Saint Gray on the great road without gates

New Indiana Jones 4 poster!

2007-12-10T18:31:00.000-06:00

Here it is. The official poster from the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull poster. I think it's great. This is very much like most of the other teaser posters that came out before the actual poster. Remember the one for Temple of Doom? With the tag line "If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones". How great is that?
I really like this poster and I'm excited about the final poster, the one that will inevitably have the montage of faces on it, similar to all of the other posters.
I really hope this movie is good. Indy looks great in every pre-release picture I've seen. Shia as the son looks kinda cheesy though. I hope it's good.

GO Speed Racer, GO!

2007-12-09T10:39:00.001-06:00

GO Speed Racer, GO!

The trailer for the new Speed Racer movie was released. Apparently they premiered it during entertainment tonight a few days ago, but I have a link to the online version HERE. You can watch the smaller regular sized trailer or you can rock any of the HD trailers as well.

The trailer looks really trippy and cool. It's about as close to a live action Anime if I ever saw one. They do the really weird transitions and blurred backgrounds as they move. The Wachowski brothers have really pushed the line, similar to how they pushed the line for The Matrix. It's crazy and I can't wait to see it. It's going to be great.

Raise money for Toys for Tots

2007-12-05T22:27:00.000-06:00

If you are sending eCards this holiday season here is a great way to raise money for Toys for Tots, by simply sending free eCards to your friends and family. Here’s the scoop, Month2Month.com is a totally free, high quality eCard web site that has joined with Toys for Tots and will make a contribution for every holiday card is received. Their site has no advertising, doesn’t require subscriptions or sign-ups or downloading toolbars. And the cards are great…better than what you’d find on those other sites that charge for subscriptions. This is what the holiday spirit is all about, giving. So let’s all take advantage of this and PLEASE!!!! Pass this along to everyone you know.
Their site can be found at: http://www.month2month.com/.

Here's where to find Toys for Tots free eCards

Dark Knight poster revealed

2007-12-05T22:19:00.000-06:00

Well, here is the new Batman poster. I gotta say, it's pretty cool. I like it. They've had a really great marketing campaign going for this movie in the Joker related pranks and websites like www.whysoserious.com and such. I'm really looking forward to the movie next year.

Checking the hotel reservations

2007-12-04T07:50:00.000-06:00

In April is my cousin's wedding in Florida. So, of course, the first place I go to check for prices on Hotel Reservations is hotelreservations.com. The site is easy to use and you just plain get the best prices. You can usually get around half off a regular rate, but sometimes up to 70% off. With rising hotel rates these days, that can really save you some cash. Not to mention the gouging going on with airfare, you need to find someplace to save some money.
So, book with hotelreservations.com, you won't regret it.

Lookout! No brakes!

2007-12-04T07:47:00.001-06:00

This is crazy! My brakes went out on the road yesterday. Seriously.

Apparently I am leaking brake fluid. I noticed on the way to work that my brakes felt a little bit loose. Nothing that really concerned me, but they didn't feel as tight as they normally do. Then I had to make a run up to Saint Louis from the Clayton war room. On the way to Saint Louis, the brakes felt really loose. I checked my brake fluid once I parked and it seemed almost empty and there was some wetness on the inside of one of my tires. I thought, that's not good.

So, I then started heading back to Clayton when I really didn't have any brakes. I had to use my handbrake to stop. So, I decided to forgo heading back to work and just headed home, but I stopped and picked up some brake fluid.

Now I'm on my way to Midas to have them check me out. Hopefully it won't be TOO expensive.

Great portable scanner for trials

2007-12-03T18:09:00.000-06:00

Working in Litigation Support and supporting trials, one thing you need onsite is a good portable scanner. I know from working the numerous trial's I've worked, including the one I JUST won, that you definitely need a good portable scanner onhand. You will definitely need the scanner in the breakout room at the courthouse, and you may even need the scanner in court. I don't often have a need to scan something in the courtroom, but it has happened. Either way, you need a quality, lightweight scanner that's reliable.

I saw the ScanShell 2000N and wanted to mention how perfectly this scanner would cover your needs in trial. Granted, this isn't a war room ready scanner capable for handling documents hundreds of pages long, this is a lightweight scanner ready to travel back and forth to court with you every day. Here's the skinny on the scanner.

It's only 14oz, so it's super lightweight.
It's USB 2.0
NO EXTERNAL POWER NEEDED. That right, it's powered by the USB connection.
600 dpi color
Comes bundled with all of the software you need to run it.
TWAIN compliant
8 1/2 x 14 max paper size

This scanner's footprint on the desktop is so small, you can literally set it behind the laptop until you need it and you'd never notice it was there. So, if you are going to trial anytime soon, you should definitely check this ScanShell 2000N out.

We won! We win on all counts!

2007-11-30T23:27:00.000-06:00

We won! We won on all counts and won our counterclaim, in which they awarded us 2.5 million dollars in damages. Woo hoo!

You know what I'm the happiest about though. I'm happy that we were able to restore the reputations of the good people we were defending. Having worked with these guys on this case for the past year, it has become more about helping them get their lives back than anything else. I'm just so happy that we could do that. It was pretty emotional in the courthouse after the verdict was read.

I'm still buzzing about it and I'm super happy with the outcome. We couldn't have hoped for a better result. It's just so nice to see the results of all of the hard work and long hours put into this case turn out in your favor.

You know what's really crazy though. I made the news. I'm just the Litigation Support guy, but I was featured on Channel 4, not once, but twice. I'm not so sure what was so interesting about me leaving the courtroom that they had to show me twice, but they did.

So, here is the link to the video of the story. I'm the guy the first focus on when they show people leaving. You know, the good looking guy trailing behind the other large group of people.

http://www.kmov.com/video/topvideo-index.html?nvid=197440&shu=1

Woo hoo!

Light up your life this Christmas

2007-11-30T08:37:00.000-06:00

I was just over at OpticsPlanet.com checking out some flashlights and I thought I'd share.

If you haven't been over to OpticsPlanet.com before, you need to head on over there and take a look around. They've got TONS of neat stuff over there.

They've got binoculars, telescopes, sunglasses, goggles, prescription goggles, rifle scopes, range finders, spotting scopes, microscopes, and flashlights, of course.

I was personally looking at the Streamlight Strion Flashlight, myself. That thing is super bright and really small. Where I need the most light, I don't have room for a big flashlight, so I need a superbright light in a very small package.

Check out OpticsPlanet.com if you haven't been there before. They even have a Gift Guide for you.

Wonder Woman!

2007-11-30T08:33:00.000-06:00

I just read over on Ain't It Cool News that an Austrailian supermodel named Megan Gale will be playing Wonder Woman in the new Justice League movie. I've posted her picture and wow. They got it right. She certainly looks like an Amazonian Godess to me.

One thing I want for Christmas...

2007-11-30T07:36:00.000-06:00

What I really need for Christmas is a Human Touch HT-7450 Zero Gravity Massage Chair. Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about.

Not only is this chair the ONLY brand recommended by the American College of Chiropractic Orthopedists, but it claims to reverse the adverse effects of gravity on the body.

This sucker uses the Quad Roller system, which imitates massage techniques like Percussion, Rolling, Compression, and Kneading. It will literally work out your knots and ease your sore muscles. I could use a little of that.

Not only will this chair simulate a massage by a masseuse. It is engineered to calibrate to the body frame of the individual sitting in it so it focuses on the right areas of your body. You can even get optional features like heat or a foot massage.

So, go ahead and add that chair to my Christmas wish list. You can go ahead and pick yourself up one while your buying one for me. Hop on over and get our Massage Chairs whenever you get a few minutes free.

Another day...

