless ya, and take care! KUTPs!!!

M&Ms and sore throat...

Well I woke up this morning with a sore throat...probably from running in teen degree weather...so I will just take it easy today and see how I feel in the morning to go run tomorrow.

In the mean time here is me as an M&M character....Go here to create yourself if you would like. (it is not as good as the Nintendo Wii Mii creater, but still kind of fun non-the-less. God bless yall have a wonderful day!

Sir. El Diablo, The Barbarian

resolution is not working...

Well for some reason the new years resolution is not working right... I ran 2 miles this morning and it did not count them...i will see what it does when I update it tomorrow morning and see if for some reason it only updates the next to last time you ran...weird...either that or Nike has things messed up for the widget...anyway take care have a great night and i will try to post something tomorrow morning after i run! Cyall!

oh and I am still working on the blog roll tha ti will put up...God bless ya!

dum dum-ty dum, dum dum-ty dum dum........

Man it was snowing like crazy last night up in Kenwood area...and then before Tiffany and I hit the Ohio River there was no snow to be seen! Come on!!! Where is winter? Where is the accumulating snow? And what is even more crappy is that the entire rest of the country gets hit with tons of snow and/or ice and we are here...sitting in the exact place of no precip, and just cold temps.. Man oh man...i really agree with Jason Clark on his blog post...

LOSAD (Lack of Season Affective Disorder)

please pray for Tiffany's Aunt and uncle they are both stuck in their house without power and water.... i think Tiffany said since Friday...and her sister spent the night at the hospital where she works because of the ice there....so I am thankful....but I still want snow!!! please!!!


Well, I ran again today in the teen degree morning and loved it. I went a little further today than I have on average in the past to see if the challenge i put up here on the blog would increase, but low and behold...it did not change right after I updated my Nike+...hmmmm maybe it needs a few hours to update...

anyway so I was reading Margret's blog who read Matt's blog and found a site that checks to see how many other people live in the US and have your same name.... well, I went for it..and guess what.... Yep... i am one of a kind...here are the results:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Not too much of a surprise!There were 10,499 with the first name Duncan....but no Duncan Hollums.... way to go mom and Dad! You knew I was unique when you named me, heh. Well, I am off to read a little in my Exiles book...and I can't wait to get deeper into this book. i plan on putting up soon a blog list of all the people i read their blogs on my RSS reader, but I want to sit down and really spend some time with the html and get it just right. So until then yall take care, God bless ya and have a wonderful week! KUTPs!

I ran this morning!!!!

Well, I must confess, I gained 10 lbs this holiday between the great food of one mother and one mother-in-law.....(and man it was almost worth it, heh..... so anyway it felt so good to get back on track at the track, heh. You really have no idea how much you miss it until you get to do it again. I noticed this was the first time I ran since Oct. 31st!!!! Holy cow that is a long time, but I guess that is what a torn hamstring, tendonitis, death of a loved one, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will do to ya, heh.... but my new year resolution is to loose 65 lbs by the middle of next year!

So with that goal in mind...I need all of you to hold me accountable!!! Desperately! So.... Nike and Apple listened to me and they created a widget for the blog that will show all of you my workout progress and the gaol I have set for myself. It is over there on the right side of the blog... you can see that I set my goal for Jan. to be 15 miles.... I run on average a mile a day 4-5 days a week, so I hope to reach this goal for the month...and I have said that if I do not reach my goal then I will not drink any soda at all in the month of Feb..... so here goes the fun!!!

OK, also I added my Video blog to the bottom of the blog, as well as, gave this blog some Bawls.... I knew it had some, but I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that it had two and notice they are sugar free too, heh...

Oh....and if anyone has a Nike+ iPod adapter (or got one for Christmas)...and would like to join in the challenges I have created or the ones I am in...please just email me and I will add you to be invited! Thanks!

Yall have a wonderful week, and keep an eye on that running progress for me...I need all the accountability I can get! Oh and if you ever eat with me make sure I do not eat any carbs....well, a low amount of this if possible...thanks! KUTPs!!!

MLK Jr. and Jay's B-Day, Birthday's in Heaven?....And Christmas Videos...

Well, Today is my brother Jay's Birthday. For those of you who don't know he passed away a few years ago, and in honor of my brother I am going to go eat Indian food today with Tiffany, heh... We really should not be eating out and be good about our money and just eat at home..but I am sure we will do it anyway, heh... But it got me thinking.... are we going to celebrate birthday's in Heaven? I know someone asked Jesus if there was marriage in heaven...and the answer was "no" (fine by me I guess. I love my wife, but I love my God more...and she loves me even more because of that fact, heh).... but what about Birthdays? They do seem a little selfish...being alabout us.....but it in reality should be able our praise for God allowing us to have this life....well, I guess I will just find out when I get there, heh.... what do yall think? Oh and Happy birthday Jay....if yall celebrate it there, heh heh.....

