Marcus Oesterwinter

Interesting eBay Item

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 21:14:46 GMT

I generally abstain from posting about my business (and lately posting in general). But I am often asked what the most interesting item is that my eBay consignment business sells. This item is probably at the top of that list. It came from a famous Seattle fixure that recently went out of busines - Coffee Messiah of Freemont.

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 06:18:23 GMT

Article on maturity of adults linked from slashdot

Yahoo Music Unlimited is perfect!

Thu, 26 May 2005 11:27:44 GMT

I just started using the Yahoo! Music Unlimited service. I have to say, this is the greatest thing since Napster, and it is good enough that it gives me reason to be legal in the future. Here are the benefits:

Access to over 1,000,000 songs - Even a lot of smaller labels.
Instant access to all the music (if you pirate, you have to wait to download the song) - Yahoo streams in high quality, so it is great for finding new music. If you like the song, you can add it and it will automatically download the song (or the album) in the background.
Free access to Launchcast Plus - Tell it what music you like, and it makes a commercial free radio station with your preferences. You can even skip songs.
Intelligent recommendations - Not perfect, but beats most anything else out there.
Yahoo Music Engine is a really great program - You can rip to FLAC, no ads, etc.
Songs are high bitrate 192Kbps double pass WMA encodings (I know you don't like WMA) - Napster and iTunes are 128Kbps
Works well with WMA-able portable devices. (Works great with my Audiovox 5600 phone)

Bad stuff:
Uses WMA DRM - Got to deal with the recording industry. The guys at yahoo don't like it either, but how else are you going to get $5 a month unlimited? They allow you to encode from CD in a bunch of unencumbered formats. WMA isn't even an option - this is as good as its going to get.
192Kbps is still not high enough.
They will probably up the pricing in the future.
Doesn't work with Linux / Mac.

Seriously, go try it. You will be impressed.

Thus concludes another chapter!

Wed, 17 Nov 2004 07:06:43 GMT

chapter 25: Raka

In the time that school has come and gone, there was something that had a far greater impact. Raka. Within weeks of meeting her, I fell in love. From my first impression, I knew she was beautiful and the probably the most inquitive and intelligent girl that I had ever met. She was born and raised in India, but was going to school in Germany, and on exchange at WSU for the fall Semester. She was always learning, always pushing herself, and perhaps that is what intrigued me most.

Had I known that she wouldn't be there for the next semester, I probably wouldn't have tried. Knowing the heartache that I would experience.... And yet, when I found out, I still persisted. And so, I went and saw her in Germany on my spring break. And then again as soon as I finished up school, I went back to see her and be with her as she graduated. During all the time apart, we fought a lot and had tons of heartache, but it seemed worth it because of how we were together. She was supposed to come back with me to Seattle. But when she applied for her visa, she was denied, and the posibility that this could be over entered both our minds. Thus, getting on the plane to go back to the US was perhaps one of the saddest moments.

We came up with a plan. She would go to India and reapply for her Visa immediately. Then she would come to the states a month later. Unfortunately, she had an internship lined up in Germany. She made the decision to postpone the Visa application because she felt she had to stay longer in India than she originally planned. In doing so, she forced herself into going back to Germany and not coming her until December at the earliest.

I simply felt that she didn't want to be with me enough for us to overcome problems that would inevitably persist into the future. So, I decided that we should break up....

Well, that was the beginning of the end. I made self-destructive decisions as I tried to get over my loss. I only made things worst. And as men often do, I looked back and wondered if I did the right thing. But I have lost what I once had; someone who is perfect for me in so many ways; someone who was for that short time my best friend. It was a good ride when we were together. It is painful being apart.

Goodbye

Wed, 03 Nov 2004 06:58:57 GMT

Looks like another four years of worrying about W. being seduced by that big red button that all the generals tell him not to touch! Ohio, please be the Red Sox in game four against the Yankees. PLEASE!

Midphase hosting shut down my personal website due to random spamcop complaint

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:19:38 GMT

My personal website (clash.org) was shut down from by my webhost (Midphase.com) after receiving the following spamcop complaint:


Posted By: 1270134304@reports.spamcop.net Posted On: 21 Oct 2004

==============================================
[ SpamCop V1.380 ]
This message is brief for your comfort. Please use links below for details.