2007-11-30T07:27:00.000-06:00

Here we are, another day without a verdict. I spent all day yesterday doing a big fat nothing while sitting in the courtroom waiting for a decision. I hope we get a verdict today. That would be nice.

Considering the Lap-band?

2007-11-28T22:58:00.000-06:00

I've talked about this before, but my mother underwent the lap-band surgery not too long ago. She's down around 35 lbs or so and we're all really proud of her.

For those of you just catching up, the lap-band surgery is an adjustable gastric band that helps you lose weight.

I could explain it in greater detail, but I think that would best be left up to the professionals over at lap-band Houston . Check out the link and see if it's right for you.

lap-band Houston

The Joker is wild!

2007-11-28T22:52:00.000-06:00

The Joker from the new Batman movie is on the cover of Empire magazine. I think he looks pretty darn good. Sure, it's a little bit of a twist on the Joker, but I think in a good way. He still looks like the same sociopathic killer we all know and love. Dare I say it, he even looks a bit scary. Anyway, there it is.

Confess your sins to Sweeny Todd

2007-11-28T22:19:00.000-06:00

Come one, come all. Vent your aggressions and confess your sins of revenge.

Seriously though, this is pretty neat. In a promotion for the new Tim Burton movie, Sweeny Todd, which looks fantastic, there is a confessional open online to share stories of revenge. First thing, visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site, and then go the Confessional to share your story. If you'd like, you can even visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace.

I have a confession of revenge that I'll make right here and now. It may not be a bloody path of bodies in the vein of Sweeny Todd, but to me, it felt so good at the time.

I went on a trip with a friend of mine a long time ago and we ended up running into Doug Bradley, the actor who played Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies, so we wanted to get his autograph. The only thing we had at the time was a clothespin (don't ask). So, we pulled the clothespin apart and had him sign each half. It was funny to us since we had pinhead signing a clothespin. Anyway... Since we didn't want to lose the clothespin halves, we reassembled the clothespin and put it away. Well, after we got back home from our trip, I went to his house to visit and I asked for my half of the clothespin. He didn't have it. He had given my half away to another mutual friend. It wasn't the mutual friend's fault, he didn't know that the pin was mine. I wasn't happy about it and I thought it was pretty low to do something like that.
I could have socked him in the eye or something similar, but I didn't. I waited.

I waited months, until we both were attending a party where there was a lot of drinking going on. When my friend was good and drunk, I swiped the clothespin from him, as he had it on him (again, don't ask). I kept the clothespin for a few weeks, then I burned it. It felt good to do it. I thought, if I don't deserve it, then he definitely doesn't. The only person who will keep a half of the clothespin will be the innocent party who received it unknowingly.

I know, I know. It's not exactly "MuaHaHaHa" material, but I never promised greatness. I only promised revenge, and to me, it was ever so sweet.

Will they or won't they...

2007-11-28T22:13:00.000-06:00

So, the jury did some confusing stuff today. First, the bailiff came out with a message that they are skipping their afternoon break in order to push through on an issue. This was at around 2:30 pm, by the way. He didn't say if it was the last issue or what.

So, then at about 3:20 pm today, the jury announced that they are calling it a night and going home. This is a little odd because they normally work until 5, at least. There is an odd contributing factor though. The alternate jurors were released at around 3 pm today.

So, the theory is that the jury has come to a decision, but doesn't want to actually give the verdict until the alternates are there as well. The whole jury has grown close in the 3 and 1/2 months that this trial has taken, so we think they might want everyone there when they read it.

We're somewhat expecting a verdict first thing tomorrow morning. Wish us luck! I'll post the results.

It's Christmas time! Why not buy a house.

2007-11-27T22:20:00.000-06:00

A lot of the problems people are having with the housing market right now are, in my opinion, due to a lack of knowledge about the home loan industry and how to get the best loan for their actual needs. They let someone talk them into something they know nothing about. Well, it's about time you learned something about that mortgage. Click the links to find a good mortgage rate and a decent mortgage broker.

Waiting on a verdict...

2007-11-27T22:13:00.000-06:00

For those who are just joining us, or for those who don't pay attention, I work as a Litigation Support Analyst for a law firm. I am currently working a trial which is coming to an end.

Well, we gave the case to the jury at 4:50pm on Monday and we're waiting for the verdict. Generally, when the case is over, you have a "gut" feeling as to how it went and how you expect the verdict to come out. Time and time again though, that gut feeling is wrong. You just never know what a jury is thinking and anyone who tells you otherwise is delusional or selling something.

Of course, the most nervewrecking part of a trial is waiting for the verdict to come back. Although, I'm only emotionally invested in the outcome, I'm not professionally invested like the attorneys. If we don't win the case, it doesn't go on any record kept on me, it's just another notch of experience on my belt. To an attorney, it's another factor in how well their career will go. Lose too many cases and nobody is going to want to have you try their case. If you win, well, then bigger and better cases start coming your way. For me, a big trial is the same, win or lose, on my resume. So, while I want to win because of all of the hard work I put into the trial, my career isn't riding on it. Sometimes it's good to be on the sidelines like this.

Business cards for bloggers.

2007-11-27T20:38:00.000-06:00

So, this is neat. This website is giving away 100 FREE business cards to help promote your blog. That's pretty cool, eh? They are an easy way to let people know about your blog out in your everyday life. You can leave some on a message board at the local college if your blog would be of interest to them, or you can hand them out to people in any niche where you think people might be interested in reading your thoughts.

The only thing is that you do have to pay for shipping. Which is not bad if you consider that the paper and effort going into the cards is being covered by the company. So, sign up to get some free cards.

Secrets of putting a two year old to bed?

2007-11-27T20:35:00.000-06:00

I was just curious if anyone out there has a secret to getting a two year old to stay in their bed at bedtime?

It is a constant struggle to keep her from climbing out of bed and trying to play when she should be going to sleep. We have a set routine with her bath just before bedtime. Her twin sister doesn't have any problems going to bed. It's just the one.

It's driving my wife and I crazy. If anyone has any ideas. Please post them in the comments.

Traveling? Win free tickets!

2007-11-27T19:52:00.000-06:00

I saw this and thought you all might be interested. If you sign up for the e-newsletter at Trusted Tours and Attractions, you are automatically signed up to win four free tickets to attractions and tours in 21 different cities. If you're going to be traveling sometime, and who isn't, you might as well sign up, right?

Even if you're not a big winner, I never am, you can still get cheap tickets to attractions in San Diego, Savannah, and Key West.

Ah...Key West. I would LOVE to go to Key West. A perfect day in Key West would be a full day of deep sea fishing off the coast and then a walk down Duval Street in the evening. I also like a good ghost tour, and I hear they have some good ones there.

I'm a little bit of a history nerd sometimes, much to my wife's dismay. So, I'd be all over the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, the Key West Pirate Soul Museum, the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, and the Schooner Liberty Day Sail where you get to actually help crew in sailing an authentic 1800s Schooner. How much would that rock?

I love sailing, so I'd be all over the sailing tours. A day cruise here, a sunset cruise there. If I had it my way, I'd spend most of my time on a sailboat. Ah, that'd be the life.

Wow. I gotta get down there soon.

The stuffed dog...

2007-11-27T19:38:00.000-06:00

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but somehow, my daughter convinced her great-grandmother to buy her a life size stuffed dog. Her great-grandmother hates dogs and would never normally buy one, stuffed or otherwise. The only thing she said was that "she wanted it", but there must be more. I'll have to investigate.

It's very odd to have a life size stuffed dog around the house. Now, I've had dogs all of my life up until about two years ago when we discovered that one of my daughters is allergic. So, I had to give my dog to my mother and that's where she's been ever since. Well, now, it's like having a dog in the house again...for about 3 seconds at a time, until I realize it's not real.

