I write, occasionally

Today, I built my own mini segway. It rules so much. Check out the pictures of the yellow guy riding it around my office.

segway 1 - segway 2 - segway 3 - segway 4

Last night on ebay i won an auction for the dopest laptop ever. Seriously, when it came out, it was $3,750, and I got it for $70.44, including shipping.

Here are the specs:
PowerBook Duo 280c
Codename: Yeager
CPU: Motorola MC68LC040
CPU Speed: 33 MHz
Bus Speed: 33 MHz
Data Path: 32 bit
ROM: 1 MB
RAM Type: unique
Minimum RAM Speed: 70 ns
Onboard RAM: 4 MB
RAM Slots: 1
Maximum RAM: 40 MB
Level 1 Cache: 8 kB
Screen: 8.4" active matrix
Maximum Resolution: 8 bit 640x480/16 bit 640x400
Slots: modem, Dock (152-pin PDS)
Hard Disk: 240 MB
Serial: 1
Audio Out: mono 8 bit
Audio In: mono 8 bit
Speaker(s): mono
Microphone: mono
Gestalt ID: 103
Power: 25 Watts
Weight: 4.8 lbs.
Dimensions: 1.5" H x 10.9" W x 8.5" D
Minimum OS: …

Ok, cell phone decisions are some of the hardest and most stressful decisions that i have to make.

I really want to be able to be able to have the best possible communication options that I can get. First I was going to get that Danger Sidekick, which is still dope, but there are things about it that i don't like.

New Plan: 2 devices, bluetooth, and wifi
1. Upgrade my Clie to the UX50, which has wifi and bluetooth
2. Buy a bluetooth phone (i.e. Sony t610)
3. Use phone as modem through bluetooth when wifi isn't present.

I think that this is the best and most powerful combination that I could get right now. Next step: deciding which company/plan to go with... or changing my mind again.

So this weekend marked the day that every girl in the world looks forward to, my Grandma's Birthday... also known as Valentine's day. Kari and I spent the day in town, I bought a $300 toolbox, ha. Kari also bought me a diagonal striped shirt from express for men, haha, I am metro now. Later, we went to Hy-Vee and picked out a bunch of stuff to make dinner at my APT. We don't normally cook, so we thought it'd be fun to try to cook, which it was. We made some awesome mushroom appetizers, shrimp, lobster, lemon peppered salmon, pasta, etc... we rule.

Sunday night there was a hip hop show with my friends from soft focus at vaudeville mews. Luke (know1) asked me to shoot video for them, so Kari and I went and met cedric there. The …

Yo check out the glacier we have sliding off the roof of the Shull building, it's been sliding for about a week now.

Outside - Inside

Harper always does this to me and I hate it.

Step 1: Harper keeps up on new technology big time (which is one advantage to having him as a friend
Step 2: Harper buys the new technology
Step 3: Harper shows it off to me
Step 4: I get jealous
Step 5: I read about the technology
Step 6: I learn that Harper is right and I want whatever it is that he bought
Step 7: I usually buy the product

This is cycle really stupid and usually expensive for me...

but anyway, Harper was IMing me from someone's car today via his Sidekick, which is step 3 from the cycle mentioned above. So I've already gotten over the Jealousy and read about the sidekick at danger.com.

It's got a full qwerty keyboard, AIM, unlimited email via the built in …

Instant Messaging is one of the greatest inventions ever, it opens a whole new world of friends... literally. I recently got invited to Orkut.com, which is super dorky, but also super fun and addicting.

The internet has also helped me meet several other people from around the world... example 1, Mart (a fellow soaper/skater):

Derek R Brooks: you are a douche
RG7420MC: You are an American
Derek R Brooks: haha
RG7420MC: Round one goes to Mart
RG7420MC: Cheers
Derek R Brooks:: you probably know more about the politics of my country than i do
RG7420MC: Ahahaha

I totally got ebay'd. About a week and a half ago there was a black Juggalo baseball jersey on ebay (one that i've wanted for like 4 years), so I bid $61 on it. I knew that I wouldn't win because they normally go for over $100, but whatever, I bid anyway.

As expected, I lost the auction, but only by a dollar, so I was sorta mad. So Anyway, while I was leaving for Denver, I got an email from ebay because the top bidder didn't pay, giving me 2 days to buy the jersey for only $61. Since I was traveling during this time, I didn't get the notice in time and the seller put it back up for auction. I looked at it and the first bidder was my buddy, Richie. So I emailed the seller and asked if he'd still sell it to me, but he just told me …

Tuesday after work, Kari and I drove to Denver to visit her brother and go snowboarding. The original plans were for her and I to go snowboarding thursday at Winterpark Mountain, but she hurt her knee walking, so her brother and I went instead. We took a lesson in the morning because it was my first time on a mountain (aside from iowa), and it was Victor's first time ever. Toward the end of the lesson, Vic hit his head and wanted to take a break... I ended up snowboarding the rest of the day by myself... but whatever, it was still fun. I covered a good portion of the mountain and got up to the Mary Jane peak (11,200 feet), w00t!

