Rants, Reviews & wRiting

Rockstar Supernova: Vegas Style

2006-08-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

If I'm gonna wait 6+ months to post, I better have a great story to offer you....

And I do!!!

I went to Vegas last week on vacation. Halfway through the week The Wife and I decided to get some dinner at the Hard Rock cafe and look through the casino. Rockstar Supernova is the current fave reality show of The Wife and just happened to feature Dave Navarro (another of the Wife's faves.) She was kidding around, as we left the casino, that maybe we'd see Dave at the casino, since celebs liked to hang out there at times. I told her Dave was probably busy filming the next episode of RS (I assumed that they were live shows - stupid me.) As we exited the casino The Wife stops to sit on a railing off to the side. I stop and ask her "what's up? why did she stop without telling me?" It was hot and I was irritable. She asked me, "who do you see over there?" I follow her nod and scan the growing crowd. It was Ryan Star from RS. I looked closer and saw that all of the contestants are there. They are getting mic'd up for something. I saw Toby Rand (being my favorite RS right now) and waved him over. I shook his hand and told him that I was rooting for him (that earned me a strange look for the other contestants...Oops.)

Toby talked with us for quite a while before inviting us to a party that they were throwing later that night. He says that he'd be able to "sign us in." All we had to do was knock on the door and ask for him. The RS group had to go do something on the strip so The Wife and I said goodbye and watched them all pile into two black Blazers and head for the strip. The Wife adn I headed back to the Aladdin to catch the show and clean up.

Since we didn't pack any "special" clothes, we had to shop at the stores in our casino to get some dress clothes. After frantically running through the shops (we ended up buying "worn" jeans at the Gap) we headed back to catch the show where ultimately Josh and Jill were given the boot and the other contestants learned that they were going to Vegas with Tommy Lee and Co. (It certainly felt weird watching the show knowing Jill and Josh were getting kicked off and would not be able to go to the Vegas party but I was.) We showered and head back to the Hard Rock. Funny enough we ran into another celeb at the front doors - Mike Tyson!

Ok, so how do we find "the door" Toby was talking about. The Wife flagged down a man (who ended up being the"operations manager" of the hotel - who was extremely friendly and helpful,) and found out that the party was in the penthouse suite. He pointed us in the right direction. Up the elevator, to the 11th floor and to the end of the hall. Turns out we didn't need Toby to sign us in as two security guards had the releases for us to sign. After putting our John Handcocks on the forms The Wife and I were in.

The atmosphere was just what you would expect for a rockstar party, dimly lit, yet gorgeous room complete with a huge hot tub, a built in bar, a bowling lane and the best view of the strip in Vegas. The first RS we ran into was Toby. He was happy to see us, gave both a hug. I asked him if he followed boxing and he said "yes." I then told him that Mike Tyson was in the lobby. He stared at me with a blank look before announcing that he was "so fricken drunk!" We didn't get to talk with him much after that as he was carried away to sleep it off. To bad for me! I didn't get to talk with Lukas much either as the shots he was pounding caught up with him. The rest of the RS crew lasted longer. Dilana was the only other one to be carried off, halfway through a set with Tommy Lee, but she looked more tired than drunk.

Some highlights of the night for me included Tommy Lee spinning records at the DJ booth, playing some pool with Jason, watching the RS crew bowl, meeting all of the contestants, having time to talk to Ryan Star about things other than RS and catching Storm flash Zayra. I especially like Storm's reaction when The Wife told her that she had storms RS version of "Changes" on her ipod. It was a total blast with too many events to write here (this is already getting long.)

But like all rock n roll parties, it got a little out of hand and had to be shut down prematurely aroung half past midnight. I won't say why, but I think you can use your imagination.

It was the highlight of my trip to Vegas and I am still excited about it. Especially after going to www.rockstar.msn.com to watch the webisode of the week and seeing the Wife and I on the video clips (episode 7 part 2).

I didn't win any money in Vegas but I got to go to a party of a lifetime.

Sometimes karma is good!

WarCrack: Chronicles Of An Addict

2006-01-24T10:53:00.000-06:00

My name is Craedus and I am an addict.

Of World of Warcraft that is. Move over Evercrack, here comes Warcrack. I was told last night by The Wife that I am a video game addict. I'd rather stay up late playing online games that to go to bed with her at 9 p.m.

What can I say? WoW is a month old for me. The Wife and I have been together for 6 years. i remember how exciting our relationship was the first few months. The wanting to be together, the butterflies, the lust...ah the good old days*. That's how I feel about WoW. I just can't get enough of it right now.

I'm blazing through a level a day and hope to be level 40 by the end of next week. I want to be able to wear plate armor and ride a mount by then. Hopefully I'll be level 60 by the time I go to Mexico.

I guy can dream can't he? Well, back to the game. I haven't played in the last 8 hours and I feel the withdrawls coming.

Craedus Stonebeard - Level 32 Dwarven Warrior

(*Just for the record I still feel that way about The Wife, but for the sake of comedy I had to write it ;)

Hot Cat On A Tin Roof

2006-01-17T09:23:00.000-06:00

"The cat, the cat, the cat is on fire!"

Yep. It was bound to happen. A household of five cats and a wife with a candle fetish.

The Wife was lying on the couch nursing her bad knee, (she had it scoped 2 weeks ago,) when her "son" Morris came to visit. He jumped onto the coffee table (also home to a large 3 wick Partylite candle) and began to purr and meow to get The Wife's attention. It worked. As she is praising the spoiled brat, he began to wag his tail. Right across the lit candle. Poof!

I tell ya, hair burns fast.....and smelly. The Wife jumped up screaming that the cat was on fire. (yeah I know how that sounds :) She grabbed him by the base of the tail and ran her hand down its length. The flames (and I mean FLAMES) were put out quickly and everything ended without tragedy but Morris lost a big patch of hair and had his pride wounded. And boy did he pout for awhile. Of course in his mind the incident was all my fault (like everything else in the house. He sure hates his Dad.

But I guess he hasn't learned you don't mess with karma. Every hiss, every bite, every time he has attacked me while I've slept at night has added up to the Cat-Who-Started-Himself-On-Fire DAY.

"The cat, the cat, the cat is on fire! We don't have no water, let the MF burn!"

(disclaimer: no animals were harmed during the making of this blog entry)

The Twentieth And Half Again

2006-01-09T12:26:00.000-06:00

Eldre Thalas and Mal'Ganis

I had time to play nboth servers last night. "Care Bear" and "PVP" goodness. I leveled Karianna to 10 and Craedus to 20. I found someone to enchant Craedus' Blackrock Axe to give it blue glow and a higher damage rating. It looks awesome!!!! At level 12 Karianna can get the next teir armor and at level 25 Craedus can begin wearing helmets!

I'll be on either server tonight after 10pm if anyone wants to hook up. Both chaacters are currently in the Stormwind area.

Craedus Stonebeard - Level 20 Dwarven Warrior.

I've Passed The Trial! On With The Quest!!

2006-01-08T17:27:00.000-06:00

My World of Warcraft trial has expired.

I bought myself a retail copy of WoW and now pay a month's subscription fee. And is it worth it. WoW is by far the best Morg I've played to date. Beautiful graphics, engaging storylines and lots of items and quests to keep me busy. You can think of Wow as one part Morg, one part Diablo 2 and one part Plastation2 RPG all rolled into one. Fast paced yet enjoyable.

I currently play a 19th level Dwarven Warrior named Craedus (but of course) on the Eldre Thalas server. It's not a PVP server and, as I was told today, I've been "care bear'd" by playing a nromal BLUE server so not I am also playing one of my back-up characters Karianna, a 10th level Human Paladin on the Mal'Ganis server, which IS a PVP server!

This game is so engrossing that in the last 2 weeks I've poured a large portion of my life into both characters (in comparison to cleaning, working, eating, etc.) WoW is so much fun that I've been neglected my Xbox 360 and Quake 4.

I'm guessing that tis iwll be the best $14.95 a month that I've spent in a long time!

See you in the game!

My New Passion

2005-12-28T21:49:00.000-06:00

WoW rox!!!!

I'm glad I let Mutt talk me into trying World of Warcraft. This s one of the best MMORGs I've played to date. Its beautiful to look at, easy to pick up and fast paced. No more hours of power leveling. There is always a new item, skill or level just around the corner to discver or earn.

If yo haven't tried WoW out yet, download the 10 day trial at Fileplanet for yourself. You'll be glad you did!

Sorry so short but I'm off to kill some more Windingos.

Craedus Stonebeard
Level 10 Dwarven Warrior

The Woes of World Of Warcraft - part 2

2005-12-27T09:18:00.000-06:00

Ugh...

So I get the game installed. It has to patch itself. I have to download the patch (auto updater) then install it (also auto.) Then I have to create my account on the WOW website. Then when I finally log into the game I find out that at 5a.m. PST the servers will go down for 6 hours. That's about 1pm Central. Guess what? I have to work at 1pm.

Sigh.

I day of the 10 day free trial down the drain.....

The Woes Of World Of Warcraft

2005-12-27T08:28:00.000-06:00

Ok, now I'm ready.

Mutt finally talked me into trying out World of Warcraft (and it helped that Fileplanet is offering 10 days of free trial :)
So I go to download the file. At noon I get in line (number 85) and wait. by 1pm I'm downloading...and downloading..and downloading. I have a fast connection but by 6pm I decide to play Dragon Quest 8. I went to bed at midnight accepting the fact that I'd play WoW in the morning.