Seriously, I'm astonished at how often I walk into the room and think it's real. I have also gotten up from the couch or off of my chair and bumped into it and said "move dog", which is what I normally said to my dog when it was in my way. I know, I know, it sounds much harsher than it was. We had an understanding.

Of course, this dog doesn't shed and is a whole lot cheaper to feed.

Bringing someone new into Digital Photography

2007-11-25T17:10:00.000-06:00

As of this minute, I have 5943 digital pictures stored on my hard drive. Roughly three quarters of them were taken with my Nikon D50 and the rest were mostly taken with my previous camera, a Sony Cybershot.

I have to tell you, I LOVE my D50. There is a world of difference going from a point and shoot to a DSLR. Of course, there is a world of difference going from a film camera to a digital camera, which is exactly what my wife's young cousin is doing.

My wife's cousin is almost 15 and we're going to be going in with his aunt and getting him a digital camera for Christmas. So, I've been scouring the web for the right camera at the right price. While I love my Nikon DSLR, it looks like we're going to go with Canon cameras for the cousin. I like the Powershot for him. It's the right price for what we want to spend and it seems to have all of the features that he'd like. It's also compact enough for him to bring with him on all of his 15 year old adventures, so to speak.

Personally, I'm saving up for a new lens for my Nikon D50. I really want the Nikkor 18-200 VR lens, but it's rather expensive, so I stash a little bit away here and there. I should be able to pick it up in a few months if I'm diligent about saving. Hopefully, that is.

Regardless, digital photography is the future. Heck, it's not even the future, it's the present. Everything is digital today, so I'm glad to be helping to usher my wife's cousin into the digital photography age. I hope he loves digital photography as much as I do.

Rescue Dawn

2007-11-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

I watched the movie Rescue Dawn with Christian Bale, Jeremy Davies, and Steve Zahn. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's based on the true story of how Lt. Dieter Dengler escaped a POW camp in Vietnam.

Now, those people expecting a Rambo-esque story with lots of shooting and killing are going to be disappointed. This is a story of survival. This about how a normal person under extraordinary circumstances can do extraordinary things.

One of the things about this movie that really stands out with me is the relationship between all of the prisoners in the POW camp. There was some serious tension there. Nobody really trusted anyone else, and each person was doing the same thing as the next guy, trying to survive. It wasn't like a normal POW type of movie where nobody likes the new guy, then something happens, and they all rally behind him. This was realistic in that these other POWs who had been there for about two years, did what they needed to to survive. They were all a bit crazy, some more than others, which would be expected in that kind of situation. Nothing goes exactly right and nothing happens as expected.

I highly recomend the movie to anyone who likes these types of movies. Anyone who likes realistic survival movies are going to love this one. They don't get too much better than this.

It's Payday loan season

2007-11-25T14:10:00.000-06:00

With the holidays approaching so quickly, I wanted to mention a thing about Faxless Payday Loans. Payday Loan Quotes is providing a Payday loan calculator to see how much a Payday loan really costs you. While I don't agree with Payday loans most of the time, there are some times when it can help someone out in a really tight spot. So, check out the calculator, but be cautious with it.

I survived Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T13:53:00.000-06:00

Well, I survived Thanksgiving. It was touch and go there for a bit, but I made it through.

Each year, we trade off holidays with my family and my wife's family. Well, this is the year that we spend Thanksgiving with my wife's family and Christmas with my family. Well, we decided to do Thanksgiving at our house this year. Mostly because I am working the trial and can't really leave town because of it.

What was supposed to be a quiet Thanksgiving with my wife's parents turned into a big family reunion, of sorts. My wife's sister got invited, then the brother, then the aunt, then the grandparents. Several of these invitations were basically just courtesy invitations and we did not expect them to actually show up. We were surprised as can be when they said they would be here. Of course, at that point, you can just recall the invitation and say you were just kidding. So, we had to accommodate them all.

As an odd twist of events, what I expected to be a quiet weekend for work turned into a fairly busy weekend as my help was needed to prepare the presentation for closing statements in the trial I am working. This is pretty bittersweet in that I was somewhat happy to get away from the fiasco of my wife's family, but I was not very happy to have to work over a holiday weekend. To add to the problem, my wife was excessively annoyed that I had to work. Pissed might even be a better word for it. It was quite the cause of tension between us as well.

It all worked out though. I did have to work and the wife wasn't happy about it, but we got through it. I was able to wrap things up yesterday and didn't have to work today, so she is happy about that. Especially since everyone from her family left either last night or early today. She would have been alone if I had to work. I'm sure she'd be stressed and upset about it. I want to keep her happy as much as possible. You know what they say, "Happy wife, happy life".

The Artwalk in St. Augustine, Florida.

2007-11-23T18:25:00.000-06:00

Now, this is cool. In St. Augustine, Florida, on the first Friday of every month, they have Artwalk. The St. Augustine Artwalk is a free, self guided art tour of the local galleries in the art district. They even have shuttles running every 30 minutes.

I particularly like Peter O'Neill, one of the featured artists. His skyscapes are really great, especially the dark and stormy ones. There is one piece that I find really interesting. It is called Second Look and it's a close view of a woman glancing at your from over her glasses. What I find interesting about it, is the perspective changes each time I look at it. I'll look at it and she'll look very seductive, then I'll look again and I see a little bit of disdain in her glance, like she's been interrupted and she's annoyed.

I'm also amazed by the paintings of Sydney McKenna, whose paintings can be so realistic they look like photographs. I'm completely amazed by that kind of talent.

Regardless of your artist tastes, I'm sure you'll find something you would like. So, if you're in the St. Augustine area, you should definitely head down and check it out. Remember, it's the first friday of every month.

Inept attorneys

2007-11-20T21:10:00.000-06:00

Never in all of my years in the legal industry have I come across such inept attorneys as our opposing council in the trial I am working on now. Let me tell you what happened.

Certain things are agreed upon in a trial. You can mention certain things, you can do certain things. Objections are made and decided on by a judge. Well, in this particular trial, certain information about insurance are not to be mentioned or shown on any document. Well, not only did they mention it in their opening statement, but numerous exhibits contained the information which should have been redacted from the document.

So, weeks go by with objections made and warnings given by the judge. Well, after insurance information shows up in two documents shown on the same day, the judge warns the plaintiff that if it happens again, there will be serious repercussions. She gave them strict instructions that two attorneys are to review the document and speak the words on the document aloud to each other so that it is impossible to miss the forbidden information.

Well, guess what happens the VERY NEXT DAY. Yep, they showed a document containing insurance information. Well, the judge gets super pissed. Of course, the attorneys attempt to throw their litigation support person under the bus and blame her, but the judge is no fool and doesn't fall for it. She said that she gave strict instructions that the documents were to be read aloud to each other and that obviously didn't happen or they would have caught the infraction. So, she sanctioned them. She forbid them to show any exhibits for the rest of the trial. They can read them into evidence, but they cannot show the jury any documents. Is that crazy or what?

So, for weeks and weeks, they go on reading from documents and occasionally quoting things that the jury can't see. This seems to confuse the jury more than anything. Of course, as not to taint the jury, they are not informed of the punishment and I'm sure they are confused as to why the plaintiff has just stopped showing any exhibits.

Well, they finally turned over to defense and we put on our case. A week or so later, we rested our case and the plaintiff now wants a rebuttal. In the argument for rebuttal, one of the plaintiff attorneys begs the judge to lift the sanction and allow them to show exhibits. They promise that all of their documents have been reviewed and redacted. They have learned their lesson. Apparently not.

The judge gave in and lifted the sanction. Anyone want to take a guess as to what was NOT redacted on the very first document they displayed? That's right, insurance information. The judge was hot, to say the least. She immediately reinstated the sanction and I'm really surprised they didn't get hammered with anything else. I'm not sure what she could have done outside of calling a mistrial though. She gave them lots of speeches about how disappointed she is with them. It was like a mother speaking to a child.

