Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer were 2 classic movies from my teen years. Anyone my age has seen them, and we'll all yell "I want my two dollars!" with glee. But what ever happened to the writer/director Savage Steve Holland? For years I just though he had disappeared or worse was the target of foul play. Now I know better. I have kids, and one is old enough to watch pre-teen comedies on Nickelodeon. One of these shows is called "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide", which I thought was a quirky little show that isn't too painful to watch (like much of kids programming). Then one day I noticed in the credits the name of the genius behind the show: Savage Steve Holland. No it's not Better Off Dead the series, and John Cusack isn't in this one, but it's certainly one of the few shows that I would encourage my daughter to watch due to it actually being enjoyable with good writing and a great sense of wacky and absurd.

And that's all I wanted, however what I found is quite amazing:

AutoHotkey unleashes the full potential of your keyboard, joystick, and mouse. For example, in addition to the typical Control, Alt, and Shift modifiers, you can use the Windows key and the Capslock key as modifiers. In fact, you can make any key or mouse button act as a modifier.

[ AutoHotkey - Free Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program with Hotkeys and AutoText ]

This thing is seriously freakin' powerful. I'm rather certain it can handle most anything you've ever wanted to map to a key.

I highly recommend taking the hour or so and watching the whole thing.

In their rare joint appearance at All Things Digital 5, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discuss their contributions to the technology industry, the qualities they most respect in one another...

[ VIDEO: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates ]

Grillin' & Lunchin', originally uploaded by cafechimp.

Summer's here, and the time is right, for... Grillin' and Lunchin'

3 days straight! Love that home office.

It's incredible. And I know many of you have the same question I did; when am I going to have one of these in my house?

[ First Look: Microsoft Surfacing Computing! | Larry Larsen | Channel 10 ]

I've been forecasting this type of computing for a while, I expect it will drive the office of the future, so your desk is your computer.

Moving to the Washington, D.C., area, or just interested in different Washington, Maryland and Virginia communities? Try Local Explorer.

[ Crime, Home Sales and Schools in DC, Maryland and Virginia - Local Explorer (washingtonpost.com) ]

Every time I've moved this information would have been handy. Now that my 5 year plan includes home ownership, the recent home prices is information I've been looking for. All round a good job, thanks Washington Post!

Props to R&R

I don't really do any PC gaming. I did once upon a time, but when you work on a PC all day, and are constantly checking email, or even just tinkering, it seems like you may be going overboard to play games on your PC as well. Not to mention owning a gaming PC and a work PC seems expensive, or trying to get an all-in-one can double the price of that machine. All very logical reasons for me to avoid PC gaming at all costs.

What could drag me back? Friggin' Blizzard:

[ StarCraft II ]

Well, maybe I can restrict my PC gaming to just one game, that shouldn't be too hard...

Yahoo! 360 - Kearns's Profile

I think I have profiles on 1/2 a dozen social sites, Friendster, Orkut, Mutiply, who-know-what-else-that-I-forgot-about. Yaty's got even more. Kinda stupid if you need to belong to a dozen, but I have a warm spot in my heart for Yahoo! since I wouldn't have met my wife without them, so I filled out a profile and spammed invited some IM contacts to "join me in the tempest" or what have you.

Alex Santantonio has started an effort to organize a gathering of all employees that ever worked for Doceus.

You should have received an email or invitation to the BackPackIT page, if not (because we have the wrong email or you are a super-lurker) please email me, or contact me through this page so I can get you in on the effort.