I wake up early to find a 2.8 gig installer file. WOW! Anyways I go to install but find I need to unzip it first. That takes a half an hour. Then I need to install it. ANother 20 minutes there (at least I have time to read soem of the FAQ files so I don't act like a total NOOB.)

The computer is rebooting right now and I hope to finally play soon. I'll give you a little review once I get into the meat of the game.

Happy gaming!

Ho Ho Holy Crap

2005-12-27T07:21:00.000-06:00

Christmas is over.

I pulled in a lot of loot this year. Santa Claus (a.k.a. Mom) bought me Dungeon Seige 2, Sacred Gold, Sid Meier's Pirates! (for the PC), Radiata Stories (for PS2 and Fire Emblem (for Game Cube). The rest of the family gave me $600+ in gift cards (with almost $500 for Electronic Botique.)

Once I finish Dragon Quest 8 (which is an awesome game) I'll be heading out to spend those gift cards. Yep, they are burning a hole in my pocket.

Merry Christmas to me!

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

2005-12-19T11:58:00.000-06:00

Let the writing begin.

I've finally put down my sword in Runescape and got back to writing. Funny thing about MORGs is that at first they are all consuming. Every waking moment is spent playing them until one day the shine wears off adn you just stop playing. Just like that, nothing. Fortunately for us gamers there is always a new online game to play....like the upcoming D&D Online game. But more on that later.

I've finished a new Monty's Law chapter. #3 is done and ready for reading. For those of you who don't know, Monty's Law is the story of five stereo-typical adventurers. A greedy halfling thief, an elvin mage, the low IQ'd barbarian, etc. I've also finished chapter 84 of the Realm Quest series "Dark God Rising."

I have work up outlines for a new Super Hero series and a post-apocalyptic series. I may even do a Space themed saga in the vein of "Star Wars" or "Battlestar Galactica."

So until the next great thing in gamng comes out, look for more stories from me.

I'll keep you posted.

The Woes That Are Wilma

2005-10-23T20:05:00.000-05:00

Hurricane Wilma is really raining on my parade. Literally.

For our fifth wedding anniversary The Wife and I planned on going to Rivera Maya next February. No Vegas in June, no Florida in August. Something a little less blistering. Just some nice tropical paradise with some swimming, some snorkling, a lot of free beer and some "hot-but-not-to-hot" 90 degree weather. Now the snag.

The first hurricane this summer was a bummer but it didn't do much damage to Mexico just Florida. Then I lucked out last August and fit a trip to Disney in between storms. Then Rita missed Mexico but destroyed New Orleans. I thought I was in the clear, with the end of prime Hurricane season coming up November 1st, when Wilma came along. Unfortunately she decided to sit for 2 days over the Cancun area, just a few miles from Rivera Maya, and dump 40 inches on rain there. The biggest storm of the year decided to attack my choice of vacation spots just 4 months before I go there.

What are the odds that Wilma will leave enough of the tropical resosrt around for me to get there and enjoy some sunshine and R&R? Someone upstaris has been trying their damness to "rain on my parade." I'm been lucky so far. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that my luck lasts just a little bit longer. If there is too much damage to Rivera Maya I might just end up spending a week in February watching "Weekend at Bernie's Part 2" imagining I was in the tropics.

And that would just be wrong!

A Sure Sign That Winter Is Here.

2005-10-23T19:54:00.000-05:00

Winter is coming.

As I sit here and play Runescape (yes that is what i have been doing for the last two months instead of blogging) I look out the window and realize that summer has passed me by and winter is on the way. There are plenty of signs. Sure it could be the leaves turning colors and falling to the ground. It could be the average temperature outside is 45 to 50 degress. It could be the permanent gray color the sky has taken on. But its not.

How do I know that Winter is on its way?

I have the urge to play video games, write that epic novel that's been on my mind all summer, and an over powering urge to blog. The geese get the itch to fly south each fall and I get the bug to blog. There's something about the change of season that drives me indoors. I don't hunt, I don't ski and I definitly don't build snowmen. For me, Winter is about gaming and net surfing.

Another fine sign of the cold weather to come is my new MVP subscription. When I know the time to hole up for the winter has come, I buy my 6 months of MVP and watch all the DVDs I can get my grubby little hands on. Anyone that likes to watch movies I urge them to take a trip to Hollywood Video on Meade and OO and check it out. $10 a month for unlimited rentals. How can you beat that? First up on my list is The Longest Yard and Batman Begins. So....

Winter may suck for me but it means more blogging goodnes for you!

A Plethora of Distractions

2005-08-03T18:15:00.000-05:00

Ok. Why no post in over a month?

I'll tell ya. Distractions. MANY distractions!

First the games. I have been playing Fate which is a serious Diablo clone with a little Rouge through in for good measure, some fishing mini-gaming and a large dose of Nintendo-esque graphics for visual goodness. And another cool thing, when you finish the main quest, you can "retire" you character and start up a new one as a descendant of the original character. You can also pass down one item as an "heirloom" with increased stats. Next is Runescape. Its your basic MMORG that is more crafting than hack n slash. And the best part, it's free. Well most of the game. There are a few abilities and quests that you have to pay for. A whole $5 a month. Awesome time sink. I've also been playing some Xbox and PS2 at the tune of Doom3 and Sudeki and I've just rented Bard's Tale.

Second comes the reading. I've recently finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Not the greatest in the series but it answered a lot of questions about Voldemort and who the bad guys appear to be. I've also kept up on the Deathland books too. I'm reading book 34 and counting.

And speaking of reading books, I have been busy polishing up the writing of the second book of my Realm Quest series. It is taking an extreme amount of time but will be worth it when its done. Then I can finish books 3 & 4.

I've done a few home improvement like laying brick along the plants in the back yard. And now there is a trip to Florida next week. I hope to blog about it as soon as I get back and hopefully get back into the swing of things. Florida in August you say? Well The Wife does like it hot.

Well there you have it. A not-so-glamorous month but a busy month.

Fear not, more sarcasm to come!

The End Of Glam

2005-06-26T10:07:00.000-05:00

*Sigh*

I recently found out how old I'm really getting....

And I found out how outdated my musical tastes are getting too.....

How did I discover all of this out? A little background first. I grew up in the 80's, when MTV was still very young (and actually had music and music videos on it), and listened to a lot of Glam Rock. Music that local radio DJs call "Hair Metal."

Recently, while spending a week in sunny Las Vegas, I went to the Rock Never Stops show at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel. I was really syked about the show since Ratt and Cinderella were two of my favorite Galm bands back in the day. Firehouse and Quiet Riot were there too. Not my favorites but they had a few good singles way back when. I was ready to rock my butt off.

Now for the sad revelations:

1. The Music - unfortunately guys that rocked out incredible, guitar oriented Glam rock in the 80's can't quite achieve the same vibe in the 2000's. I don't know if they are trying to hard, trying to relive the glory days of sex, drugs, and rock n roll (come on, cheesy lyrics about drinking too much and sexing up women, just don't cut it anymore), or just don't have the steam anymore - but the music wasn't the greatest. Some bands played too heavy, others were missing 3 out of 4 of the original members, and a one in particular thought that is was 1983 all over again. Sad indeed. (well, at least KISS is still around. At the rate of their "Farewell Tour" I'll have another 10-20 years to hear their music :)

2. The Women - This one, although a little sad, made me chuckle. When I was a young pup going to Glam shows, it was great to chase around the skinny little blondes wrapped in spandex and had hair Aqua-Netted to the roof. Guess what I saw at the show this week. Those same women only 20 years older :) A thirty something that has a body that's starting to go south is not attractive in skin tight spandex.

3. The Beer - When did it get uncool to get sloppy drunk at a concert, run around screaming like and idiot while headbanging and playing an air guitar? Boy I must be getting old.

4. Me - I didn't drink large amounts of beer. I didn't chase slutty women. I didn't really even bang my head (except for Quiet Riots "Bang Your Head"). And to top it all off, I left just before the encore because my feet where hurting. Yep, I definitely am getting old!

Fortunately I still have the videos and CDs of all my favorite Glam bands. I know now that the genre is never coming back. I guess I'll drag my old self out to the deck, slip on the Ipod, close my eyes and listen all my old favorites and dream about the golden days of Glam.

* fade to old Whitesnake/Tawny video*

Old Cat New Tricks

2005-06-08T11:16:00.000-05:00

You can teach an old cat new tricks!

I think I've just witnessed the strangest and most pathetic Stupid Pet Trick in the world. If you remember my earlier description of The Wife's cat Morris, he's the big, fat orange cat that seems to hate everything that I am. And in sharp contrast he loves everything that The Wife is. Sometimes I think he thinks he's a real boy and The Wife is his mother. He clings to her, talks to her, and protects her, especially when I enter the room. He's fiercely jealous and protective.

Anyways, I head down in the basement to where The Wife is sorting clothes to wash. We have a laundry chute that leads to the basement and ends up in a cupboard like place that holds the dirty laundry. It's bottom is at chin level and it is very deep. So deep in fact that if there is clothes backed up in the chute The Wife can't reach them to pull them out. That's when I have to walk up to the first floor and push the clothes down to her.

So here's where the stupid pet trick comes in. The Wife tells me to watch as she picks up Morris (who is standing at her feet guarding her from me) and places him up into the cupboard. He stares at her purring until she says "get the clothes Morris." He promptly walks to the back of the cupboard, stands up and begins to paw furiously at the clothes that the stuck dangling out of the chute. As the clothes begin to fall out of the chute Morris looks over his shoulder and stares at the Wife beaming with pride. All the while he continues to pull clothes out for The Wife. When he's done he walks to the end of the cupboard and The Wife praises him. He purrs and rubs on her all the while glaring at me as if to say "ha fool, I got the Momma and you don't. I'm the good son!"