Here is where I would normally give the warning as to never hire this law firm, nor apply for a position at this law firm, but I don't want to mention their name. I wouldn't want to get sued...they are a law firm, after all.

Easing the pain.

2007-11-20T20:40:00.000-06:00

Let me tell you a story about my dear mother. You can see the picture of her with her grandchildren to the right. Well, it's those grandchildren that have inspired her to better herself. You see, my mother is very overweight, but she has recently decided to change that. She wants to live as healthy as possible so she can stick around to see her grandchildren grow up. Having not succeeded in numerous previous attempts at losing weight herself, she went to the doctor for help. She found that she was an ideal candidate for the lap band. So, earlier this year, she underwent the lap band surgery.

Since undergoing the surgery, she has started losing a lot of weight. She's dropped around 35 pounds so far and still going. Now that she's lost some weight, she wants to step it up and start excersising as well. Of course, we're very happy about this, but there is a hicup in this plan. My mother has some pretty bad athritis. Most of her joints hurt, but her hands, wrists, knees and ankles are the worst. The pain makes it difficult to get any exercise, but she usually doesn't let it stop her. She takes some medicine and puts an ointment on her joints, such as Freeze It Gel. The ointment helps a ton. She massages it into the joints and the pain almost completely goes away. Not only does it help during the exercise, but it helps afterwards as well. She uses the ointment to rub into sore muscles to help recovery as well. It helps all around.

She uses this ointment almost every day. Right now, she exercises three days a week and is doing great. She is thinking about adding another day to her regimin as well. She really is trying hard and we are so proud of her. We keep up the positive motivation so she doesn't give up. I know her grandkids want her around for a long time, and so do we.

Cloverfield trailer

2007-11-19T20:21:00.000-06:00

The trailer for the new J.J. Abrams movie called Cloverfield is out. There was a cryptic teaser that showed up before the Transformers movie, but it didn't have a title then and nobody knew anything about it. Now the trailer is available. Everyone should Check it out, it looks wicked!

You can buy tactical Police gear online

2007-11-19T20:13:00.000-06:00

So, I'm searching around for some tactical gear for paintball and I run across 511 tactical. This place is freakin' cool. They have everything except the badge on this site. You could completely S.W.A.T. yourself out on this site. I'm going to buy a few things here instead of the army surplus store. This place rocks.

Sickening

2007-11-19T19:51:00.000-06:00

I live just a few minutes away from where THIS happened. I'm completely sickened by this. I have two little girls and feel like I have little hope for their future when I see this kind of thing. Sure, this is an extreme example, but this sort of thing happens all the time.

For those of you just checking in, the article I linked to is about a young girl who lives in O'Fallon, MO who was the victim of a year long hoax by someone she used to be friends with. The worst part is that the whole thing started with the mother of the girl's ex-friend. She created a fictional kid on MySpace to try and find out if the other girl was saying anything negative about her own daughter. The whole thing snowballed until that family decided to end it and did it in a very cruel way. It ended in such a way that the victim of the hoax took her own life.

Now, normally, I'm somewhat less sympathetic of any kind of suicide for selfish reasons. I tend to be somewhat more sympathetic to young teenagers though. I think every teenager jumps right to the suicide conclusion to some sort of heartache they feel, but most come to their senses. I remember my early teens and at that stage of development, sometimes you don't really see the big picture and on top of that, hormones can make you do crazy things. I'm not surprised that every once in a while someone goes through with it. It's just sad when it happens.

I can't imagine something like this happening to one of my girls. They say that the neighbors had to hold the father back from going over and hurting the family who played the hoax. He said he wanted to kill them. I'm not sure I could be talked down.

Ok, so it wasn't The Mist...

2007-11-19T06:39:00.000-06:00

Years ago, I read a short story called The Mist by Stephen King. That particular story had an effect on me. The isolation. The impending doom. The fear of hysteria taking over and your own friends and family turning on you. It was scary stuff. Oh yeah, and there were monsters too.

Skip ahead a few years. It's deep into winter and there is a snowstorm blowing things around. I ended up at a department store shopping for clothes. It really wasn't snowing that badly when I left the house and arrived at the store. It was coming down, but it wasn't anything unmanageable.

An hour or so later, by the time I was ready to leave, this steady snowstorm had turned into a blizzard. I couldn't see the cars in the parking lot from the door. It was really bad out there. It didn't seem safe enough to go wandering out into the parking lot, much less take the car (assuming that you can find it) out on the road. I was stuck.

Looking around, I started noticing everyone else who was waiting with me. My thoughts started drifting to who these people were who were stuck with me. I started thinking about The Mist. Sure, it wasn't a mist out there, but it was white and just as blinding. Of course, there weren't any monsters in the blizzard. At least, I hope there weren't any monsters in the blizzard.

As my thoughts made a turn for the worst, I started looking around and thinking about who was going to make it and who would surely die. Just as soon as I started assigning deaths to the people trapped in that store with me, the blizzard let up and people started venturing out into the parking lot. I waited for a few people to make it to their cars before heading out myself. I wanted to make sure that something didn't swoop down and snatch the up. Nothing did, of course.

So, maybe my story isn't exactly like the story version of The Mist. It was snow and not a mist, and I wasn't trapped there nearly as long. Oh yeah, and there weren't any monsters eating people. That too.

Dane Cook

2007-11-19T06:28:00.000-06:00

So, I recently picked up Dane Cook's new comedy album Rough Around the Edges. As a fan of his first two albums, I was looking forward to this one. His HBO special, Vicious Circle, was decent, but not quite up to par with the first two CDs. This new album falls in with Vicious Circle. That's not to say it's bad, it's just not as good as the earlier stuff. His delivery is spot on, but the material isn't quite as funny.

Basically, if you like Dane Cook, I'm sure you'll enjoy the album, as it's Dane Cook doing his thing. If you never liked Dane Cook or you are sick of him due to an oversaturation of him recently, this album isn't going to change your mind.

I love the smell of flying paint in the morning!

2007-11-18T22:08:00.000-06:00

It wasn't so long ago that I was crawling through the woods, nervously looking around for any sign of the enemy, then all of a sudden I would see movement. I would cautiously move in that direction and take aim. A few minutes later, someone would get a surprise shower of paint.
Of course, that same scenario sometime ended with a flurry of flying paint spraying in my direction from some unseen assassin.

Of course, those days for me were way too long ago. I have since sold my gun and mask and haven't played paintball in a couple of years. A few days ago though, one of my old paintball buddies gives me a call and wants to put the team back together. Of course, I was all over it.

So, the first thing I need to do is get some good equipment again, right? I'm somewhat partial to the Spyder brand, so I was specifically looking for a spyder paintball gun to re-equip myself with. I ran across this site called, of course, Ultimate Paintball, and they have a TON of paintball guns there. They have everything you could possibly need for your paintballing needs. They've got Tippmann A-5, Tippmann 98 Custom, Smart Parts Ion, and the ever sweet Spyder Pilot ACS.

So, I ordered my mask and gun and I'm off to the army surplus store to pick up some new camo. With a bit of luck, I'll be spraying paint across the field of battle again very soon. Perhaps I'll see you there, or more likely, you won't see me there, but you'll feel the sting of my paint.

Shaving for money...sometimes it's not worth it.

2007-11-18T22:01:00.000-06:00

So, there is a research company near me that do razor studies every once in a while. They pay $20 a day to shave with them. Sometimes, these studies run several weeks, which results in a payout of several hundred dollars. Nice eh?

Well, the problem is this. The razors they are doing the studies on have to be the worst pieces of junk you have ever scraped across your face. I frequently cut myself and I'm always red and irritated afterwards. For $20 a day though...it's worth it, right?

