Destiny Gurus Site Launch – Destiny Exotic Quests, Raids, and More!

jared Client Sites
A screenshot of the Destiny Gurus site

I am pleased to announce the launch of my latest client project, Destiny Gurus!  Destiny Gurus is a site that offers services for those who play the hit game Destiny as well as the upcoming sequel to launch in a few days, Destiny 2.  Destiny Gurus offers help for players who are struggling with the game or who just want to get their characters up in level or pass a certain raid or quest without the hassle of actually playing through it.  So if you want to save some time and get past some raids or exotic quests or want some great new weapons or items, then go to Destiny Gurus. They play on both PlayStation 4 and XBox One consoles so no matter what console you have they can help you out.  They can even stream the gameplay so you can see what they do and check out their techniques.  This can help you even more as you can actually see what the pros do and how they complete quests and raids.

One of the owners of Destiny Gurus is my good friend and he is a great gamer who wants to help the Destiny community with his skills.  The site is 100% safe and secure and they are very trustworthy.  Do not worry about your personal information or payment details, as they are very trustworthy.  I can vouch for that myself.  And of course since I developed the site, it is 100% safe and secure.  No need to worry about hackers getting your credit card info or stealing your Destiny characters.  PayPal handles all the payment transactions so the site never actually sees your payment info.  And as far as your Destiny account info, only the player who handles your order will see that information and it is held safe and secure so nobody else can access it.  So don’t worry because it is absolutely safe and secure to order from them.  So if you play Destiny or plan on getting Destiny 2, be sure to check out Destiny Gurus.com today!

Top ‘Must Have Apps’ for New Windows PC Installations

jared My Thoughts

Whenever I set up a new Windows installation – whether it be because I get a new computer, reformat and repartition my computer, or am helping someone ‘fix’ their computer by reinstalling Windows – there are a few applications that I usually always install.  These are the top applications that just about everybody needs to have 0n their computers, consisting mainly of freeware utilities and other applications.  Some apps are not free, but I have included freeware applications that are a good alternative where applicable.  Also, a few of these applications are not needed by everybody but I typically install them on my computers anyways, so I wrote this list in a vague most-to-least important order so that the most popular and important apps are first and the least important ones are last.  Anyways, on with the list:

 

Chrome – https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/desktop/index.html

Every computer these days needs a browser, and I prefer to use Google’s Chrome as my preferred browser of choice.  It allows you to visit any web page you need, as well as having a great built in web developer’s toolkit that lets web developers see and play with the different aspects of a web page as they load, helpful for determining what code is rendered for the browser and what CSS it is using.  Chrome also lets you modify the browsing experience by adding different plugins and themes.

 

Firefox – https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

A close number 2 in my book is Firefox, the contemporary to Chrome.  It does just about everything Chrome does, and it is best to have at least 2 browsers installed in case some web site doesn’t load properly in the other.  I also keep two different browsers in case you want to log in to 2 different accounts to any given website.  This lets you be administrator and user on the same site to make sure both parts of the site are working correctly.  Also I like to make sure that every part of the site works in each browser.

 

VLC – http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

In order to play all the media files that you may download, you need a player that will play them all.  The built in Windows Media Player that comes with Windows is not very useful and does not play all file types, so it is usually necessary to have another media player application that can play all your files.  VLC is my go-to media player that will play just about every file type and has many great features.

 

MPlayer – http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

Another good player that lets you play all the files you may download is MPlayer.  MPlayer is lower on my list because it has a few ads that are a little annoying but it still makes the list because of all the great features it has.

 

 

WinRAR – http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

In order to use some of the files that you download that are compressed, you need a good file extraction program such as WinRAR.  WinRAR allows you to compress and decompress files in many different formats like .zip, .tar, .gz, and of course .rar.  There are both free and paid versions of WinRAR that you can download.