God that fat cat can be a bastard!

Star Wars - Episode 3 1/2: The Review

2005-06-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

(short review with spoilers below)

I finally saw it.

Yesterday I went to Regal Theaters at 11 a.m. and saw the final installment of the Star Wars saga (Revenge of the Sith) with 4 other people. They weren't with me (I went alone) but I'm sure they enjoyed the movie (and stretchability of a wide open theater like I did.)

Now on to the movie. I'm happy to say I still get a lump in my throat when the movie opens with blaring trumpets and the Star Wars log blasts onto the scene and quickly fades into the background. I read the opening blurb trail into the background and get ready for something special.

And the intro sequence is special. The opening space battle is well done, reminiscent of Return of the Jedi. I wish there would have been some more dogfighting but the huge Destroyers being blasted around the Jedi was cool. And so was the fight on General Grievous' ship, although a little short.

Then we get into the story. I thought all the dialouge and background between Padme and Anakin and Anakin and the Jedi Council was interesting (and necessary) though it was a little drawn out, especially compared to the opening space battle. I thought Darth Sidious drew Anakin to the Dark Side way to easily, but time is short even in a 2 1/2 hour movie.

It was also neat to see all the loose ends tied up and all the characters that were in the first trilogy shown in this movie (like Chewbacca and a pre-Han Solo Millennium Falcon) even though their cameos felt a little forced. I liked the fact that the Clone Troopers were finally shown without their helmets (sometimes multiple clones at once) to show their human aspect (and face of Jango) instead of just making them cannon fodder.

The end battle between Obi-wan and Anakin was spectacular. The lava filled planet with its fiery explosions was a fitting place for the finale. Maybe leaving Anakin to died wasn't the smartest thing to do but it all made sense. And the fight certainly held my interest even thought I knew what the outcome was going to be.

Something I didn't jive with was the fact that Padme died in child birth. In Return of the Jedi Leia tells Luke that she doesn't really remember her mother who died when she was young. Luke didn't have a memory of her at all. How could Leia "kind of remember" her mother if Padme died in child birth? Was it a Force memory? Some of Lucas' explanations throughout the movie, like this one, seemed forced (no pun intended) but are fufuilling at the same time.

If you don't analyze the movie like I did you'll get a whole lot of entertainment out of it. It's an excellent movie with a lot of fun factor and wraps up Star Wars with a bang.

Go see it. You'll like it!

One Cut All Cut

2005-06-01T08:31:00.000-05:00

I noticed something interesting yesterday.

I think I live in a Stepford community. Maybe I'm a Stepford Husband. That can be the only explanation. I go out to cut the lawn at 9 a.m. and within 15 minutes a few of the neighbor guys are cutting their lawns. They by noon the rest of them are. Is there a bunch of wives sitting in their houses with remote controls pushing the "cut lawn" button because they saw me beat them to the punch?

Or is it just a case of "keeping up with the Jones?" No one wants there lawn to look shabby next to their neighbor's fresh cut lawn? I'm not sure but the "one cut all cut" behavior is just darn funny.

Maybe I'll paint my house purple and see what happens :)

5 Cats On A Hot Tin Roof

2005-05-27T16:05:00.000-05:00

Well, rubber actually.

My garage has a flat topped roof. On top of that flat roof is a small deck roughly 10 feet by 16 feet. Recently I put a wrought iron railing around it to make it more functional. Now I can go out there and have a drink without fear of falling off and plunging to the not-so-soft ground below (or worse, onto the decorative fence The Wife wanted.) It's great to sit out there, on the recliner under the umbrella and watch the world go by while writing a bit of creative wordplay.

I have 5 boys that like to enjoy the deck too. And they are fearless. They have no qualms about running in and out of the railings or along the gutters or peering over the edge of the roof. Yep, I'm talking about those silly cats of mine. Morris, Tazmania, Jersey, Jasper and Jynx. They love nothing more than running out the door and onto the roof to catch leaves and chase bugs. Normally these cats are afraid to go outside but I think they regard the deck as just another room in the house. One large and airy room with a great view.

Morris usually lounges about taking in some fresh air, warming his fat orange body. Tazmania pulls the dead leaves from under the deck and the gutter and promptly eats them all. He's like a Seagull - he'll eat anything. Jersey follows the other cats, only being brave when he is with his brothers. (Safety in numbers I guess.) Japser (a.k.a. Spider cat) runs around the deck chasing bugs and leaves and dust motes. Occasionally a bird will land in the tree nearby and Jasper will go into stalking mode. One of these days I'm afraid that he is going to do a Scooby Doo right off the end of the roof in an attempt to catch a bird. Jynx just slinks cautiously around the roof. He recently mustered up the courage to come out on the deck (and by that I mean The Wife picked him up and carried him out there :) Once upon a time Jynx caught what he thought was a fly on the deck, which turned out to be a wasp. He got bit on the paw and has equated that pain to to being outside ever since. But once the Wife dragged him outside, he found that its not so bad.

I have to tell you how fun it is to watch the expressions on the faces of people who walk by. Can you image walking down the street, hear a noise, and look up to see a pack of cats running around the roof of the neighbors garage?

Some of the double takes I see are classic!

It Could Be Worse, It Could Be A Pain In My A$$

2005-05-14T23:07:00.000-05:00

It's a pain in my back.

Just another sign that I'm getting older. Each year things seem heavier, take more energy to do and overall just make me feel weaker. Hangovers last longer and the fun to suffering ratio is less balanced (now in favor of suffering the day after.) It takes longer to heal and my hair is thinner every year.

Here's the sitchy. The Wife came home the other day and saved me from a long day of trying to fix the hard drive on my Imac. I stood up to take a break and stretch. As I stretched arms over my arched back in a relatively good imitation of our cats, I felt a pop in my neck and shoulder area. No problem. I've learned that I am getting more creaking in my old age, almost as if my rubber bands are stiffening up. Well a few minutes later my neck feels sore. Nothing too bad just a gentle reminder that the muscles there are getting tired and aren't feeling 100%. So I go to bed that night and sleep alright. The next day I awake to find that the Pain Fairies have visited me during the night. My neck is stiff and a fiery pain runs down my back just under the right shoulder blade.

All this from a small pop? That was a few days ago. Since then it has spread down my right arm and turned into a dull pain. Maybe there is only so much pain to go around and my body parts have to share it, making it seem lessened in a way. Great, another thing that I'm starting to lose :)

I should be happy though. A pain in the neck is less painful than the headache I get with dealing with some of the less than intelligent people at work that just "don't get it," and less painful than the pain in my a$$ that I get when deal with others at work that seem to "get everything" and "know it all."

I always wondered about the crooked way that my father walked when he was getting older and the way his back always hurt. I remember thinking, "is it really that bad?" Well now I know, it probably is going to be that bad. I'm thirty-something now and I'm starting to feel it. What the heck is fifty-something going to feel like?

Where's that fountain of youth when you need it?

The Boob Tube has Me In A Boob Mood

2005-05-11T19:34:00.000-05:00

How much TV can one guy watch?

I worked 11-7 last night and decided to stay up this morning instead of taking a nap. The Wife doesn't like this cuz she says it makes me crabby and a bear to be around.

Anyways I had these big aspirations of finishing a short story that I am working on (and maybe post parts to the blog.) First I had to fix my Imac. It has been losing power and shutting off at random intervals lately. Any time between 5 minutes and 1 hour. Irritating to say the least. Monday I called Apple and they gave me a quick fix. I repaired my permissions (Apple speak for fixing errors) but it didn't work. Today I spent over 2 hours on the phone with Apple with the techie walking me through various Hardware tests. End results? A fubar'd Hard Drive. It is totally shot. They are speed delivering me a new one tomorrow. Good news: my warranty saved me $500 on a new 250 Gig internal hard drive. Back news: I lost everything on the old hard drive. 4000+ songs in itunes gone :(

So 3 hours behind schedule I whip out the notes for my short story "Bandersnatch" and start writing. It was a no go from the start. Half an hour into it I was getting tired and felt less than creative. Even music couldn't help me. So I try and surf the 'net. Nada. In a last ditch attempt to avoid a nap (which was what I should have done in the first place), I turned on the TV.

I watched some Will&Grace, a new CSI I had on the DVR, National Treasure, MR 3000 and Pirates of the Caribbean (thank god for MVP at Hollywood Video! Thanks Mutt!!) Now I feel like my brain has turned to mush. I've gone beyond couch potato. I actually had to pry myself off the futon and type this post in hopes of jump starting my brain. I don't even feel like gaming on my Playstation! OH PLEASE GOD, STOP THE MADNESS!!!!

Seriously, if I don't stop watching TV I'm going to explode. About the only thing I could stomach right now is watching Star Wars - A New Hope (which is by far the best Star Wars movie to date.) Hey, maybe I just need to eat something. Oh yeah, there's an idea, add food to the couch potato equation. Then I'll look like the pre-Subway Jared in no time!

Well, gotta go, I hear the start of That 70's Show (I'm such a sucker!)

To Edge Or Not To Edge. That Is The Question.

2005-05-09T14:45:00.000-05:00

If I knew what I was getting into. I'd say "Not to Edge!"