Sometimes...OK, most times, I'm not so sure. When I have to explain why my face is so red or cut up, I'm not so sure.

I shaved today with them and my face is irritating me right now...so now would be a time when I'm not so sure it is worth it.

I keep saying to myself that it isn't worth it and I'm not going to do another one. Of course, every time they call and ask if I want to participate, I always say yes. I guess I'm just a sucker for free money, even at the risk of my comfort.

A Cool Garage!

2007-11-18T21:48:00.000-06:00

So, I was stuck watching Oprah with my wife the other night, and they had some woman on who was hoarding things. She was buying all sorts of stuff and stashing it everywhere. The show was semi-interesting, but then during the big reveal of her house after these people came in and organized her house, they showed her new garage. Of course, the only thing I got out of the show was how cool the garage looked. The walls had panels on them that allowed you to hang all of your tools on them, anywhere you want, and the garage floor had the coolest non-slick checkerboard pattern. I thought that the floor was really cool and I started looking online to see what something like that would set me back. I have to tell you, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The best place I found for garage flooring and everything else from that garage on TV was at CarGuyGarage.com. That place is awesome! It is definitely where you want to go if you want to build the ultimate "guy's" garage. You need to check that out.

The trial is almost over!

2007-11-18T21:25:00.000-06:00

For those who don't know, I am a Litigation Support Analyst for a lawfirm in Saint Louis, MO. A Litigation Support Analyst basically prepares and maintains evidenciary databases. There is a lot that goes into that, from electronic discovery, scanning, database maintenance, and takes it all the way to trial. Trial doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, it completely changes your job description for a short time. You work crazy hours because there is a ton of unpredictable work to do in a very short amount of time. What you'll be doing is creating exhibits, cutting video clips, running the presentation in trial, and everything and anything in between. Well, the end of the trial this week, with closing statements to be given the Monday following Thanksgiving.

Well, the end of the trial I am working is very bittersweet.

On one hand, it is a lot of time away from my wife and kids. I frequently have to work late nights and weekends to make sure we are ready to go for the next day's trial presentation. It is sometimes very stressfull with extremely tight deadlines and impossible tasks to be done.

On the other hand, all of that time is paid overtime. My checks are huge, which make the long hours a little easier to get through. Also, there is a comradery there that normally isn't felt at the office. The results of your work are almost immediately seen, which is very satisfying. If you really put some long hours in to get something done or make something happen, it is almost always because it will be used or done the very next day in court. What you do the night before could be the difference between a good day and a bad day in court.

Overall, I really enjoy trial. I love the bonding that takes place between my coworkers and myself. Although, I couldn't do it all of the time. It's very taxing on the body and mind. Almost everyone goes on vacation once a trial is over. You need the vacation. Also, you can afford to go on vacation with all of the OT money you made. I am looking forward to taking some time off and spending it with my family.

Fun toys!

2007-11-18T20:51:00.000-06:00

I recently received package of stuff to try out and review. The stuff all came from a company called Vat19 who sell all sorts of really entertaining novelty stuff like a USB Missile Launcher and various other things. What I received were three things. I received Color Flames Colored Candles, 1 Smencils Gourmet Scented Pencil, and Insta Snow Fake Snow Powder. I'm going to tell you about all three, briefly.

First, the Color Flames Colored Candles. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot to tell you about this one. Since it wasn't someone's birthday and I didn't have any other occasion to use colored candles, such as a power outage at a rave, I didn't get to really use them. I lit them, and they looked really neat with their colored flames, I can't really attest to their use. I imagine that would be fun at a kid's party. They would DEFINITELY be a lot less annoying than those candles that relight themselves that your favorite uncle seems to think are hilarious...year after year.

Second, the 1 Smencils Gourmet Scented Pencil. This one was kind of neat. As far as functionality goes, I mean, it's a pencil. It doesn't do anything other than what you would expect of a pencil. It writes and then if you flip it over, it erases. One thing that is kind of neat though is that it's made from recycled newspapers. That's pretty cool. The main selling feature of pencil is that it smells. The pencil I received was scented cherry. I tell you what, it smelled good. It was strong too. I've seen scented pencils before and they always have a very light smell that you can really only smell when you've got the dang thing right up to your nose and you're sucking in air like a hoover. At the end you're light headed and you "think" you might have smelled Cinnamon, or whatever scent that the pencil is supposed to be. Well, this pencil is definitely not like that. It was pretty strong and it apparently lasts pretty long too. Now, I haven't done a two month blindfolded study or anything, but I left the pencil out of it's little smell containing holder and it didn't seem to lose an ounce of its scent. Oh, and it writes and erases as you would expect a pencil to.

The last thing I looked at was the Insta Snow Fake Snow Powder. Now, I don't know exactly what they make this stuff out of, but it's awesome. I mean, truly awesome. It's just this white powder that you add water to and it becomes an instant pile of snow. Well, warm snow that doesn't melt, that is. This stuff would be great to play practical jokes with. I imagine this stuff would be very popular in college dorms.
I have two little girls who loved the stuff too. What they loved most was watching the snow grow and form. They kept having me do it over and over again. I ran out of the small package I was sent pretty quickly. I now know what I'm getting them for Christmas this year as one of their stocking stuffers.

As a parting thought, I wanted to say that the Vat19 website has a ton of neat stuff on there. I spent a ton of time browsing all of the fun toys while I was checking to make sure that the Insta Snow was non-toxic for my girls to play with (it is non-toxic, by the way). So, check it out. I think you'll like it.

Payperpost signup

2007-11-18T20:43:00.001-06:00

Hey all. Want to get paid to blog? Yeah, I thought so. Sign up here.

Your Browser does not support IFrames: This form can not be rendered. Please visit PayPerPost to sign up.

Moving the shop...but not really for you.

2007-11-18T19:48:00.000-06:00

So, previously, I had two seperate accounts for my two online t-shirt shops. I had one for Saint Gray and one for Just Teesin. That has started to become a headache to keep track of, so I've decided to combine them into one account. So, I've started the move. For you at home, there should be no changes with the exception of a few minor cosmetic changes to the Saint Gray shop.

It's just a little bit of a pain transferring all of the images over. Basically, I have to recreate the shop item by item. It's a pain and it takes a long time. I wish there was some way of just automatically transferring everything over...but it appears there isn't. Oh well. Back to work I go.

Sorry...

2007-11-18T10:51:00.000-06:00

So, it's been some time since I've posted on this blog. I have several excuses, the first of which is that I somewhat burnt out on it. The second is that I started working on a really big trial at work and I've been working some long hours and long weeks, but the overtime checks are great though.

Anyway, so I've decided to start writing on this thing again. I'll try and post again tonight. I feel like I'm just talking to myself most of the time when I write on this thing, but that isn't so bad is it?

Talk to you soon.

My mom got lapband surgery

2007-08-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

On the 15th of this month, my mother got the lap band surgery. For those of you unfamiliar with the lap band, it is a weight loss surgery sort of similar to gastric bypass surgery. It's not quite as drastic as the gastric bypass surgery though.

What they do is put a sort of inflatable donut-like thing around the stomach, which creates a pouch at the top of the stomach, which is used as your stomach instead of the whole thing. Now, you can make the donut tighter or looser by injecting saline into a line connected to her side. It's all very odd, but we hope this will give her the control to loose some weight.

It's been awhile...

2007-08-17T09:33:00.000-05:00

So, it's been awhile since I last posted anything for you to read. I've been crazy busy. So, sorry for all my one or two faithful readers. Heh.

I'm hoping to get back into the whole blogging thing a bit. Hopefully you haven't given up on me. Come on along, dear reader, and take a journey with me. A journey BACK into the world of blogging...