Spamvertised web site: http://www.clash.org
http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?i=z1270134304zf33c323351d08566d768f94eae995ef7z
http://www.clash.org is 205.234.147.3; Thu, 21 Oct 2004 18:16:11 GMT

[ Offending message ]
X-Apparently-To: x via 206.190.37.160; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:22:08 -0700
X-YahooFilteredBulk: 218.51.106.98
X-Originating-IP: [218.51.106.98]
Return-Path:
Received: from 204.60.203.70 (EHLO mta1.snet.net) (204.60.203.70)
by mta826.mail.sc5.yahoo.com with SMTP; Wed, 20 Oct 2004 14:22:06 -0700
X-Header-Overseas: Mail.from.Overseas.source.218.51.106.98
X-Header-NoReverseIP: IP.name.lookup.failed[218.51.106.98]
X-Originating-IP: [218.51.106.98]
Received: from 204.60.203.70 ([218.51.106.98])
by mta1.snet.net (8.12.10 inb shim/8.12.10) with SMTP id i9KLLvp7006096;
Wed, 20 Oct 2004 17:21:59 -0400 (EDT)
X-Message-Info: N1EHG98CHK995xbSOWseLB5K1lrUYnnfSF32
Received: from [163.8.8.124] by
commutate48420.adore.Agnes.Hartley@activatormail.com via HTTP; Thu, 21 Oct
2004 03:16:24 +0500
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:20:24 -0700
Reply-To: "Carey Tillman"
From: "Carey Tillman"
To: "Brimitch"
Subject: RE: account # 259261N
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 03:18:24 +0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="--0757746545926548"
Content-Length: 911

----0757746545926548
Content-Type: text/html;
charset="iso-3349-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit
Content-Description: bear dialogue3924.cabal

Hello,
We sent you an email a while ago, because you now qualify for a new mortgage.
You could get $300,000 for as little as $700 a month!
Bad credit is no problem, you can pull cash out or refinance.

Please click on this link for free consultation by a mortgage broker:
Start Saving Here

Best Regards,
Carey Tillman

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----0757746545926548--

[ This spam was encoded 7Bit. Normal text is below. ]
Hello,
We sent you an email a while ago, because you now qualify for a new mortgage.
You could get $300,000 for as little as $700 a month!
Bad credit is no problem, you can pull cash out or refinance.

Please click on this link for free consultation by a mortgage broker:
Start Saving Here

Best Regards,
Carey Tillman

applique yarrow jawbreak crematory confront reciprocate narragansett fargo
pitfall structural buyer copolymer hereto victrola field danubian
contrariwise draindeparture monetarism dromedary grilled directrices kinetic
eerily honesty surety hit lobo amadeus sperm sanders donald strain amelia
tradeapathy intricacy sewerage retiree etruscan maniacal augur trance
bowstring criterion sane castigate dilemma admit missoula nsf corporeal
newsmenwherewith natty puke camden grainy thrush gauze omniscient shoelace
neophyte hardworking peace breton osmosis afterlife benzedrine celeste
connotativedaniel truthful cabinet beard comedian listen bothersome pete
bassi repelled malevolent smithson tissue lug postcard

After calling them, their initial response is that spamcop wouldn't make a mistake, so you are a spammer. After getting them to acknowledge that I wasn't a spammer, they respond, "We shoot first, ask questions later." They won't tell me what address the spam came from - they only said that my domain was mentioned in the spam. I asked them to clarify what address it was pointing to, and they say they don't know. Is it really this easy to mess with someone? If I am pissed off at someone, can I just lodge a random complain against someone's domain? Or maybe even more effective would be to send out a few spam like emails from an anonymous address with their domain mentioned? Doesn't anyone else see a flaw in this system?

I'm an LJ whore!

Fri, 22 Oct 2004 21:56:56 GMT

I never update unless I need something.... I am irritated with e-mail clients. They don't seem to support the simplest of features. I need a community mailbox. Using either IMAP or Exchange that will allow me to add notes to the email using either Outlook or Thunderbird. I understand that it wouldn't support IMAP standards - but that functionality should be built into IMAP. More importantly, there should be a Thunderbird extension which can at the very least allow me to easily append the info to current emails. And Exchange with all their proprietary protocols should certainly support such functionality, but I can't find it.