Spring is in full bloom and Summer is on its way. Being the first really nice weekend after May 1st, and with the coming of Mother's Day and all the plant sales going on, The Wife's annual, "fix-up-the-yard" day has come. Besides planting her flowers (I sure probably rant here to make it seem like I don't like planting flowers - just to prove I'm a man - but I won't. I actually like to grow things.) she had a few home improvements for me to do.

Besides laying down 16 bags of bark and planting all those flowers, I had to edge the lawn. I borrowed a hand edger from my Dad and got ready to do some edging. Remember, I live on a big corner lot with sidewalks that were poured in the 70's. And I don't think they have been edged since then. 15 minutes after starting I realized how much trouble I'd gotten into. Cutting through 30+ years of built up mud and grass and growth gave me a sore back and blisters on my hands. Who would have imagined how hard a little trimming of the lawn was going to be?

I can't get the rest of the lawn to grow and it comes up all spotty where I plant grass seed but the edges along the sidewalk grow like crazy. Go figure!?! Four long hours after I had started I had the lawn edged. What I ended up with was a 100 foot long piece of sod. Wide and Thick sod. The one good thing came out of this. I was able to use that sod to fill in the holes that the rabbits made this spring and around the bushes where my new grass seed wouldn't take.

It's fun to update the house and the lawn looked great once I was done but man, what a chore. Before and after was alright but during was a beotch! I'm hoping that I don't have to do this every year, or at worse just have to do a minor improvement each year. Hacking through that jungle wasn't fun. It almost makes me want to hire someone to do it next time. But that would cost probably too much. Someone isn't going to do it just for fun.

Oh well. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side :)

When Song Birds Sing, Why Do They Fall In Love?

2005-05-09T08:02:00.000-05:00

I have to share this with you.

You know in the old movies when a pretty woman would walk past a construction site and the men working would ogle her. There would be cat-calls and that certain whistle as she strutted away. Let's focus on that whistle. Let's call it the "sexy whistle."

I was laying in bed this morning listening to The Wife get ready for work. She was doing her rounds, checking on the pets, when she got to the bids. We have 4 of them. A Lovebird and 3 cockatiels: 2 females and 1 male. One of the females (Spooky) has is wings and flies around the house the other female (Bela) and the male (Foster) are clipped. They usually spend the day sitting on their cages singing to one another. Foster can talk a little and knows over a dozen different whistles and songs.

Well, spring fever hit a month ago and Foster fell in love with Bela, and has been doing his thing lately. Fearing an egg explosion (we recently went for a pair of Finches to 16 of them in less that a year) The Wife has been trying to discourage Foster's mating behaviors.

So today as I laid there and listened to my wife talk with the birds I hear the now familiar mating song. Foster and Bela were chirping away as they did their business. I hear The Wife scold Foster and the birds stop to focus on her instead. "Stop that Foster," I hear the Wife say, "why do you have to do that to Bela?" And in immediate response Foster does the "sexy whistle." It was too funny. I was so amused that I couldn't get back to sleep. I had to get up and blog it.

Now I know what songbirds sing about!

The Sounds Of Summer

2005-05-08T17:49:00.000-05:00

Summer has it's own unique set of sounds.

It's one of the signs that herald the coming of warm weather. Let me name a few.

1. Screaming, yelling adolescent children that seem to flood the streets after dark. They insist on marching up and down my street in large mobs, the boys talking "jive" and using the "f-word" a lot and the girls screeching at the top of there lungs like vocal exclamation points. They're like: "Betty likes Michael but Michael likes Alicia but Alicia hates them both. Oh-my-god! Can you believe that!?!" I can believe it's 1 A.M. and I have to get up early and go to work. Shut up for God's sake! Why are these 13 & 14 year olds out after midnight ?!?

2. Loud stereos that I can heard through three panes of glass. The hot rods are out and the music is cranked up. If I can hear the music through you car window and through the 2 panes of glass in my storm windows then it's too loud. When did ear bleeding rap begin to equal cool? (Actually nowadays that would be "phat" and not "cool".)

3. The loud "clinkity clank" coming from Prestige Auto a block away. It obviously gets hot in a body shop, cuz the minute the temperature gets even close to 70 Prestige has their main garage door opened allowing everyone an eye full of what they are doing and an earful of the racket that it causes. The best part is Wednesday night around 11 P.M. when they beat on their stock car to get it ready for race night at WIR. And when they rev the engine up three or four times in a row just to make sure every thing is working right.

4. The Fourth of May. And June and July and August.... How do people get a hold of fireworks in May? Do they drive to Tennessee to get them? Is there an "ice cream" truck that delivers explosives instead of Drumstick and Dreamsickles? And why celebrate the Fourth of May? I love getting woken up to the sound a single firecracker exploding every thirty seconds for 2 hours straight.

5. My favorite, the house party that I wasn't invited to. I have a pair of over zealous 18 neighbors that think every Saturday in the summer is for calling a few hundred of their closest friends over for an all night party. They may not work on the weekends but I do. Nothing like waking up at 2 A.M. to listen to the drunken ramblings of 30 pre-college teens whining about the woes of life. Have you ready had that much life experience by 18? Did you experience such life altering events in high school? Just imagine how life will feel when you are thirty something with a dead-end career that makes you work on the weekends and you get woken up by the neighborhood party squad.

Yep, I can hear it now. Summer is in full swing!

Deck The Walls With Wrought Iron Railing

2005-04-17T08:41:00.000-05:00

Another project done.

And just in time for summer. With the help of my Father-In-Law (he's the handy man in the family -- I'm just the computer geek in the family) we got the deck above my garage done. I have an old 1930's character house with a flat top garage. On top of the garage is an old wooden deck with no walls or railing. It was functional but add a little horseplay or too many brewski's could have turned everything into doomsday. It was an insurance person's walking nightmare. So The Wife wanted it fixed so that we could actually use it and invite people over to join us (well, ok, it's mainly for us but we share on occasion.)

So the Father-In-Law measured things up, bought the supplies and brought them over the following weekend with a truck load of tools. I was in for a few surprises. The first one was the physical effort involved. Let me tell you, years of honing my body up in front of the TV playing video games didn't get me ready for passing hundreds of pounds of wrought iron from the ground level to the top of a garage. I had to lean over the edge of the roof and grab the railing pieces left handed (I'm a righty and was using that hand to hold myself up) and lift them up the the top of the garage. I sure was stiff the next day. I used muscles that I never knew existed. Then anchoring all those posts into the steel lining around the edge of the roof, and cutting the railing sections, aligning the railings and shifting the deck to properly place the posts.

Ok, ok, the work load was probably 80/20 the first day with the Father-In-law doing most of the work, but just because I really had no idea what I was doing. I probably could have gotten the railing done but it would have taken me all summer and turned out uneven, not level and very wobbly. The second day went better with more 50/50 work happening. The Father-In-Law did the precision work (sawing, drilling, measure etc) and I did more of the grunt work (bolting, screwing (the bolts not that other FUN activity,) lifting, etc.). We pulled a late one the second day and got the entire railing done. So, the second surprise was how easy the project really was, once I stood back and looked at the whole thing. I still had to anchor the posts down and tighten all the bolts. As a matter of fact I still have to paint the whole thing.

But all-in-all the hardest thing was this weekend when The Wife had to "accessorize" the deck. Yep, we had to go out shopping for rocker/swivel deck chairs, a table, and umbrella/awning, candles, lamps, a cushion chest, you name it. During this process you don't go out, find what you like, and then buy it. You have to go to every store because the even thought one store has exactly what you "think" you want, the very next store might have something even better. We started at K-mart in Oshkosh (because one of her friends recommended that atore for their great selection of deck furniture (NOT!)) and ended up going through Appleton and to Darboy hitting every Menard's, Home Depot, Shopko and Taget on the way.

Of course the second store we stopped at had everything we ended up buying (after a half-dozen stops at various other stores). I have to admit that the deck does look great the way The Wife decorated it. And I even got to get one of those metal Corona buckets that you add ice and a few longnecks to and so that you can sit out on your deck (or the beach) and watch the world go by while drinking a few cold ones.

Yep summer is going to be good this year with my new relaxation spot finished. Now if I can only get my exercise program going so that I can walk off all this beer and laziness I will most definitely enjoy this summer.

Cheers.

The World's Worst April Fool's Joke

2005-04-03T08:57:00.000-05:00

Well, the worst for me anyways.

As you read in the last post no one tried to "get" me this year. How disappointing.

That got me thinking back to all the April Fool's Jokes I endured over the years and I came up with my all time worst.

Here goes. I once dated this woman in my "barfly" years that was randy-as-a-minx if you know what I mean ;) She loved her after bar parties for two and I was at the age to oblige her. Being the cautious guy I am I always protection myself to avoid all those possible "mistakes" and "oops" that could occur.

So we were getting along good, thinking about moving in together when April 1st rolls around. She comes over looking all depressed. I ask her what's wrong and in a solemn, soft voice she breaks the news to me. She's pregnant. All sorts of chaotic thoughts whirl through my head. "What am I going to do?" "How did this happen, I was so careful?" "Is my life over or just beginning?" So she lets it sink in and frazzle me for almost 15 minutes before smiling and laughing and announcing "April Fool's!!!" I wanted to strangle her right there. Fortunately for her I was more relieved than angry.

Needless to say I eventually married a different woman. Ms. April Fool's has long since been a memory and that there wasn't any more "after bar parties for two" after her April Fool's Joke.

Maybe I should be happy no one tried to "get" me this year.

The End Of A Lot Of Things

2005-04-03T08:41:00.000-05:00

One man's ending is another man's beginning???