For your consideration...

2007-04-09T23:19:00.000-05:00

With the country’s fascination with contests, voting, and awards, it was only a matter of time that blogs be voted on as well. Well, now we have the blog awards to satisfy all of our blog voting needs. There are a ton of categories. I’m talking awards like Hottest Mommy blogger and the Most Obnoxious blogger, just to name a few.
Of course, you can vote for me in any category you see fit. It’s an honor just to be nominated. Ha! I’ve always wanted to say that…but then, I’ve never really been nominated for anything, so it makes it kind of difficult to say it without everyone looking at me funny. Anyway, it would be fun to vote for your favorite or the worst blogs.
You know, the only thing missing is a chance to vote a blog off the web forever. How fun would that be? Well, they’d be gone until the reunion of the blog all-stars where they bring back all of the troublemaking blogs and put them all together. Inevitably the blog we voted off this year would show up on that one. It’ll be a has been blog at that point though, it’ll probably have gained a few pounds as well. It’ll be trainwreck. Actually…I want to see that..can we make that happen? I’m serious. Can someone get on that?

Too Cool for Preschool

2007-04-09T23:02:00.000-05:00

I've got a new shirt out in the Just Teesin' shirt shop that all of those mothers and fathers of toddlers need to check out. Now, we all know your kid is cool...but is he or she Too Cool for Preschool? You're darn right they are! You NEED to snatch one of these up RIGHT NOW. After all, your child's future so bright, they've gotta wear shades.

I can think of a thousand reasons to blog

2007-04-09T22:33:00.000-05:00

In the world of blogging, there isn’t a lot of excitement really. I mean, don’t get me wrong, some people blog about some exciting stuff. I mean, read my blog for god’s sake…well, ok, maybe that isn’t the best example. In the world of blogging for blogging’s sake, there isn’t a lot of excitement. Well, I should say, there WASN’T a lot of excitement, but there a little company called PayPerPost is changing that.
You can’t Google blogs or PayPerPost without reading about the controversy they’re causing the blogosphere. Love em or hate em, they make waves in a relatively still pond. Well, get ready for the “trouble makers” to rock the boat again.
For the entire month of April, PayPerPost is offering a single payout opportunity of $1000 with no real requirements for your blog. Normally, blog post opportunities are strictly regulated through segmentation which allows you to only take post opportunities which directly apply to your blog. This blog opportunity has no such requirements, other than being the lucky S.O.B. to catch the opportunity when it post sometime on Tuesday. This is a big opportunity for a lot of bloggers out there.
With a $1000 payout, I wonder if this has changed the minds of a few people who were on the ropes about PayPerPost. Money does a lot of convincing these days. A lot of convincing.

Channeling my inner teenage girl.

2007-04-02T21:49:00.000-05:00

I was on the phone today with my study group discussing a group project due in a couple of weeks in the class I am taking. There are three of us, so the easiest way to meet would just to phone conference all together and discuss the project. I volunteered to connect us all with three way calling.

The calling wasn't going well, with me hanging up on everyone a few times, until I decided to channel my inner teenage girl to make the call. I literally thought to myself that millions of teenage girls have been doing this for years, how difficult could it be for a Litigation Support Analyst who is only a few credits away from graduating with a degree in Information Technology to figure this stupid three way calling thing out.

Apparently the phone gods agreed because after making that statement, I was able to connect everyone together. So, if you're ever in a hot spot and can't figure something out, channel that teenage girl to help you out. Apparently it works.

Another CLEP test down!

2007-04-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

I took, and passed, my Natural Sciences CLEP test today. Woo hoo! For those who don't know what a CLEP test is, basically it is an equivalency test that gives you college credit if you pass it. Today, I passed the Natural Sciences test, which gives me 6 college credits. I'd say it's a pretty good deal for a 120 minute test that cost me a total of $80 to take. Well, tack on another $30 for a study guide for it.

This test puts me closer than ever to my goal of graduating in June. Actually, unless I somehow fail one of my last two classes, this test solidifies my participation in the graduation ceremony. You need to have 9 credits or less to go in order to participate in the ceremony, which I will be at after I finish the last two weeks of the class I am currently in. After that, I have one class to go and one last CLEP test to take.

My next test is a History and Sociology test, which won't be easy, but I have backups in case I fail the test. There are other tests I can take to make up for it if I don't do well. That wasn't the case with the Natural Sciences test. If I failed that one, my only other options would be the straight up Biology or Chemistry tests. There is no way I'd pass those, so it's really good that I passed the Natural Sciences test (which included both of those previous categories as well as a few others).

I'm taking a week off from studying, then I have a week of training at work. After that, I will start studying for my last CLEP test. Wish me luck!

You only hurt the ones you love...

2007-03-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

I love my camera. I have a Nikon D50 DSLR camera and I mean, I LOVE this camera. Generally, whenever I buy something, I get at least some sort of buyer's remorse for it. If I don't get buyer's remorse, I at least see something a couple of months later that I wish I had bought instead. I've never had either with this camera and I've had it for well over a year now.

So, after taking some great pictures of my adorable children, I decided to clean the camera. I got out my little microfiber cloth and air spray can. I put the battery on the charger and then started cleaning the camera. I wiped all of the LCD screens, eye piece, and lenses. I took off the UV filter and cleaned the actual lens and both sides of the filter. At this point, I'm not sure exactly happened. It's like I can see what happened in my memory, but it runs simliar to watching someone do something stupid in a horror movie. You're yelling at him not to walk into the basement, but he just doesn't hear you and then something bad happens to him. That's how my memory runs in my head. I'm yelling at myself because of the stupidity, but I just don't stop. Well, what happens next is that I remove the lens from the body of the camera and give the interior glass a quick wipe with the cloth. No big deal. Then, for some reason, I look inside the body of the camera at the mirror and apparently hallucinate a smudge, so I give it a quick wipe down with the cloth. First of all, nothing ever touches that mirror, why would there be a smudge. Second, you NEVER touch the inside of the camera. It's like the first two rules of fight club apply. 1. You never touch the mirror or sensor in the camera body. 2. You NEVER touch the mirror or sensor in the camera body.

It was sort of like I snapped back to reality just after I did it, and I thought to myself..."OH CRAP!!!" And I immediately snapped the lens back on and checked the picture. Yep...spots. Well, I've already screwed it up, perhaps I can fix it. So, I snapped the lens back off and gave it another wipe. Checked it again and I apparently just moved the spots around a bit. So, I busted out the canned air and give it a healty dose of spraying. I checked again...still spots. So, I got out some Q-Tips and give it a once over. Checked...spots AND fibers. Great!!!

I noticed something else as well this time. My focus brackets were bleeding a line off the screen. CRAP!!! What else!?! Apparently in my cleaning, I'd pressed too hard and cracked something somehow. I don't know what it was, but my LCD brackets were bleeding off the screen. Now, it wasn't horrible...barely noticeable really. For me though, it's those barely noticeable things that drive me nuts. I generally require perfection from my equipment, and especially equipment that I use and love as much as this one. I was screwed.

At this point, it was time to throw in the towel. I looked up the number and called the store I bought it from, Creve Coeur Camera. I know I had purchased an extended warrenty, and I had hoped that it covered cleanings, as most extended warrenty purchases do. So, I gave them a call and as my luck would have it, the warrenty does NOT cover cleanings...Nor do they cover damage by botched cleaning jobs by idiot owners. It's going to cost me around $80 for a cleaning and who knows how much to get the LCD fixed. She assured me that it would probably not cost over $150. Great. Just what I need. The camera worked perfectly this morning and now I'm an estimated $230 in the hole for this thing. The best part is that when they send it off, it takes 6 to 8 weeks to get it back. Just in time to miss Easter! Fantastic!!!