 

K-Lite Codec Pack – http://codecguide.com/download_kl.htm

Many audio and video files are compressed with a certain codec, and many of these codecs are not included with video players and must be downloaded seperately.  One way of downloading them all at once is by downloading the K-lite Codec pack.  This pack includes all of today’s popular audio and video codecs.

 

Microsoft Office – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/office.aspx?q=office

As the standard for office type applications, Microsoft Office is almost necessary for today’s computer users.  I try to install it or an alternative on all systems I work on.  Of course the downside to Microsoft Office is that it is expensive and most users don’t want to have to pay for it only to use it every so often.  If you don’t already have a copy of Office and don’t use it enough to pay for it, I recommend an alternative such as OpenOffice.

 

OpenOffice – http://www.openoffice.org/download/

A great alternative to Microsoft Office is OpenOffice, which has programs that are equivalent to Word, Excel, Outlook, and all other MS Office apps.  I usually install OpenOffice if I cannot get a license for Microsoft Office because it has much of the same features but you don’t have to pay for it.  OpenOffice is not as polished as MS Office but does have just about all the functionality you need and can read MS Office files.  So if you want the functionality of Office but don’t want to buy it, give OpenOffice a try!

 

iTunes – https://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

Apple’s media player, iTunes is a must have for anyone with an iPhone or iPad.  I usually install this for most people as a lot of people have iPhones or iPads.  Even if someone doesn’t have an Apple device, iTunes has many good features, including the iTunes store for music, movies, TV shows, and more.  This allows people to buy or rent videos and music to watch on their computer or portable device.  However my favorite feature of iTunes that is the main reason I install it on my own systems is the podcast library.  Podcasts are basically radio shows that can be downloaded and listened to at anytime, and there are tens of thousands of podcasts out there.  I regularly listen to many podcasts and iTunes is the best way to browse and listen to podcasts on the computer.

 

NotePad++ – https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.4.2.html

Any power user needs a good text editor, and there are a few pretty good ones for Windows.  My favorite is NotePad++ which is great for developing software and web sites in all different languages.  It has automatic formatting and coloring to help you write and read code for all kinds of languages.  It is a must have for all developers as well as all general users.

 

TextPad – http://textpad.com/download/index.html

TextPad is another very good text editor that facilitates the editing of all kinds of files.  it automatically recognizes the type of file and helps you edit many different types of source code files for all kinds of languages.  It also has many great text editing features like search/replace, macros, regular expressions, etc.

 

My Dog News and Information Blog

jared My Sites
Jared and his dog

I do not have kids, so I treat my dogs like they are my children. And as such I love them very very much and want them to be the healthiest, happiest dogs ioDn the world.  And because of this, I am constantly reading all kinds of information about dogs and am always interested when a news story appears about the canine world.  So in order to help keep myself and others on top of the latest dog related news, I have created a new dog news blog all about dog related news and other dog information.  The blog contains news stories about dog health, food and nutrition, food and toy recalls and other safety information, courageous and heart wrenching dog news stories, dog and animal charity information and events, and everything else dog related that crosses my path and is blog worthy.  So if you are also interested in any dog news or other dog related information, please come check out my new Dog News and Information Blog now!

Electric Vehicles News and Information Blog

jared My Sites

As two of my interests are cars and electronics, it makes perfect sense that I would be into electric powered vehicles.  So because of my interest in electric cars, I have created a new electric vehicle blog to showcase information, news, and how-to’s related to the electric vehicle scene.  One day I plan to start building my own electric vehicle and I want to include posts on how others can convert their own cars to electric power and if or when I do begin my own build I will start to write posts to document the entire project.  But until then, on my new EV blog I will write on the current news of the electric vehicle world, reviews of electric cars, how to’s and do-it-yourself guides for everything from maintaining your electric car to converting a gas vehicle to all electric.  So for all your electric vehicle needs, check out Jared’s Electric Vehicle Blog.