So, I want to be able to add notations to emails that are in my inbox. Why is it so difficult?

Tue, 03 Aug 2004 10:19:15 GMT

Just saw the show "Amish in the City".... I go through phases of being patriotic but at other times being misanthropic towards Americans. Well, the show is once again making me ashamed of the fact that I am an American. And not just because the gigantic media corporation are exploiting one of the last vestiges of freedom from corporate rule in America.

No, I was actually looking forward to potentially having the opportunity to learn more about this right of passage that Amish people take. Reality TV, if it was actually real, might represent a way to explore more cultures and different people. Instead, they force the Amish people (who I would guess represent the black sheep of their traditions) to live with a house full of ignorant, arrogant, and un-accepting people and put them through a bunch of the typical "reality" tv show "challenges".

Stupid Americans....

Oh, that reminds me. If I were a blood sucking leech, I would go to some country that lacks human rights laws, and create a Fear Factor (or Survivor) show where people were actually challenged to do life endangering stunts (or force to rely on their survival skills / instincts). Then I would setup a corporation in the country or some offshore rig and broadcast the show over the Internet. I would then alert some watch-dog / Christian group of the horrible human rights violations that I am committing and get tons of free advertising all over all the major networks. Too bad I'm not a blood sucking leech....

Tue, 03 Aug 2004 09:20:30 GMT

Well, it seems that I always start posting at the worst of times.... Well, this is no expection. I actually broke up with Raka just a day or two before the last time I posted. I guess I didn't really want to admit that it had happened. This situation has been really tough. I am in love with the girl. I went to Germany twice to see her, and she was supposed to come back with me. She needed to go to Berlin to get her Visa, but she was denied by the embassy. So we were faced with the decision of whether or not to stick together. We decided that the best thing to do was have her go to India and try to get a visa (just a 3-month visitors visa) and come to The States as soon as she got it.

Today was the day that she was scheduled for a Visa interview (you have to schedule far in advance). But unfortunately, Raka was faced with a number of issues that prevented her from going today, so about a week ago, she had to reschedule. The first day available was the 27th of the month. But worst than that is the fact that she has an internship in Germany that she has to go to, so now even if she was given the Visa, she wouldn't be able to come until December or later.

All the while, we have faced more time apart than we have been together. Much of the time, I spend depressed and unhappy. I sort of felt that since there was such distance, our relationship was fragile, and I had to treat it as such. So anything that threatened the relationship, I tried to avoid. So, I stopped hanging out with girls that I tended to flirt with and stopped going out and meeting new people in general. I guess I just closed myself off at a time when I probably should have had my friends available to support me.

So, given the news that I had to wait another four months to see this girl that I loved. Knowing that there was no certain future between us even after that, I broke things off. I fear that I have broken both our hearts. And in feeling rejected by me, I think I have turned her away one of my best friends. My life would be so much better if I could just make a decision and not look back. And I know that such an attitude is rare, but I feel I am more prone to rethinking, rehashing, and regretting hard decisions even if they are right.

just saw

Sat, 31 Jul 2004 08:14:24 GMT

... Bourne Supremacy. Didn't live up to my hopes. Just the same as the original with less plot.... I do think Matt Damon is a good actor. I just wish the movie had something more original than "you killed my girlfriend, now I must avenge her death (spoiler ommitted)". But it did do a fairly good job of holding my interest given its shortcomings.

I have been quite a movie guy for some time, but I am finding that my patience has been deteriorating. The last movie I saw in theaters, Spiderman 2 was almost hard to sit through. I don't know if it is just me growing inpatient, or the movies growing more boring.

Don't remember when I posted last

Sat, 31 Jul 2004 08:03:18 GMT

.... but I finished up my MBA in Pullman in May. Went over to Germany to be with Raka and see her graduate. Saw a bit of Berlin and Munich. From there we went to Rhodos, Greece, and stayed at a lousy package hotel, but had a great time travelling around the island in crappy little Fiats and Hyundai. Raka was supposed to come back to the states with me, but her visitors Visa was denied. She headed back to India, and I back here. I am now living at my Bellevue Mansion (Dave's House). I'm just about settled in, and in the process of starting up a new business.