This was a huge bonehead move on my part and I was so upset and angry with myself a short while after it happened that I was litterally shaking. I couldn't believe how stupid I was. It was definitely a rookie mistake and I most definitely knew better. I guess this will just serve as a reminder for my next cleaning. A very expensive and costly reminder, that is.

What? Is he wearing goggles?

2007-03-24T21:04:00.000-05:00

A buddy of mine came into town, so we went out for drinks with the fellas last night. We went to a local sports bar called Hot Shots. Well, it used to be a sports bar anyway. When I told my wife where I was going, she gave me an odd look and said "You're going to a meat factory?" I said "What? No, it's a sports bar." She replied with "That's like saying that Hooters is a family restaurant." Apparently I was out of the loop, because we used to live just behind this particular Hot Shots and I've even had a drink or two in there before, granted it was a few years ago, but still.

So, apparently I AM out of the loop. It was definitely a meat factory. The only thing it was missing was a dance floor. I was shocked. The guys outnumbered the ladies by at least 3 to 1, and nobody was watching sports on the TVs there. Also, if you were a woman at this bar, and you weren't wearing some really tight clothing and not much else, you apparently had no business being there.

So, let me get to the point of my story. There was a guy there, a guy that both myself and my friend could not stop staring at all night. We were fascinated by him. Let me describe his entrance first. He arrived just as we were arriving, and while walking into the bar, he yelled at some woman who was leaving the bar. I did not appear as though he knew this woman, and he yelled some pretty vile things to her. Vile enough to turn our heads in shock, we thought it was about to go down or something. That's when we really took notice of this guy.

Let me give you a description of the guy. He was wearing a Nike Air t-shirt, a pair of Heather gray sweatpants, and what we thought for sure were racquetball goggles. Upon closer inspection, it appears that they were some sort of Gargoyle glasses with clear lenses. It was very odd. I mean...sweatpants. Seriously? Sweatpants?

He was like a train wreck, we just couldn't take our eyes off of him. We wanted to know who he was, why he was there, and most importantly, what was he thinking. Later in the night, we saw something odd happen to him. He raised his beer to the friends he was with and offered a toast. His toast was left hanging, his beer bottle clank was left unreturned. Out of nowhere, my out of town friend jumps to his feet and starts walking over to him. He just walks right up to him and offers him the beer bottle clank his friends didn't give him. He clanked bottles with him and then walked away. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. It was funny how he reacted too. He took it as though it was a common event. He looked at my friend, clanked bottles, then went on with his conversation with his friends. It was like this sort of thing happened all the time and it was no big deal. Amazing.

Grillin'

2007-03-23T06:29:00.000-05:00

I used my new Char-Broil grill from Lowe's against last night. That was the second use of the grill so far. I have to say, I am pleased with it's performance. It heats up fast and it cooks evenly. There is also a wide range of heat levels, so it's easy to get the right temp. I'm very happy with it.

If you're in the market for a grill, I would recommend you head over to Lowe's and pick up one of the Char-Broil Commercial Series grills. They're stainless steel and very nice. I have one of the less expensive models and it performs great, so I can only assume that the bigger, beefier grills work equally as great or better.

300 Revolutionary?

2007-03-23T06:19:00.000-05:00

I wanted to share an interesting article on the movie 300. The article talks about how it's use of CGI will revolutionize how CGI is being used in film today. Essentially, in the past, CGI has been used to create effects or objects that could not be physically created otherwise, either because it would be too costly or because a physical model would not do the vision justice. Similar to the latest Star Wars movies, the actors did almost all of their acting against a blue screen and the backgrounds were filled in later.

What makes it different from Star Wars is the purpose of those backgrounds. In Star Wars, the backgrounds were created to be as realistic as possible as a replacement for building sets. You weren't supposed to notice that the background was not really there. In 300, the background and landscapre are almost an additional character in the movie. It's feel and tone changes with the scene. Not in a trippy, Waking Life sort of way, but in a realistic way.

Well, I don't want to recreate the entire article, go and read it for yourself. It's very interesting.

Spending money like I have it!

2007-03-18T00:07:00.000-05:00

I spent a lot of money today. At least to me, it seemed like I...no, to anyone, I spent a lot of money today. Well, OK, maybe to Paris Hilton, I didn't spend a lot of money today. Anyway, we've established that for me, and for most people, I spent a lot of money today. I bought a new sofa sleeper for my living room, a chair sleeper (that's an extra wide chair that pulls out to a twin bed), a new grill, and various little odds and ends. The total was well over 2 grand. Now, I made a little extra money on this last paycheck from OT, but it was closer to $300, not $2000. I'm not sure what I was thinking.

Well, the sofa sleeper and chair, we had been planning on getting, so I wasn't surprised at that. We had actually waited until today to get sofa because it was going on sale. It's funny about that too, last week we went to look at the sofa and the sales person told me about the sale they were having next week. They hadn't announced it yet, but it was 15% off on everything before noon on Saturday only. She suggested we wait. So, we waited. While I was waiting, I did some math and shopped around a bit. It was a great deal on the sofa. Anyway, we went in this morning to buy it. We didn't see anything announcing the sale though. I assumed there would be more of a fuss. As it turns out, they changed the sale at the last minute. They changed it in a way that rendered it completely useless to us. Luckily, our salesperson told me that while they didn't actually have that sale going on, they would honor it because she told me to come back. So, I got my 15% off on everything. I was happy. Now I just have to wait 8 weeks for the sofa.

As for the grill, it's a funny thing that happened. It's funny because my wife denies that it works this way, but she did the exact same thing to me when we got our TV. Let me explain. What happens is that I mention that I want a new grill and I don't like our grill. I mention this casually and in conversation when it comes up. I'm not dropping hints or anything like that. Honestly. I say that someday I want to get a new grill when we can afford it. Well, today, we go to Lowe's to get some paint so my wife can paint the back splash to our kitchen. Well, while we're walking by the grills, she just stops and start looking them over. Of course, this kind of thing catches the attention of the sales people and they come over. She then starts asking them questions and stirring up interest in a new grill. This is out of the blue, you see. I hadn't mentioned anything about the grill in weeks. So, she stirs up all this stuff about a grill, and then when it comes time to buy it, she looks at me and backs out of the deal. She says "Oh, it's whatever you want to do. I have nothing to do with this." After stirring all of this up, I buy the grill. Then later I hear "I can't believe you bought a grill." Yeah, she said that. I said that she instigated the whole thing, which she denies and says that she was "just looking".

She did the same thing with the TV, only that was worse because I hadn't mentioned ANYTHING about a new TV. That was ALL her. She just starts looking at TVs when we're at Best Buy one day and she just wanders over there. I asked why she was looking at TVs and she says that we need a new one, so she just wanted to see what was out there. Well, I'm a guy. Technology is like porn to guys. The only thing more porn-like to guys is actual porn. Anyway, once she started me down the new TV path, there was no stopping me. I was like an 18 wheeler sliding down a snow covered road after my brake lines had been cut. There was only one thing that was going to stop me at the end of my path and that was a new TV. So, that's how we ended up with the 42 inch LCD HDTV we have now. I have to say though...it's a damn fine TV and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Movie Review: 300

2007-03-15T23:22:00.000-05:00

I went and saw the movie 300 the other night. I have to say, it was fantastic. There were a couple of semi-sappy parts near the end, but nothing I would qualify as a deal breaker when classifying this movie as one that rocks.

If you've seen any of the commercials, you know that this movie is very stylized. It's an adaption of Frank Miller's comic and they tried to portrait the way that Frank Miller stylized it in the comic form. The same thing was done to the movie version of Sin City. It works very well for the movie and the almost cartoony violence make the obscene amount of violence in the movie very easy to tolerate.