How I ‘Fixed’ My Dell Laptop’s Power Issue

jared My Thoughts

My main computer that I use is my Dell Inspiron 13 i7359 Convertible 2-in-1 Laptop that I purchased about a year ago, and it has performed very well since then.  But two weeks ago I started having some issues.  At first the computer started to tell me that the power adapter was not being recognized as an official Dell product and that it would not charge the battery since the power output could not be determined.  This continued for a few days but I didn’t really pay any attention to it since I usually use it plugged in anyways.  But after a few days the laptop just stopped working at all.  I couldn’t get it to turn on or do anything at all.  I tried everything I could think of and searched the internet for answers to no avail.  I was thinking that the power supply was powering the computer fine but not charging it so it seemed like it was fine but short from sending my computer to Dell and see what they said and possibly pay for them to fix it, I don’t know what I would do to fix the problem.

At this point I was at my wits end I decided to just go ahead and buy a new power adapter and try and see if it works.  So I ordered one on Amazon for $40.  And when it arrived, sure enough it worked and my laptop started up right away.  I was so exstatic that I fixed the problem that I didn’t even mind spending that $40.

So if you are having a similar problem with your dell computer, where it isn’t turning on and you don’t know why, it might be a good idea to go ahead and try a different power adapter.  The reason is that Dell laptops require Dell OEM power supplies in order to function properly.  If they don’t detect that they have a proper power supply they won’t charge, won’t operate at full power, or possibly won’t turn on at all.  If you don’t want to pay for a new power supply because you aren’t sure it will fix it maybe you can try a different one that should work, maybe you can borrow one or use one at a store or repair shop.  Try going to a store that sells computer, like Best Buy or Fry’s Electronics, and bring in your computer and try to plug it in.  Tell them that you bought it there and you want to try a new power supply before you try to return it or something like that.  Or try to find a computer repair shop that has a proper Dell power supply that you could use.  Tell them that you want to get your laptop fixed but you think that it might work with a new power supply and if it doesn’t work you want them to diagnose and possibly fix it.  That way if it does work you know that you just need a new power supply and if it doesn’t maybe they will diagnose it for free and you can then decide if you want to pay to get it fixed or not.

Building the Cottonwood Cove Houses

jared My Pictures
All the Cottonwood Cove houses

A few years back my dad and his business partner bought up a large lot of land and went on to build 9 houses on it.  It took a while to get though planning and approval because our city has a ‘No Growth’ policy in place that only allows a few new houses to be built every year.  You see, we live in a pretty small city on the outskirts of Las Vegas and they don’t want it do be over come with people trying to get away from the big city.  Our small town is nice and quiet and they want to keep it that way.  Because of this it is hard for those who do want to build to get approved.

But shortly after the approval did happen, they broke ground and the houses started to go up.  I helped my dad do many of the smaller, more menial tasks, as well as being around to see him do a lot of the more important things so I learned a lot of things about construction and real estate.  I helped him do things like doing the low voltage wiring and helping him decide on some of the design issues that he was unsure about.  He wanted these homes to have the ability to have custom home entertainment packages and high speed data run throughout the house.  As such I designed and ran the wiring set up for all the houses to include surround sound and HDTV wiring built in to all the houses so the buyers could have the option to have them terminated and connected or even have an entire home entertainment package installed for an additional fee.  Also when the houses were done being built I created a website and flyers for the advertisement and sale of them.

Here are a few pictures that I took during construction and after they were built for the website and flyers.

 

New Homes for Sale Banner
New Homes For Sale Banner for the Cottonwood Cove homes.
New Homes Sign for Cottonwood Cove Houses
New Homes Sign for Cottonwood Cove Houses
Cottonwood Cove Entryway
A view of the entryway in one of the homes at Cottonwood Cove.
Cottonwood Cove Kiten
A view of the Cottonwood Cove kitchen with light colored counters.
Living room at Cottonwood Cove
Cottonwood Cove living room with home entertainment system
All the Cottonwood Cove houses
A view of all the houses on Cottonwood Cove
House on Cottonwood Cove
One of the houses on Cottonwood Cove

Photos From My College Graduation

jared My Pictures
Jared Connell with family at his college graduation celebratory dinner

It has been exactly 10 years since I graduated from ITT Technical Institute.  I received my BS degree in Information Security – basically anti-hacker training  (or hacker training depending on whether you are white-hat or black-hat).  Here are some photos from my graduation ceremony and celebration dinner later that night.