Sun, 09 May 2004 10:35:54 GMT

Had a bit to drink. Not thinking so clearly. Probably shouldn't have used my computer, because I think I opened a virus that was residing in my inbox. I certainly wouldn't have done such a stupid thing sober....

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 03:33:31 GMT

The Economist is one of my favorite magazines. What other non-political magazine does such a good job of telling it like it is?

George Bush wants a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. He is wrong, on grounds of equality, liberty and even social cohesion ...

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 05:02:46 GMT

Still hanging in there on school. The MBA program is all about the group projects. Just months and I am done. Less than two weeks, and I will be in Germany, seeing my girl. This long distrance relationship thing is going better than I expected. I really shouldn't be in a long distance relationship, but the girl makes it work. I won't bore myself with the details any longer.

I am starting to get all ambitious and idealistic again. Starting to get grandiose plans of ending world hunger and such.

Never do I feel like I have enough time to learn about all the things I want to. Still want to learn to sing, DJ, German, photography, painting, drumming, etc... So I am not worried about getting a job right away like everyone else I know; i just want to take some time and really learn.

Near disaster on I-90

Tue, 20 Jan 2004 07:12:48 GMT

Heading back to Pullman, on the way back from the chiropractor, I am almost to the pass (on I-90). I am going the typical 85-90MPH and my hood flipped up. Pretty much took on the shape of my windshield. It's funny. It could have been disasterous. Probably the closest I have been to death in a long time. But it didn't even shake me. Not even an adrenalin rush. I have been really depressed these last couple days, and I think that is why it didn't phase me. I was pressing pause on my MP3 player before I had even stopped my car.

I see some of my friends. When they don't get shaken up when they should. When they do stupid shit. I wonder if it is because they are suffering from depression....

I was more bothered by the fact that I had to stop than anything. I got out of my car. Bent the hood back as best as I could, and jumped on it a bit, and it closed (sort of). Off I went....

Sad

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 10:06:44 GMT

Update

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 10:00:28 GMT

Well, I pretty muched stopped journaling for a while. As usual the whole New Years thing makes me re-evaluate what I want to accomplish, and as usual, journalling is one of those things.

A quick update about what has been going on. I started dating a girl named Raka a few months ago. She was on an exchange program at WSU from her school in Germany (but she is Indian). She is amazing. So, despite my hatred and usual attempts at avoidance of long distance relationships, we are together. Even though she left and is going to school in Germany. Yes, she is worth it!

So, my plan right now? Move to Germany when I get done in May.

Now I am back at Pullman. Taking my last four classes. Three finance classes and one BPOL. One of the classes is at 7:45. Between that and my usual night-owl routine, I know it just isn't going to work. So, I have devised a plan. Based off of sparse research, it has been suggested that you can sleep more efficiently if you break up your sleep cycle into two periods. So, I am going to try and sleep from about 2:30AM until 7:00AM and from about 3:30PM until 6:30PM. Just in time to make it for dinner at the Roto. Starting now....

Chiropractor

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 09:50:52 GMT

Went and saw the Chiropractor on Friday. A bit of a nut.... Most of them probably are. I am sceptacle and don't trust most of them. But this one comes with the highest recommendations, so my scepatcism was a bit toned down. He was a bit too mystical for my tastes, but he was confident and knew what he was doing. Most of his diagnosis involved testing the strength of muscles between each side of my body. His diagnosis was very quick and confident. He said that my lower back pains that I was experiencing were a result of an injury to the very top of my spine. He said that he was confident that he could fully fix me in four sessions. Furthermore, he said that I would be able to function far better afterward including brain function. Probably a bit hokey, but I am excited. I am going to try and make it back to Seattle this weekend to see what he can do.

BTW, after writing this, I feel a bit stupid for being perhaps so gullible, but like I said, he comes highly recommended.