It also sure is a good excuse to go get some good food, heh....

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Well, here are the ton of videos from our Christmas that I promised.... They are all on YouTube so you can find them there too....but in no particular order here they are.....(and yes i realize that this is mainly for my family...but they are probably my most active readers so I get to sho them some love too!.....


Here is the Cutter Cam @ Rudy's in Austin TX. Rudy's is a very good BBQ place all over TX and a few in NM, and this is how serious TX is about it's BBQ....they have a live camera showing them cut the BBQ while you wait in line...love it!


Stop Spitting
Here Is Caleb my nephew telling his grandfather (who is pestering him) to stop spitting! Then tiffany tries to pester him by saying the (not allowed words, "shut up") It is funny because he knows "shut up" is not supposed to be said, but instead of telling Tiffany to not say those words...he tells Tiffany that pop (his Granddad) should not say that word, heh.


We Don't Say That Word...Because That Is Naughty
Finally Tiffany got him to tell her not to say that word...and we heard this all the time when we were down there...Tiffany loved it...so so se would purposefully say the "naughty" words to hear him say it, heh.


My Nephew the future rocker...he has great stage presence!


So here is my mother-in-law opening up the gift Tiffany and I (mostly Tiffany) gave her...and then Caleb my nephew gets a little confused as to how he should play with it...it just made me miss my dog Halo. ha ha ha.....


So here is my Father-In-Law opening up a present from my wife. It is a huge home-made bobble head of Tiffany. It was @ her church's bazaar and Tiffany bought it so that no one could get it....so she gave it to her father....and man...every time he looks at it...man those eyes crack me up...I would be doing the same thing....


Now here is my side of the family, and here is my nephew and his Dad attacking me and then fighting each other...kind of scary. But very cute.


And lastly I had to put up one Wii video and this time was my Nephew boxing..and doing a very fine job at it, heh...

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Well, yall have a wonderful MLK Jr. Day...and watch a historic video or two to remember a wonderful man!

i added Snap to the blog...

Hey everyone After Reading Alan's blog post about Snap...I decided that it might be a col thing to add Snap to my blog...so now basically if you mouse over a link from now on it will allow you t see a preview of the link before you click on it... I thought it was very cool and so I have added it....let me know if yall like it or if it is annoying. Thanks and I hope to be back some time next week with a few videos of Christmas and how funny Caleb was/is...take care God bless...and I hope your first day/night on the job was a good one Sean!

Apple iPhone, {apple}TV, and CES, and Christmas pictures....

Well, I must say ever since I got a MacBook Pro laptop...I have been amazed and blown away with the Apple brand. Apple was actually one of my first computers...well it was my brother's computer...but I got to play games on it too, heh.... but then Microsoft came into play and it became THE machine for games and if any of yall know me you know I like video games......so it was an easy choice...to go with Microsoft and the PC.... but ever since I have gotten a taste of Mac OS X and seen some of the simplest, yet amazing things they do with their products (like the two finger scroll on the mouse pad on the power Macs...very easy and cool) I am blown away...and also since my design classes in Undergrad I have had a flavor for good design and there is no one in the consumer market that can beat apple with the class and design of their products. Well, the rumor sites have been hinting at it al along and with Kevin Rose on Diggnaton leaking a few f the specs it seems that the big day @ the Mac World Expo has come and the iPhone is a reality.... And why am I freaking out (along with the rest of the geek nation)????


(click the image for all the info and stuff)

Well that is why! It is a phone (only through Cingular Wireless as of right now) 4G and 8G iPod with widescreen, TOUCHSCREEN, video capabilities (i.e. download TV shows, music videos, and movies from iTunes and watch them on it), Wi-Fi internet browser, can hold your contacts, calendar, a 2Meg digital camera, widgets, clock, calculator, email, runs Mac OS X, bluetooth 2.0,has 2 batteries one for the iPod part and another for the phone so that you will not kill the other one if using the other.....(you get the point....it is an end-all-be-all in your pocket device! I am actually surprised that they did not make a deal with Starbucks and it could make your mocha in the morning and your frap in the evening...(but during Steve's Keynote speech he did order 4,000 cups from Starbucks to go fro the iPhone by using Google Maps on the web browser, heh)
So how much for this little fella??????

4 Gig = $499
5 Gig = $599

Yep, for the price of this device that fits in your pocket....you could buy a PS3, or a small HDTV, or a decent computer, etc.... So I am sure that Cingular will give their usual more or less $100 discount when you sign up for a 12 year agreement with them for the phone...and not sure about anything when it comes to warranty, heh.... but pending the FCC allowing it to come to market... Apple has single handedly revolutionized the cell phone and MP3 player market forever! Amazing just amazing....