It was pointed out to me, by a certain other Blogger that just happens to manage the local video store (yeah, you know who you are,) that I seem to be tapering off with my posts. That I, in fact, have burnt myself out by posting to much in the beginning. Well, I guess that he was right. I still enjoy posting but I guess the newness has worn off. Maybe quality is better than quantity. (well, unless we are talking about paychecks and the amount that's on it.) So, here is our first "end", the end of frequent postings. I'll still post, but with the coming of spring, probably less frequent.

That leads me into end #2. (see how convenient that was :) The end of Winter. I truly think
the end of nasty, cold @ss weather and SNOW is here. Its been in the 40's and 50's for a week now with nights rarely falling below freezing. Yeah, yeah I know there is probably a day of surprise snow out there, and it will happen after we have been spoiled by a few weeks of mild weather, but I think the reign of King Winter is over. Heck, I have tulips coming up now and you all know that Mother Nature doesn't lie. Just look up in the sky and watch all the geese flying north for a change.

And then there was end #3, the end of March. Two things to say on this subject. The last day of March was mild, in the 40's, a bit cloudy and patches of drizzle (fo' shizzle.) So what does that equal? A lamb by comparison to all the crappy weather in March or Lion compared to what Spring will bring. Can a March start with a Lamb and end with a Lamb? Now you can see why I'm not a weatherman. Rock is wet, it must be raining, rock is warm, it must be sunny out. The second thing about the end of March, what a disappointing April Fool's Day. Not one trick was played on me this year. At least someone could have tried, even half heartedly to get me. *Sigh* my childhood must be over. Well, I may BE old but I don't FEEL old.

And that brings us to the last end. The end of this posting.

END

F is for Funeral

2005-03-25T16:16:00.000-06:00

This is funny and not so funny at the same time.

It might be taboo to joke around about funerals but there was some interesting things that happened at the funeral that I attended today. Overall things at a funeral are sad and somber and a very "PC" environment. Everyone is on their best behavior. Still I found myself lost in thought, experiencing things that could only be funny and sarcastic in my mind at a time of complete sincerity.

Here goes.

When I first got to the church with The Wife I gravitated towards my brother-in-law (like I always do - he is married to The Wife's sister so he is an import to the family like I am) to see how his day was going. No one talks sincerely at a funreral, ignoring the painfully obvious reason why they are there, and usually ending up talking about the weather or the Packers or something insignificant at the moment like that. He has 2 sons, Devil Children, that never behave. So as I talk with him the youngest of the two, the 5 year old, snuck over to the open casket and peers in at dear departed Grandama (The Wife's grandma) and asks "where's her legs? Are they in there?" So after explaining that the rest of great grandma in under the unexposed part of the casket he continues on saying that great-grandma's hands look like plastic. He is quickly shooed away by embarrassed parents.

Everyone is seated and the funeral starts. Everyone is subjected to the "work out program" as The Wife puts it, having to stand up and sit down every few minutes. In my mind I instantly give the preacher the nick name "Reverend Slim Shady" who keeps asking us to "please stand up, please stand up!"

Another thing that struck me as odd was every time they sung a song. The lady behind the microphone kept telling us what page to turn to in the Musica song book. "Please turn to hymn 326, 326 please, 326." A few reading later its was 509, then 104. After the third time I had the urge to stand up and shout "BINGO!"

Then there is the whole eating-the bread, drinking-the-wine and lighting the incense. Food, drink and smoke. What kind of church is this? I'm catholic, but not practicing catholic as you can tell by reading this, but still, what a strange religion.

So before you think I'm a heathen, I did pay my respects to a 95 year old woman who offered a great deal over the years and help create an excellent family.

God bless her.

When It Rains, It Pours!

2005-03-14T15:34:00.000-06:00

Have you ever had this feeling?

You just couldn't wait to get back to work? I bet I could count on one hand the number of times I felt like this. This weekend was one of those times. Just for the sake of my sanity and the sheer amount of money I'd save if I weren't sitting at home was enough to make me wish I could go back to work.

Here's the situation. I recently had my work schedule changed to 7-4 day shift, Monday through Friday. I've learned to look forward to my weekends off. I get to do whatever I want, which usually means typing on the computer or some long anticipated gaming. This weekend I got to do neither.

Saturday morning The Wife announces that the Sump Pump is making a weird humming noise. I pry myself away from the computer to find that the motor in the Sump Pump has burnt out. Having approximately 1% mechanical skill in my whole body, we call in my Father-in-law, the world's greatest "Mr. Fixit." He diagnoses that we indeed need a new Sump Pump. We go to Ace Hardware, get a new pump, start to install it and find that the little "u" piece at the bottom of the pump is not compatible with the old drainage pipe. We go back to Ace at 5:05pm and find that they are closed. Crap. After begging our way in we get the right part and go back home to install it. A 5 minute job turns into an hour job and a major jury rigging. The father-in-law finally got the job done (again) and disaster was averted. I calmed down and went back tot he computer.

Sunday morning The Wife and I ran some errands and returned home about noon to find that out whole area of town was the victim of a mysterious power failure. No power in the house and no heat. So we decide to shop a little more instead of staying in a powerless home. By the time we got back a few hours later the power was back on. So we go around the house to reset clocks and such. I turn on both of my computers (which were running when the power went out) to find that my new Imac wouldn't load. Yep, you guessed it. The power surge fried my computer. 5 months old and its toast (no pun intended.) I spend over 5 hours trying to trouble shoot the darn thing before giving up and surrendering the computer to a more kowlegeable person. It is currently sitting at a friend's house (who is a Mac guru) who thinks he can resurrect it in about a weeks time. If not, I will be dipping into the piggy bank again!

So you see, this weekend was a bust. It cost me a lot of time and $$$ and made me into a nervous wreck. Thank god I returned to work and enjoy a bit of normalcy.

Hopefully this is the last time I wish for work for a long, long time!

Parade Of Pets - Part 1: The Cats

2005-03-10T16:48:00.000-06:00

My Cats.

Well actually The Wife's cats (and my one cat)

We have a virtual zoo in our house including 5 cats, an assortment of over 20 birds and a guinea pig. Some days its a chore just to feed them and clean up after than. (Thank God The Wife takes care of most of that. I give them the lovin' and the Wife scoops the poop :)

So, let's introduce the cats....

Cat #1: Morris (a.k.a. Big Moe, Ho Moe, Fat @ss, Fat Boy, Sir Marmalade Fatty Cats, Orange Cat Marmalade, etc.)

Morris is a big orange tabby that looks just like Morris of the Nine Lives fame. He always has an ornery look on his face, walks around like his poop doesn't stink and hates me. He acts like a little boy around The Wife, like he is he son, but despises me. Oh yeah, he has munchkin legs that looks even shorter compared to his fat body! He is a treat stealer and prances around like a little prince when wearing his collar. This cat is definitely The Wife's cat. She brought him with her when we got married.

Cat #2: Tazmania (a.k.a Tazzy, T-Rex, Tazzy Joe, Cat Head, Fat @ss, Speed Bump, etc)

Tazmania is a huge gray tabby that has black stripes. And when I say huge I'm talking 26+ pounds. Not muscle but fat. Solid fat. When he lays on his side be looks like a seal or a beached whale. He's so fat that when laying down his top legs don't lay flat. They just stick out in the air. Also his tail is unusually short and stubby. He is always dirty and smells. I don't think I have ever seen him lick himself clean. Some of the other cats do but I think that is because they can't stand the smell either. He is constantly shedding, to the point that I'm surprised he isn't bald by now. He also has a foot fetish. He relished in rubbing The Wife's and my feet. And for some strange reason he gets a kick out of chasing shadows?!? I inherited this cat in the marriage when he took a shine to me.

Cat #3 Jersey (a.k.a Donkey, Kong, DKNY, Doodles, Honky Donk, The Prince, etc.)

Jersey is a Tuxedo cat, half black and half white with symmetrical white spots that split his face. He is a pretty cat with silky hair. He has a sway back that waddles when he walks making him look like Eore the donkey from Winnie the Pooh. He has this habit of licking everything: your hand, other cats, your food that is left unattended, the wall, the floor, door jams, etc. He is a 'fraidy cat, scared of everything including strangers, the vacuum and the microwave and tends to cower under the blanket on our bed. Like I wouldn't notice a 19 pound lump under an otherwise smooth, flat bed spread. He is my one and only cat. I picked him out and paid for him with my own money. All 3 dollars.

Cat #4 Jynx (Fink, Finkenstein, Finky, Fink Dink, Stinkin' Fine, Finkenstein Half Past Nine, etc.)
You've already read about this strange cat (last month's post.) He is shaped like a weasel with a long wiry tall and slanted oriental eyes (his Siamese heritage.) This cat is a mere 10 pounds at the age of almost 3 years old. He is half white and half red (orange to non-cat people) and has many strange habits. He is withdrawal in lighted areas and cuddly in the dark. He is very vocal and paces our dark, dank basement looking for things that are invisible to The Wife and I. Jasper is his brother. The Wife and I got this guy together. He has yet to pick a favorite between the two of us.

Cat #5 Jasper (Jasper Neenies, Neeno's, Japper, etc.)

This cat is almost a twin of Fink (same colorings) expect that Jasper is a true cat. Big round curious eyes, thick fluffy hair and a curiosity that is going to use up his nine lives. He is the curious one and the most vocal with a screeching, piercing meow. He has bursts of energy that would rival nuclear power plants. For some reason this cat fears the ceiling fan and will hide for days if you turn it on. He is very finicky and will not eat cat treats!?! When he lays on the floor its like a steam roller ran him over. Flat as a board. The Wife and I got this guy together. I'd say he is more my cat than the Wife's just because she refuses to like this cat.