 

Since it is now 10 years after my college graduation, here are some photos from my ceremony and celebration dinner

Jared Connell stands with his father and great grandmother on graduation day
A picture of me, Jared Connell, with my father and great grandmother on the day I graduated from college
Jared Connell with family at his college graduation celebratory dinner
A picture of me, Jared Connell, with my family on the night of my college graduation at the celebration dinner.
Jared Connell and family at college graduation dinner.
A photo of me, Jared Connell with my family and friends celebrating my college graduation

Playing Golf With My Dad and Brother

jared My Pictures
Jared playing golf with his brother and father

Going through a few old photos I came across these from a while back when my brother, my father, and I all went to play golf.  I believe it was on a holiday, perhaps Thanksgiving.  It is a very happy memory as it is one of the few times that we all got to hang out as a family on a holiday and do something fun that we still have pictures from.  And as my dad has since passed these are very treasured photos and I would like to post them here for posterity.

Joe Connell, with his sons Justin and Jared Connell, playing golf

Jared Conell watching his brother and father play golf.
My father, Joe Connell taking a swing at the local driving range. I, Jared Connell am sitting down and my brother, Justin Connell is getting ready to tee-off in the background.
Jared playing golf with his brother and father
A picture of me, Jared Connell, with my father and brother playing golf together.

My Background Check Is WRONG

jared My Thoughts

So I was just doing checking out some of the stuff about me online, doing a simple search for my name, and I came across some sites that sell background checks.  I don’t want to give their names because I don’t want to promote them and I think its funny that the info is wrong and I don’t care if they change it.  But you would think that at least the basic publicly available information would be correct, right?  Well not in my case.

Among the information available is date of birth, and my name had a big fat check mark next to it meaning they know exactly when I was born.  But the funny thing is that they are way off on my age.  Not 1 year or even 10 years which would be an easy mistake.  No, they say that I am 80 years old!  I know what you’re thinking, ‘Oh its probably just some other person with the same name.’  But they listed my home town and my relative’s names so it must be the right Jared Connell.  I don’t know what date of birth they have on file or where it came from but it is way off.  The funny thing is that they listed my parents names, and if they know they are my parents, how the hell can I be older than both my parents?  It is an obvious flaw but nobody will ever notice or care to change it.  And my age was listed as 80 years old on more than one background check site so they obviously got the info from the same place.  Either that or one site stole the information from the other.

Not only that but other information was totally wrong.  Like I said, I don’t know where they get the info they sell but it definitely isn’t all correct.  Yes some of it is right, and it is a little scary seeing what they know about you and what somebody can get on you if they have a little free time or some money.  But the point is that not everything is correct.  I noticed that some of the information they have on me was wrong, and all from the stuff they give out for free, before they try and lure you in to pay for more info.  So whether you are looking for someone’s information or trying to pay for a background check be warned that it isn’t all true.  If they can’t even get my age right, what else did they get wrong?  What other information are they spreading about me that is totally false but the people who pay for their services will automatically believe.  Who knows what a prospective employer or somebody else might end up seeing.  Imagine someone with your same name has some bad information that ends up in your report.  All it takes is one slip up and your employer thinks your a convicted rapist and you end up being fired and you don’t know why.  Or maybe you end up in the list of suspects for another crime because of something that another person with the same name did.  The worst thing about the whole thing is that you can’t even enter the correct information even if you wanted to.