Party

Sat, 10 Jan 2004 11:47:44 GMT

Entertaingment began early, with an old school g-pimp type guy throwing money all over the dance floor. Probably 40 crumpled up $1 bills. Then he let them sit for a while and when some other guy started to pick them up, he went around picking them back up as fast as he could. Then when he got them all picked up, he started throwing the money down again, but this time in a smaller pile in front of a girl. Got to give the guy credit, he got tons of attention from a few of the ladies. Well, shortly after, some kid was throwing down some breakdance moves on the floor. And in his wandering arrogance, he waslked right across the middle of the floor while the kid was spinning. I thought for sure I was going to see the pimpster smash the bottle against the kids head, but nothing came of the near scuffle....

Grandmaster Flash started the night with an intro to the true old-school. 1971. Kind of gaves us a bit of a timeline. Everybody was fired up. I sometimes have mor fun seeing DJ Scene on Sunday nights, but he is not consistantly this good. Everybody was into it and dancing nearly the entire time besides the short breaks of commentary. When there about seemed a point were people might start to dwindle and get tired, Chris Tucker came out on stage. Yes, in front of like 200-300 people, we had Grandmaster Flash and Chris Tucker.... Granmaster Flash kept saying he doesn't do concerts, it was a party.

My heart hurts.

Grandmaster Flash

Sat, 10 Jan 2004 05:55:04 GMT

Just about to head out to the Grandmaster Flash show at Chop Suei. At Mike's house, trying to get Mike drunk with cheap booze. He's complaining like a bitch.

Went to a chiropractor today. Very interesting stuff. I have to wait until the next visit before he can fix me. More on that later.

Tonight is my last night in Seattle. Back to Pullman and school. Haven't gotten anything done worth while since I have been here. Just went through a tirade of buying shit. Lots of clothes. Computer parts (for Windows Media Center computer, etc.)

1984

Fri, 09 Jan 2004 14:36:52 GMT

Do you ever get the feeling that Bush read 1984 as a manual on how to run a country? On the news, they are pre-announcing an update in the terror alert level that will be announced today. WTF is this terror alert level? Has it been around before the Bush administration? No, the ministry of Peace must tell us how much terror we should feel on any given day. And who are we really at war with? Saddam? The Iraqi people? The Talliban? Democrats? Afghanistan? Bin Laden? Who cares, as long as the American people have something to fear, the government is safe.

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 04:34:34 GMT

Does the Monday night Dante's thing still go on? Anybody going tonight?

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 15:07:21 GMT

School starts today. All the things to do that I needed to get up early for seem to have slipped my mind. As is usually the case when I get up at the but crack of dawn. My brain turns to oatmeal. I am in for a massively overloaded schedual. I don't know if I can handle it. Here it goes.....

The new ride!

Sat, 16 Aug 2003 07:52:12 GMT

Acquired from Portland today!

Thu, 17 Jul 2003 03:45:09 GMT

Decided early last week that I was heading down to Portland to hang out with my friend Megan for her sister's birthday party. Party was Saturday night. I made arrangements to come down Friday night and stay with Megan. Talked to her several times to confirm. She said she was working until 9:30, so I should be there then. At about 7:30, she called and told me she wouldn't be done until 10:00 or 11:00. I told her to give me directions. She said she would call back and do so. At about 9:30, I got a voicemail with sort of bad directions. I called her back, and she sounded like she hadn't even told her sister I was coming. She said she would give me a call back right away after she talked to her sis. So, I hang out in her sister's neighborhood until about 11:30. Got no call, call several times. Leave a message. Finally, I decide to say fuck it. I left her a message saying that I was a pissed off, and I was going to go out to downtown and hang out. Got a call at 12:30 with a message.... I was pissed. So, I just hung out in Portland until the Greek Cuisine closed, and tried to sleep in my Jeep, but couldn't, so I headed back to Portland.

All was not lost though. I met a cool chick at the Greek Cuisine and was planning on hanging out with her the next day if I stayed in town. But I didn't.....

Started school on Monday. Management information systems. They are condencing a full semester class into three weeks. It should just be review for me, but quizes are made so you actually have to memorize specific terms rather than concepts. It still should be easy.

And I had an interview yesterday. The job would put me in charge of an organization at WSU that looks at people's inventions and gives expert advise as to whether the could feasibly prosper or not. Although I think I got the job, I turned it down. It would have tied me up for the entire year and killed my free time. And my free time has been great. I have been playing b-ball, racketball, tennis, and biking.