Well, that's my cats in a nutshell. They are strange enough separately but together its a like a crazy farm. But I love my 5 little hairballs. I'll post more about the individual cats after I post about our aviary.

The cats would like to say goodbye now.

Meow, meow, meow, meow, Meow.

Mack Duz Knot Eekwal Spelin'

2005-03-04T15:32:00.000-06:00

Just thought I''d let you know something.

I have a Mac and a PC desktop. I use whatever computer is free at the time to type my posts on this blog. For some reason I can't use bold, italics, or the underline text functions, nor do I get an option to use spell check (also with my Mac you can't set up a new blog, only my PC - which means I need to set it up on a PC and then post on the Mac.)

What all of this means is that If I post a message with my Mac there may be numerous spelling errors. I do re-read my posts before publishing them, but sometimes errors slip through.

Remeber, a little understanding goes a long way.

A Wonderful Wife-less World

2005-03-03T16:07:00.000-06:00

What would you do with a day all to yourself?

Here's the drill. The Wife has to go out of town for the night on business. That means from Thursday morning to Friday night I'm on my own. Besides eight hours work in the morning I'll be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'll be a bachelor for a day.

Here's what I figure will happen. I'll get home from work and jump immediately on the computer to download a few things, check my email and browse a little (besides coming here to rant a little.) Then I'll cook a little something to eat. And what I mean by that is I'll rummage through the the Fridge to find the easiest thing to make. Not having to prepare my food is a plus (I don't want cooking time to cut into fun time) but I might take 10 minutes to cook a pizza. That's another thing, anything I make will be totally bad for my health. Chips & dip, some cheese spread and crackers, a pizza...all great for the heart. So I'll down the whole pizza while sitting in front of the TV watching a taped episode of Will & Grace or Scrubs or CSI. When that's all done I'll probably turn on the Playstation 2 and start a quest on LOTR: Third Age. By the time that's done I'll be running late for the Union Meeting I have to go to tonight (I'm a Union Steward at work.) I'll go there and listen to the minutes, participate in the meeting and then stay after to eat the free food and drink the free beer. I'll shoot the bull for too long with my friends and drink too much beer. I'll make it home late and just have to stay up to finish that quest on the PS2 I started earlier. By then I'll be late to bed and sleep in the following morning. I'll get to work at the last minute and be hung over all day. By the end of the day I'll wish that The Wife was back and I wouldn't have to be a bachelor anymore!

Sometimes doing whatever I want to do, whenever I want isn't always the best idea. Bachelorhood was fun when I was younger but now its good to have a voice of reason in the form of The Wife. Beside, It's nice to be taken care of sometimes.

But still, if I finish typing right now I might be able to fit in a little gaming before that meeting...

366 Days A Year.

2005-03-02T15:29:00.000-06:00

Yep, I get an extra day this year.

Here's how.

The Wife has this little knick-knack thingy hanging by the back door. It's for hanging our keys on so that I don't misplace mine and go rummaging through the house in the morning, when I am 5 minutes late for work, and ranting angrily the entire time. This key rack has a shelf on it. On the shelf is four small wooden blocks and a plaque. The plaque has whatever month it is written on it and the four blocks are painted, two with seasonal pictures and the other two with a combination of number so that the date can be spelled out with them.

It's The Wife's self-appointed job to keep the date "up to date." If it was up to me it would be "Januray 1st" all year long. The Wife does her job so effiecently that sometimes she confuses me. Since she is on straight Day Shift, I figured she would change the "date" right before bed time. Nope. She usually changes it when she gets home from work. I'd come home after her and find that the "knick knack calendar" actually read the date for the next day. Talk about losing track of time.

Now to the point. Yesterday I woke up, fed the cats and found that the calendar read February 29th. The 29th? What the heck? How long was I sleeping? It's not Leap Year, that was last year. Well, The Wife remembered to changed the date, like she has for the last three years or so, but forgot to change everything to the next month. Oops. I, ofcourse, had to tease her and point out her error. We laughed about it (since she had realized what she had done before I had a chance to confront her) and then I took it one step further. I told her not to fret about it. While it was March 1st for everyone else, it was February 29th for us. We got to enjoy and extra day this year. It's like our own private day, our own private Leap Year. I spent the extra day playing Playstation. And The Wife ended up working an extra day. Heh.

Every action has it's consequence.

In Like A Lamb?!?

2005-03-01T18:36:00.000-06:00

March is here.

And I think I came in like a lamb. Your remember the old saying. "In like a Lion out like a Lamb" or "In like a Lamb and out like a Lion." Today started out obnoxiously cold and bitter. I was shoveling (again) at 7am and it was just plain frigid out. That's definitely "lion" but then this afternoon when I went to return my movies and get new ones (I ended up with 3 chic flicks for The Wife - Love Actually, Little Black Book and Wicker Park - hrmm...) it was nice out. It got warm enough to melt a teenie weenie bit of snow. That is defenitely "Lamb." So I'm thinking that since the day ended up on "Lamb" that's what we will call it.

Besides, even if March starts out as a Lamb (or lion for that matter,) the month is going to end up Lamb. It always seems to be relatively nice at the end of March. It's not always Spring but it feels warmer. And even though we get a little snow in April, it is mostly cold, dreary and rainy. But not as cold as February. That means the wet, rainy, muddy season will be upon us. And with that rain comes the greenery. Grass grows, flowers bloom and I can fill my bird feeder and get all the wild finches to come back.

*sigh* I get ahead of myself though. I'm sure the Wisconsin has at least one big snow storm yet.

I just though of something. January 1st is New Year's Day, March 1st is Lion/Lamb Day, April 1st is April Fool's Day and May 1st is May Day. So why is Groundhog's Day on February "2nd"? Why not February 1st???

Just some food for thought.

Help! I'm Trapped Inside My PS2!!!

2005-02-28T08:19:00.000-06:00

Video games rule!

I'm not saying that as a generalization. They rule.

I had an entire weekend off of work recently and I never made it to the Web to update this blog because of a video game. The PS2 is so powerful it pulled me away from reality for 2 1/2 days. It's like video games are a giant black hole and their gravitational pull sucks me into this video heaven that is filled with electronics - video game machines, CDs filled with CRPG wonder and a realm full of caffeinated sodas and sugary snacks!

Contrary to most of the reviews I read on the internet I bought a copy of Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age. (and why not, I got a new copy for 24.99 at Electronic boutique.) As a roleplaying game its pretty good. The story is pretty decent and the gamplay is fun. But what really wowed me was the cinematics (actually bits from the three movies with new voice overs from Gandalf himself - to tell the game's story,) and the graphics. The characters and surround landscapes look as if they were ripped right from the movie. They are near perfect in quality. And the locations are very, very similar to the movies (which were very, very similar to the book's locations.)

The story is very linear with your group of premade characters following right behind the events of the movies/books. In turn based combat you have to hack your way through hordes of goblins, orcs, worgs and boss monsters (like trolls and water beasts of Moria) while exploring the countryside looking for ways to "solve/finish" the game's main quest. (There is supposed to be an "evil mode" where you can play as baddies like the Barlog. Kewl!) I'm only about 10% through the game and I am mesmerized. Boy were the critics wrong on this one. I'm glad I took a chance on it!

But getting back to the point, video games consume me. By the time I am done with this game (which I'll fly through with reckless abandon,) I'll be tired, hungry and unwashed. And I'll find that a week of my life has passed by in a blur. I can image some invader from outer space trying to lure me out of the safety of my house with a trail of video games and controller cords.

Its been a long and winding road from the early days with my Atari 2600, through the various Nintendo game systems down to the forthcoming Playstation 3 and I've come to realize that video games are my fix. Computers may be my daily bread but when I want that occasional jolt of excitement I turn to a good PS2 game.

God bless Sony!

Snow Go Bye-Bye???

2005-02-25T13:55:00.000-06:00

Remember all that snow I was ranting about earlier in the week?

Well, I noticed on the way to work this morning that it was no longer in sight. That's right, it's now buried under an inch or two of new powder. Now I have the pleasure of treading across a few inches of fluffy, powdery snow layered over the top of an inch of ice.

Yee Haa! What an adventure that was. I hope that the temperature stays in the 20's so that I can enjoy sliding to work across unshovelled, packed down, iced over walkways during the weeks to come. I really miss spring.

Bring on the green stuff!!

"Odd Thomas" - book review #1

2005-02-23T07:09:00.000-06:00

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

Normally I'm a big Stephen King fan when it comes to horror fiction. Some of King's earlier works like It and The Stand were masterpieces. There were many, many more but as time went on I found that his work went from the supernatural to more mundane, more toward the inner workings of the human mind. These were still as good but not what I was weaned on.

It was the opposite with Koontz (who was Dean R.) back then. I read House of Thunder and was not that moved. Maybe the lack of supernatural (as compared to the stuff from King I was reading at the time) really put me off his work. Then I read By The Light of the Moon and was surprised at how Koontz's writing had evolved. I was pulled back into his style and by reading a little blurb of Odd Thomas in an issue of Maxim, I decided to pick up a copy of OT. Maybe it was as good as the King I remember. Maybe better.