I know someone who was looking for information on a person recently.  I can’t remember if they had the phone number and wanted their name, or vice-versa, but they asked me if they should pay for one of these types of background checks. I said that they don’t know if it’s even the right person and not to waste the money.  Especially when you’re dealing with phone numbers.  Nowadays we can take our phone numbers to a new phone company so we can keep the same number even if we switch carriers.  But in the past this wasn’t possible and people’s numbers changed all the time.  One time I had a number I really liked because the last 4 digits spelled something funny and it was an easy way to get people to remember my number so I kept that one for a while.  But eventually I got a new one and let that one go.  Now nobody even knows anybody’s phone number anyways, you just text them once and you’re saved in their phone forever.  Sometimes it’s even good to get a new phone number, maybe you have bills you haven’t paid or a vindictive ex and you want to cut ties.  I personally can’t even remember how many different phone numbers I have had in my life.  The number has to be at least a dozen.  Case in point, the number that the background check had for me hasn’t been in use for at least 10 or 15 years!

So the moral of the story is: don’t trust everything you see on the internet.  Even if it seems like a reputable source they can easily get something wrong and although it may seem trivial to say that I am 80 and easily recognizable as incorrect, other information may not be so easily noticed and will automatically be deemed to be the truth.

How Many Bones Do Sharks Have in Their Bodies? And Why I Hat Click Bait

jared My Thoughts

(SHORT ANSWER TO THE TITLE QUESTION IS ZERO)

Once in a while you come across a banner ad that you really want to click, but you know it is just click bait and they probably wont immediately give you the answer, if they ever even do. They probably want your email address and all kinds of personably identifiable information that you don’t want to give out just for a simple answer to something you didn’t really even care about in the first place.

Now I’m not anti-ads, without advertising most websites would cost money to use and the majority wouldn’t even exist. For example without Ads, no social networks would be around (and if there were any you would have to pay for them). Large websites cost lots of money to run – including servers and bandwidth, programmers, sutomer service reps, HR departments, CEOs and other C-level execs, not to mention the people who keep everything going behind the scenes, like janitors and cleaning crews, etc. Even smaller websites that can be created and administrated with one person out of their home and hosted in a data-center somewhere can cost hundreds to thousands of dollars annually. And without online ads, most sites wouldn’t be feasible to run. But certain ads are totally unrelated to what you want to see, and some of those ads don’t even give you what they promise. I don’t mind ads, but the ones that are just click-bait I don’t really care for.

Ok so that was a long rant which leads me to the title. Ii just saw an ad that was definitely click bait that I didn’t bother to click. (Although now that I think of it I probably should have clicked it since it would have costed them money since I actually clicked on it. The way that on line advertising works in that situation is that they don’t pay just for their ad to be seen, they actually pay for every time it is clicked). So instead of clicking it to find out te answer ]I just googled it. Actually I asked Cortana since I can just say it instead of typing it.  So in case you were wondering, here is what the banner said:

How many bones do sharks have in their body?
a. 10,000
b. 0
c. 20,000+

So I automatically thought it was option b. It couldn’t be option c. because it was too imprecise and it couldn’t be the answer without an actual precise number.  They would have given an actual number and not an estimate. So then I was thinking about how I had heard before that sharks were all cartilage and had no bones at all. But I was unsure, and I just HAD to know now that it piqued my interest. And as it turns out, according to this site here: https://www.quora.com/How-many-bones-are-in-a-sharks-body I was right.  Sharks actually don’t have bones in their body at all.

So all that was just a very long, very convoluted way of saying how much I hate click bait type ads and I try as hard as I can to not make click bait type ads, especially when it is a trick to get you to click on it just to get the answer to some stupid question you didn’t care about in the first place. If you really care just go ahead and google the question instead.  But, however, if you like the site you can go ahead and try to click the ad.  See where it goes.  See what happens.  But if it just to get you to enter your email address just so you can get the answer to question you never knew you wanted to know, make sure you really want it before you answer.