The bad part of the day was when my digital camera broke... I was really mad. On the way back from the …

Nick Leeper and I have been working on a new web design/digital media company called: Truespin Media. We already have our first project going and today we launched the site.

Our focus is the for the Des Moines, Iowa area , but hopefully we will be building sites all around the country.

Check it out: www.truespin-media.com

"Ah, come on farva, man! Same team! Same team! What's Thorny gonna say, Rook?!"
-Super Troopers

Ever since I moved to Des Moines, almost every time I drive to Mount Vernon on a Friday, I am behind a cop. And almost every time it's a cop out of its jurisdiction. Later, I found out that there is some place in Johnston or something that trains Officers... so I'm assuming that the cops I follow are all leaving from this training.

So Anyway, today I was driving to Mount Vernon behind 2 cops: the first from Davenport and the second from Muscatine. We were going about 80 mph for a while and then my radar detector started going off. So I hit the brakes and see an Iowa State Trooper on the side. The cop pulls out and I immediately …

I just lost the last 6 months of my life documentation that makes up derek.broox.com.

if any of you have any of my articles saved/cached for any reason at all, please email them to me at [email protected].

i am really a complete retard. kick me as hard as you can the next time you see me. either in the face, or square in the balls.

3:10 PM Update: Scratch everything I just said. I rule. Here is the story...

First, I go to empty my "audio" table in the database because i needed to re-organize it... well, instead i accidentally emptied the "articles" table. So, I basically deleted the past 3 years of my internet life. ... this is the point where I would have cried (if i was a pansy). However, I did get really really sad.

So I …

I finally got the audio and video sections up on the site. Each has 1 file. The audio section has a song by my buddy's band (Van Johnson), and the video section just has the tech deck video. Be sure to check out the Van Johnson song.

Hopefully everyone doesn't hate me or my views on updating my website this time.

You know those stereogram (Magic Eye) things that you used to always see at malls? You stare at them for a while and then see a cool picture like a schooner or something. Well, here is an ascii one.

Man, there are so many crazy political people in this country. I seriously can't believe how many people get so stressed about politics. The caucus was yesterday, so Des Moines swelled with thousands of die hard political people. I met one group that drove from Texas just to get their stupid heads counted... and then they'll drive back home. wtf, why???

hmm, I wonder what political party I am...

Nah, no I don't.

Zach and I just put together this insanely dope Tech Deck edit. Some of the tricks we busted include: 50-50, kickflip, 5-0, 360 quadruple kickflip, 50-50 Impossible, 8 stair 5-0, rail transfers, 5-0 to bluntside, etc. There is also a guest apperance by the crocodile hunter, wrestling a live croc! Click here for the video

Warning: Graphic injury near the end of the video.

This morning started off awesome when I was getting on the interstate from University to go to work. There were 2 semis and quite a few other cars about 6 feet apart and no one seemed to notice my turn signal (which made it impossible to merge). Naturally, ultra road rage kicked in. At this point I glanced forward and saw that the light was green at the end of the ramp to get back off of the interstate, so I floored it down the ramp and came back up onto the interstate from Hickman.

At this time, I just felt like catching up to everyone that wouldn't let me in so I could cut each and every one of them off, haha, I am a loser. So I'm doing 85-90 weaving through the 3 lanes of traffic that make up Interstate 80/35 in …

Last night Nathan and I went to Mickey's Irish Pub and played pool with some cool people that we met. At this place, they had some Irish quote painted on the top of a wall... Check it out.

It's annoying enough if you mix up "your" and "you're" when chatting on AIM or something, but when you're going to paint it on a wall... seriously, come on.

Proofread.

Man... Due to this lame cold weather I've been getting really bored which has caused me to do a ton of thinking lately (and way too many updates on this site).

Watching Jason move into a 4 bedroom brick house in a nice neighborhood is really starting to take a toll on me. I have no freedom in this apartment. The lame brass door handles, and dining room light are really bothering me. I can't put my miniramp up, I can't really do anything. So I think it's time to move into a dope crib.

Ah crap... Money. I think that I make a pretty respectable salary, but I just don't think I can afford what I want in a house. So why not move into a townhouse for now... Hmmm, that would be really nice... no lawn mowing, no plowing, no shoveling, a …

Jason Reiter (a college buddy of mine that I haven't seen in like 4 years) just moved to West Des Moines and bought a really nice house with his fiance. I'm pretty geeked about it. I'll have someone to hang out with, snowboard with, and maybe get him into a few more extreme sports (i.e. skateboarding)

He has an unfinished basement, so I'm gonna try to talk him into letting me build a mini ramp in it. I've spent the past couple hours working on plans for one. He has 8 or 9 foot ceilings...

If they're 9 feet, I'd like to build the 3 foot ramp that I designed tonight, otherwise I'll have to go 2 feet or something. Hopefully he's down for that, hehe. If not, I'll just have to build a box to grind or something. I really want to learn how to …