OT is a wonderful book. It might feel a little strange reading it (and with a small amount of adjustment needed to do so) because the entire story is narrated by the main character Odd Thomas with occasional dialogue from his friends. This will be explained within the story. OT will introduce you to his special world. He can see the dead. All of the restless spirits of his little town of Pico Mundo interact with him wordlessly on a daily basis. Sometimes they are destructive, just looking to vent on poor Odd, or other times, the spirit of Elvis, King of Rock N Roll, just come for a little comfort. Many times spirits come to Odd for a little help. They need some resolution to help them move on to the next world. This is were Odd comes to the rescue. He is charged with the responsibility to finding out how to get the spirit to move on.

Surrounded by a host of friends and family including an author named Little Ozzie, who has six fingers on one hand, Stormy, the woman he is destiny to be with forever, the chief of police and his insane mother, Odd has to discover the source of his most recent nightmare, the sudden appearance of the demonic bocah, and the origins of a strange man new to their community. Can Odd avert an impending disaster? Will August 15th be a bloody day in Pico Mundo history. Or is this all just a byproduct of his strange abilities? You'll have to read Odd Thomas to find out.

The King is Dead. Long live the king!

The Answer Is....

2005-02-22T19:30:00.000-06:00

38 degrees.

That's how warm it has to be to melt the snow on my neighbor's sidewalks (see pervious post.)

The problem now is that a few inches of the original snow melted in the fleeting sunshine to create huge puddles of gray slush, which promptly turned into ice with the falling temperatures. The good news though is that I was able to slide all the way to work, cutting my travel time in half.

Like I said before, I can't wait until Spring.

How Warm Does It Actually Have To Be To Melt Snow?

2005-02-21T16:52:00.000-06:00

I'm not a winter person.

If I was into skiing or snowmobiling or ice skating, then maybe. I don't like the cold and I don't like the snow. Sure I'm as festive as the next person. I like a little white for the Christmas holidays, but after that, nada. More snow means more shoveling. If it weren't for my Ipod I'd be totally bored shoveling my corner lot. And let me tell you, Wisconsin winters mean ALOT of snow and even more shoveling!

The one thing I find more annoying than shoveling are the people that don't shovel at all. I live a few blocks from work so I am fortunate enough to be able to walk to work (or unfortunate depending on how you look at it - I don't get snow days!) There's nothing worse than having to walk down the street and trudge through the snow. Wet leather work boots are no fun to deal with all day at work. I know a lot of people that let the half inch of snow from the night before melt in the afternoon sun. Being February with its occasional 40 degree days that's ok. What really irks me is the people that think a few hours of 33 degree weather is going to melt 6-8 inches of snow. Heck, a week of 33 degree weather isn't going to get in all gone.

And it's not like, "dude, I worked nights so I can''t get out there and shovel right away." Some houses (and its always the same ones) only shovel after that one big foot-and-a-half blizzard we get every early January. Are people so lazy and inconsiderate that they can get their collective butts out there and shovel? I'm not talking about one or two, but every other house for 4 blocks. It may not seem a big deal to you but imagine walking to your job everyday and having to fight a half a foot of wet sloppy snow each way day after day.

Maybe I can tied a shovel to myself and plow through the snow on my way to work. That should be worth a few bucks each day. Hey, maybe I'm onto something. I could be the "Plow Guy!" Maybe not!

Come on Spring!

The Second Coming.....Of Puberty

2005-02-20T07:50:00.000-06:00

Puberty.

What's it all about?

Changes in the body that reveal themselves as dramatic changes in size and height and mark thus changes with patches of thick hair. Understanding this, I am convinced that I am going through puberty again.

Now before you think I am a sicko and that this post will be full of vague dick jokes and crude humor (we'll there will be a crude attempt AT humor) let me reassure you that the I'm not a sicko. I've just noticed some telltale signs lately that I am indeed going though puberty again.

Why? You ask. Well, first, I am noticing certain parts of my body getting larger and more pronounced. Yep, you guessed it....love handles and a spare tire. Over the last few years no matter how good or bad I eat these two parts get a little bigger with each passing year. And with these increases in size comes the hair. I've noticed hair starting to grow in the strangest and most remote and hidden places. A single hair at start, then filling in with thicker, darker hairs until a great patch is cultivated. You're right again....ear and nostril hair! What's up with that? Why do I need ear hair? I understand that later in life I might what to filter out certain people, like my Boss or The Wife (just kidding wife) but wouldn't it be easier to do that by wearing ear muffs instead of filling my ear canal with thick fur? And who wants to look like a party favor when they sneeze? Shouldn't there be a restriction on the length of a nostril hair. Seems like the more hair I lose on my head, the more I grow in other places. Maybe my body is going for that whole "balance" thing as I go through this second puberty.

And there are other things like the sudden increased in certain urges, but then again that could be chalked up to being married for over 4 years. You know what they say, "the longer you are married the less..." (er, I better not finish that statement. Again, just joking wife :) And what about adult acne? Do thirty-somethings still get the occasional pimple.

Radical changes in the body, growth of new and unexplained hair, an increase in urges and acne? Totaling up all this tells me that I'm indeed going through a second puberty.

I hope it's a lot easier the second time around.

Here's a picture of me. It's an Oldie but a Goodie!

2005-02-18T17:27:00.000-06:00

Memphis part 2 - Graceland

2005-02-17T16:16:00.000-06:00

Simply incredible.

Graceland was more than I expected. Well sort of.

I expected all the shops and push to buy Elvis stuff at the start of the tour. You have to walk past a dozen shops to get to the ticket counter but that's to be expected. The price wasn't bad either. Around $25 for the "platinum tour" which included Graceland, a tour of Elvis' cars and his two customized Airplanes (one a smaller jet and the other a nice sized jumbo with a bar, a bedroom and a lounge in it.) Those two parts were alright (a few cars like the pink Cadillac were cool) but not as great as Graceland itself.

There were two reasons why the Graceland tour was fun. First the house. Inside was spectacular. It had all the modern conveniences of a 1970's house. State of the art back then. It was neat to see how a "king" (pun intended) lived back then. It was also neat to see how things have changed in a mere 25+ years. The house is incredible. But so is the museum that is found behind the house. Elvis' office where he sat and did his work, the racquet ball court/gaming room which were converted over to hold many of his outfits and awards, and the hall of memorabilia that held clippings, posters, and all of Elvis' gold and platinum records. Too cool. And for every Elvis fanatic out there, you are able to visit the final resting place of Elvis and his mother. (Now I highly doubt that his bones are still there - some weirdo would have tried to lift them long ago - but it is erie standing in the place he was originally buried. The King of Rock N Roll's final resting place mere inches from me.) All of the tour was tied together by use of headphones that you had to wear which were connected to a controller. You type in the number of the exhibit in front of you and the unit would narrative what it was all about.

The second thing that was neat was the ELVIS movie that they were filming while we were there (which should air on TBS in May). I have a picture of the actor playing Elvis that I will post if I can figure out how to do that on this Blog. We watched them film a scene were"Elvis" was target practicing with his pistols (3 shots). Even though I have been on sets before, It was exciting to see the filming of an Elvis movie right on location at Graceland.

If there is anyone out there that is remotely interested in Elvis, or rock n roll in general, I strongly suggest going to Graceland. It turned out to be a lot more entertaining that I thought it would be.

Elvis certainly is the King.

My Cat Sees Dead People

2005-02-16T16:04:00.000-06:00

Cat #5: Jynx (a.k.a. "Rat Fink" or just plain FINK)

First a little background.

Fink is a long thin scrawny cat that looks more like a ferret than a cat. He is red (orange to all you non-cat club people) and white splotched and looks dirty. Your basic tabby. He has an oriental face with slanted eyes, a long thin body and a very long tail that is thin an wiry. He usually walks around with it stiffened like a pipe cleaner and I don't think he has ever wagged it.

There are two things about Fink that are truly bizarre.

First: the cat hates to change flooring. What I mean is that he is hesitant to pass into different rooms. If the bedroom has a carpeted floor and the hallway is hardwood, this cat finds itself in dire straight. He will stand in a doorway contiplaiting whether he wants to cross the threshold or not. He'll look around, meow a little, put a paw through the doorway patting the floor as if testing a pool of water. He'll sit on one side and wiggle his butt like he is getting ready to pouch and then stops. Finally after gathering a dump truck load worth of courage Fink will jump through the doorway. And not just jump but spring, almost straight up, and hop through the doorway. Upon landing he takes off in a dead run for one of his favorite places. Usually behind the coffee table that is placed at an angle in the corner of my living room. (He thinks he is being sneaky and hiding but is actually in plain sight. What a brave cat :) There he will shake his paws as if to shake invisible cooties off of them. Maybe in his mind he has been contaminated or something and shaking his paws will get the stink off them. Carpet to wood, wood to concrete, stone back to carpet, its the same thing.

Maybe I should have called Fink "Rain man" instead.

Second: I believe my cat can see the dead (or at least sense them.) Fink will nuzzle me and get my attention. He will immediately run into the basement and howl (sort of like Siamese cats do) until I go find him. My basement is split in two. One part is a refinished Rec area and the other is a dark dank storage area. That's were Fink goes. In the far back corner he'll sit facing the wall and cry (just like The Blair Witch Project.) Just so you know this cat doesn't like much affection or to be held or even petted for that matter. (Nice pet huh?) But in this backroom he is the friendliest cat. Almost too friendly. He'll walk around your legs, rub on you, and try to jump into your arm. But only when the lights are off.