Steve also just mentioned the
(click the image again for info)
{apple}TV

for your home that costs $299 that will hook up wirelessly to your computer and iTunes and will allow you to watch your downloaded movies, TV shows, Music, etc...from iTunes on your widescreen TV in your living room! This product and others like it may very well kill both the next gen HD-DVD and Blu-ray-DVD High Definition DVDs out of the water! While they are fighting in another format war just like VHS and Beta Max....the download able services found on the Xbox 360 live Market Place and Apple's iTunes may lay them both to rest and the thought of walking around with a hard copy of a movie with be a thing of the past...because it will just reside in your phone...that someday you will just put next to your TV that will play the High Definition movie wirelessly! And seriously I do not think that kind of dreaming is not too far off.

Anyway.... this is the week that a part of me was in the consumer electronics business. The Mac World Expo is going on and so Apple is telling the world what is new in their corner of the world...and the the CES show (Consumer Electronics show is also going on too! CES...is the place that all the consumer electronics manufactures gather to gather to show off their latest technology, from gadgets, to cell phones, to TVs, to surround sound, etc... And man I know that I would just loose bowel control if I had the opportunity to attend one of these events... but until that happens some day and I make friends with Steve Jobs or good old Bill gates...I will just have to get my news from the people I can almost trust (news websites, the companies themselves, bloggers, etc...)

Well, needless to say I am very excited about all the electronic stuff going on especially the HDTVs that are being shown there... (especially since mine is being worked on and I am without my TV for 7-10 days.....aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh, just kidding it is not too bad...especially since I have borrowed the church's projector (thanks Gary)...but it is still not in HD...and with someone who just bought for Christmas the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360

(clickable again)
it is all mine...my precious....my love.....(oh wait that would be Jesus and my wife...wel, it sure is fun to enjoy and play around with, heh heh heh....)

...it does kind of suck a little bit, heh....
But, some very cool technologies are out there and coming to TVs....like Sony's new OLED technology that claims to have 100,000:1 contrast ratio...(it means very good ability to show the difference between the darks and lights in a picture which gives it much better clarity and definition no matter how much light is in the room that the viewer is in) this is something that plasma and LCD have been having a hard time with as far as a technology is concerned...but then Mitsubishi has a new technology that uses lasers to give the picture on their TV...and that has the potential of producing "perfect" colors instead of having to use red, blue, and green to produce the other colors, they will use CMYK and Red, Blue, Green...this will allow the yellows, Magentas, etc...to be really vibrant...and I am sure that technology will be amazing...even though I have not heard anything as of yet about it at this years CES, but the show still has a few days to go yet.... And all the news is towards the High Definition Format war...with LG even producing a player that plays both formats...so that it will not matter what movie studio goes with which technology that the consumer will be able to play them both, heh heh... and others (Warner) have gone the route that will allow the movie distributors to put both a HD-DVD movie on one side of the DVD and a Blu-ray HD movie on the other side! Very cool that someone out there cares about the consumers instead of being greedy and having a format war.... these selfish battles killed Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio....but then again downloaded movies might just kill them both off anyway...oh well.............

Well, let me see..... ah yes, Christmas and New Years....Tiffany and I had a great trip to TX (i.e. the promise land) and got back safe and sound with lovely gifts and the best gift of all getting to see family! So, I guess until I can get a few of the videos into youtube I will just have to put up a few pictures for yall to enjoy...so here you go.....


Here is one of my favorite gifts I got from Kevin...who i always have a "gag" gift for...it was just my way a long time ago of welcoming him into the family...and this year my plans were shot...so he got to have all the glory...and yes, that is a jewel encrusted toilet bowl plunger...and why you may ask did he do this...well, for a few of you long time blog reader you might remember this little gem of a post/story that involves Tiffany, poop, a plunger, and a phone call.


my parent's dog Teddy


Teddy sleeping


My Dad and Brady (Kevin's (the Holy Plunger guy) youngest boy)


The Stones and my aunt


Here is Caleb Nephew on tiffany's side that did not want to hold anyone's hand when he crossed the parking lot to the movies, heh... he was a wonderful delightful...handful, heh... But boy do we love him!


Here is Halley our Niece on Tiffany's side...I loved the tongue she gave me for the picture.


Tiffany's Dad with Noelle's dog Sunshine


Me with little Haley


Caleb face


Caleb face 2


Central TX clouds....I just loved this shot


And to top it off a shot of that wonderful state of TX....God bless her!

Yall have a good night and go check out the tech stuff. It really is very cool stuff! KUTPs...and be looking forward to videos of our Christmas soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

AP

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that 2006 was a wonderful year for you all and than 2007 has many more blessing for you and yours! (even if some of them might be in disguise). We are now @ my parents house in Floydada TX, and so far it has been a wonderful vacation and visit with our families! God bless you all...and KUTPs!!! Oh and I got my mac back! woo hoo!!! Blessings!

AP