One time I stood in the dark around the corner to watch him. After a few minutes of crying to the wall, Fink began to walk in tight circles meowing the whole time. Then he did this strange hopping on his back legs (like circus bears do) before leaning against the wall. He would "climb" the wall with his front paws and howl at a spot about a foot and a half up. After a few minutes of this he began to roll around the floor flopping back and forth (like a dog that wanted to scratch its back.) Then it was back to sitting in the corner of the room crying until one of his brothers came to see what all the racket was about. With my cover blown I went to pet Fink. He appreciated the petting but would not leave the corner.

This happens a few times a week and I often find Fink leading me into the basement. (Start the spooky music now.)

Seeing as my house was built in the 30's anything could have happen in that basement. The Wife and I really entertain the thought that our cat can see dead people.

Its just creepy.

Ohare Revisited

2005-02-10T17:01:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I was in such a hurry to vent the other day, I forgot something annoying.

The Wife, Smashley and I were stuck in Ohare on a lay over and just delayed for the third time. We all got Lunch Vouchers good for $5 at any vendor for the next 24 hours. Mine and the Wife's were good to go but my niece's voucher was for "B. Smith". I pointed this out not once, twice, but three times to the guy handing them out. He said "No problem" as long as they are for your group. They were all made out to my reservation but not the right names. No problem.

So we go to McDonalds to get food. The lady behind the counter, who spoke almost broken English, insisted that we sign the vouchers. Smashley was worried that she wouldn't get to use her voucher because it has the wrong name. No problem I say, "just sign it B. Smith." She does. One problem down when the next one on the horizon.

You see, at breakfast (around the time we were first supposed to fly out of the airport,) they had no soda. Just orange drink and lite lemonade. Ok, it was breakfast, no big deal. Now at lunch we get the same thing, no soda just orange drink and lite lemonade. No carbonation for the Coke products. We were told it was like that all day.

How can you not have soda at one of the busiest airports in the USA? How could you not get that fixed after at least 5 hours?? How was I to get through another delay without my caffeine???

Fine, I had another orange drink.

Then the lady at the counter had trouble entering my voucher. Fine, the manager helped out. Then The wife had problems using her voucher (with the same lady) who had to call the same manager to help her. So guess what happened with my niece? Yep. The lady had trouble entering that voucher too and had to have the manager help her enter it. Where do they get these people?!? (Have they never seen a lunch voucher before? With Ohare's tracker record of delyaing flight I assume that this lady probably had.)

Then Smashely stumped this woman by ordering $4.79 worth of food with a $5 voucher. The manager can rushing over to tell Smashley that she couldn't get the .21 cents back in chance. You would have thought my niece was trying to rob them by the tone of the manager's voice.

Overall not my best experience at McDonald's which made this new experience in Ohare even worst.

Like I said last time, "God, I hate the airlines!"

Memphis Part 1 - United Airlines

2005-02-08T16:59:00.000-06:00

I have to vent before I explode!!!!

United Airlines (and Ohare in Chicago) is the biggest piece of crap I have ever had the opportunity to deal with.

So here it is. I'm flying down to Memphis for the weekend with The Wife and my niece Smashley to go to Graceland. Smashley is the biggest Elvis geek out there. At 18 years old she just freaks on him (and she wasn't even born when the guy died!) So we plan to leave on Saturday morning getting there at 5am and fly out without a hitch at 6:15am. That's the last time we when glitchless all weekend. So we get to Chicago and spend an hour in the waiting room. At 8:10 when we were supposed fly out the flight is delayed until 9am. Then 10:30am, Then again until Noon. So everyone is getting wound up, then mad, and then generally pissy. The problem was a flat tire which was to take 15 minutes to change. Then they couldn't find a tire, then finally a flat tire turned into a major malfunction. So they toss a few vouchers at us for $50 off our next flight. Big deal. This just makes sure they get my business at least one more time.

Then they decide to move us gates and tell us we won't fly out until 1:30pm. ARGH! Well in a minor surprise they decide to let us fly out at 1pm, but at our original gate (I now have a fist full of tickets, reprinted with every change and a big headache) and on the original plane. Did they actually get this thing fixed or are we flying in a half a plane?

So we all got to Memphis 5 hours late which really wrecked Saturday. With a whole day on Sunday we got some stuff done but had to be at the airport at Noon on Monday.

And I bet you can guess what happened on Monday. Yep, a 2 hour delayed flying out of Memphis to Chicago (something about a low ceiling) and then another 2 hour delay in Chicago (something about the unavailability of a plane. How do you lose a plane???)

Then they pulled a fast one on us. With a 2 hour delay the three of us went to Chili's for a bite to eat. After filling ourselves with surprisingly good airport food we headed back to our waiting area (which was 2 concourses away.) Glancing at the monitors as we walked back I noticed that the flight had been bumped up 45 minutes, so with our best OJ Simpson impression we ran back to the waiting area to find out they just delayed the flight 30 minutes (something about missing luggage - that's all I needed to make this day complete.) Finally we boarded the plane and made it home to Appleton, Wisconsin.

Oh, and before I forget, they wrecked by new suitcase. It came back to me full of oil and the side was torn off. Just great.

I'm not sure if this was just a bad weekend or coincidence but everytime I fly United or go through Ohare in Chicago I get a delay.

Got I hate the airlines!

Part 2 will be more cheery when I tell you about my two brief visits to Graceland clocking in a total of about 6 hours. Ack!

Jessica & Nick

2005-02-04T16:21:00.000-06:00

Reality Shows.

Where to begin on this one.

Basically I haven't fallen for this trendy Time Sink! The only reality series I find entertaining is Survivor (just because there is minimal scripting and the contestants actually have to earn things. Some of those challenges are brutal) and the other, which is slightly amusing, is the Osbournes. But what a tragedy. Laughing at an aged and abused Rock Icon. Yeah, I'm guilty of that too but come on, Ozzy is too fun! But now that Survivor is getting old and MTV has cancelled the Osbournes a new Super Reality show has emerged: Nick and Jessica - The Newlyweds.

And that's exactly where the trouble began.

My wife loves reality shows. Especially the cheesy ones like Real World, Nick & Jessica and American Idol (ok, I'll admit that the audition episodes of A.I. are fun but now we're back to laughing at the pathetic). I don't like them. She know that. But somehow I end up watching them with her.

Oh and before I finish this little rant, the wife has another quirk that you should know about that doesn't mix well with one of my own. My wife hardly ever stays up past 8:30 p.m. or so. Yeah she loves her sleep. My quirk (one of them :) is that I can't stop watching a movie, show, episode, etc until its done. These quirks do not mix. Oil and Water. Here's an example.

The new season of Nick & Jessica was starting soon so the anti-music channel MTV was playing reruns of the series. With a DVR cable box my wife was able to tape all of the N&J shows. She started to watch them with me politely declining an offer to watch them with her. I have better things to do like waste my time in front of the computer web surfing. We go off to do our own things and pretty soon she is laughing and laughing. I walk into the room she's in to see the typical N&J episode on the TV. Jessica is doing something stupid and Nick is doing, well basically nothing. Does he have the best life or what? Sit around drink beer, playing video games in his athletic pants while his hot wife goes out and makes millions. (I have the hot wife but not the millions :(

Anyways, I stand there and watch a few minutes of the show. A commercial comes on and the wife decides its time to go to bed. 8:20 p.m. and she's sleepy. Ok, so I kiss her goodnight and begin to finish watch the episode of N&J. Remember, I saw part of it already and my quirkiness has kicked in so I'm stuck there watching the rest of the show whether I like it or not. Luckily for me its Nick's birthday episode and by the end of it Jessica has jumped out of a cake in sexy lingerie. Meeeeeow!

So I ended up liking the damn show!

With shame I walked into the darkened bedroom and announced to my wife, "Damn you wife!" She begins to laugh. "Now I'll be stuck watching that ridiculous show all season!" She laughs again. Then I begin to laugh. God human nature sucks sometimes. Almost as bad as the power a wife has over her husband.

But I digress. Reality shows bite. It's an oxymoron. Unreality Shows is more like it. Maybe they need to film and average couple, without them knowing, to get true reality. But would that really make for interesting TV?

Hell yeah! Especially all those "cake" scenes :)

This Is Just The Beginning....

2005-02-03T15:59:00.000-06:00

Ok.

I finally got around to creating my own BLOG.

It seems like all the craze now-a-days. Everyone has one but does anyone need one? Who cares. I can't think of a better way to waste my time on the 'Net (well, until the next "must have" video game is released :)

I guess I need a "first post" and probably a pearl of wisdom or two. Well, you aren't going to get many pearls of wisdom out of me but I can give you this first post. What to expect: an irregular pattern to my posts. I am a very erratic web surfer/poster. You'll get a bunch of posts but don't expect a routine. Mostly you'll get a lot of me rambling on about useless stuff, sometimes interesting, sometimes not. A lot of it will be Rants about stuff that happens in daily live that irks me. I love to be sarcastic! You'll get some posts Reviewing video games, songs, RPG games and books. You'll get some posts that are bits of my writing. I plan to give you glimpses into my inner workings through songs, poetry and a serial post-apocalyptic story. I'll also subject you to dribble about my life, trips, experiences, and thoughts.

I love to correspond so feel free to drop a post here and there, especially if you read something you really love or really hate! Give me your 2 cents worth. A good internet debate can be fun and invigorating. So go ahead and do it...you know you want to.

Beside, now-a-days its the "in" thing to do.....well, until the next trend comes along.

Happy Blogging to you!

Craedus Stonebeard (to all your gamers out there.)
Don (to everyone else not glued to their PS2.)