**On a similar note, but slightly off topic, have you read anything that Frank Miller has done in the past few years? Don't get me wrong, I loved Sin City (the comic and the movie), I loved 300, and I'm a big fan of his Dark Knight Returns comic. The sequel to Dark Knight Returns and just everything he's been doing lately (besides the movies) is utter crap. I just wanted to make mention. **

I happen to have an interest in ancient history, especially of the mythological or legendary status, so I was already familiar with the story of the battle of Thermopylae. I was familiar with several of the legendary battles and several of the legendary quotes. My favorite quote, which was done extremely well in the movie, is when the Persians tell the Spartans that they will fire so many arrows that they will block out the sun. The Spartans respond by saying "Then we shall fight in the shade". It was well delivered in the movie, which made me happy.

The fight scenes were fantastic. Now, they run into two classifications though. The first fight scene needs to be mentioned separately because it is unlike any of the others. It is not different in it's violence or style, but in HOW the battle was fought. In that first battle, they actually showed how the Spartans would have actually fought. They packed themselves tight and formed a wall of shields. Each soldiers shield is not to protect himself, but it is to protect the man beside you. They not only mention this fact, but they show it done well. The men behind that front line thrust spears above and below the wall of shields, just eviscerating the soldiers of the opposing army. They do this and move forward, rinse and repeat. They showed this extremely well in this movie. Once the soldiers ahead of them were nearly depleted, they break rank to finish them off. Now, you also have to remember that the Persian army was almost entirely made of slaves and peasants. None of these people had much, if any battle experience or training. This would be the equivalent of giving some random office worker some garden tools and asking him to go fight to the death with our most elite military commandos, who are fully armed and ready to rock and roll. The fight would be over so quickly, it almost wouldn't even be fun to watch.

There are a few sappy parts of the movie where the Queen is trying to sway the counsel to send reinforcements to her husband and his 300 troops. They played the sappy card a bit hard there, but they intersperse it in between some heavy action scenes, so all is forgiven.

For those who don't know their Greek history, I won't ruin the ending for you. Overall, the movie is one of the better and more entertaining movies I've seen this year. Everyone does a good job acting in it and the action scenes are unbelievably good. Go see the movie.

Where did the sun go? Oh. I'm in your shadow again...

2007-03-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

I spent the majority of my day in meetings. Basically the same meeting with different people, really. I had to give a presentation of what a presentation in a court room would look like using the software we use to present in court rooms. Does that make sense? Anyway, I had to present it to the two attorneys that I have been working with, then I had to make some modifications to their specifications. I made those modification over my lunch, and then informed the attorneys that the changes were made. I then had to make the presentation again for them so they can see the changes and make sure that they knew what they were talking about when they requested the changes. Once everything was good, they then invited the three primary attorneys to view the presentation. One of which, I didn't know this until it was over, was the CEO of the firm. Anyway, I was presenting to them and afterwards, one of them mentions that they've seen this software used in the court room before. It was done by a certain person who I won't name, by a certain law firm that I won't name, and it was done on a specific case that I won't name. Well, it turns out that the person was my old boss, the firm was my old firm, and the case was a case that I had personally worked on. I didn't present the case in trial, but I assisted on it before it went to trial. In all of my trial work that I had done at my previous law firm, every attorney knew my boss's name and wanted him to do their trial. I spent all of my time trying to live up to his reputation in those situations. He also did great work outside of trial, and I had to try to live up to that as well. Well, now I work at a different law firm and i'm STILL having to try and live up to him. How crazy is that? I'm supposed to have lunch with him tomorrow. I'm definitely going to have to give him a hard time about that. What? He's not my boss anymore...I can do that.

Who doesn't have a smartphone these days?

2007-03-12T21:27:00.001-05:00

There is some news about smartphones at Wirefly. To me, it’s almost like common knowledge based on observations in my workplace, but it’s interesting to see it nationwide though. Wirefly announced a sharp growth in smartphones. So sharp that in the first quarter of 2007, sales of smartphones grew 70% from the third quarter of 2006. That’s a lot of Treos and Blackberries being sold. I work in the IT oriented legal industry, so everyone has a smartphone. I just recently moved to a new law firm and they actually give almost everyone there a blackberry. Of course, you’re expected to answer email and phone calls at anytime because they’re paying for it, but they give it to you never-the-less. I really like my blackberry and I can see why so many people are switching to them. This is a digital world and I am a digital…well, you know.

Now, about that leather mask...

2007-03-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

I used a chainsaw for the first time this weekend. Oh yeah! Fear me! Ok, it was an electric chainsaw, so you only have to fear me if you're within 100' of an electric outlet. Seriously though, I had some downed tree limbs in my back yard from the last ice storm we had. Sure, it was several months ago, but it's been cold. The last thing I want to do in cold, ugly weather is go outside and work in it. So, in the back yard they sat. I attempted to move them one passibly warm afternoon, but they were too heavy. They would have to be cut. My mother just bought a chainsaw and offered to let me borrow it. What my mother is doing with a chainsaw...I don't want to get into it. I'll leave that for another post. So anyway, I borrowed the chainsaw, uncoiled the extention cord, and fired it up. I have to admit, it was pretty cool. That saw cut through those limbs like hot knife through butter. Well, a woody butter that spits dust and woodchips. Regardless, it was fun. Then came the unfun part, picking up all those sticks. And to think, someone went and made a children's game of picking up sticks. Con artists.

Great! Now I have to get new sunglasses!

2007-03-12T21:01:00.000-05:00

I’m in the car with my wife the other day, more specifically, her car. It was sunny out and I was having a lot of problems seeing because of the glare. Sure, the sun coming in from outside was pretty bad, but it wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t have had my wife’s car cleaned and why they cleaned, they armorall’d the dashboard. So, now I’ve got the sun coming in from outside AND reflecting off the dashboard. I felt like my eyes were being burned from their sockets. Fortunately, my wife had a pair of sunglasses under her seat. I put them on and then my wife proceeded to laugh at me. I realized that the glasses she had were under her seat for a reason. I then made a comment about how I wish I hadn’t of forgotten my own sunglasses, which she then remarked that “they weren’t much better”. Woah. That was it. I’ve got to get a new pair of sunglasses. So, in my normal fashion, I went to several of the sunglasses huts and shops in the local mall and tried on some new protective specs. I find what I like, and then I hit the web in search of a great deal. In my search for some sun protecting Eyeglasses, I found some good deals at Opticsplanet.net, as usual. What doesn’t that place have?

I watched The Departed

2007-03-11T22:28:00.000-05:00

So, I decided to sit down and watch The Departed this weekend. I have to say, I thought it was pretty good overall. I would be lying if I said I wasn't shocked at the ending. I mean, sure, I should have seen it coming with history of the director and all, but I was still shocked. I'm not going to spoil it for everyone who hasn't seen it, so I won't mention what happens. It was a big surprise and I spent the remainder of the movie doing a double take and saying "Woah" ala Keanu Reeves in...well, any of his movies. Near the beginning, there were a couple of spots with some odd editing choices that seemed just kind of jumbled up and confused. Other than that, the movie was very well done. The setup of the movie is basically that you have two state police cadets in the academy around the same time, but not actually in classes together. One was basically raised by the mafia kingpin and the other is pulled early from the academy to go undercover to bring down the mafia kingpin. The only thing is that he'll have to drop from the academy, actually go to jail, and be completely disgraced on paper so that the mafia kingpin guy will believe he is actually a crook. Only two cops know his true identity, everyone else thinks he a common crook. Well, the whole storyline is basically a cat and mouse game between these two moles. One in the mafia who is actually a cop and the other in the police who is actually working for the mafia. They are both trying to figure out who each other are the whole movie. It's pretty good and pretty tense in some spots. Everyone does a supurb job in acting. I recomend this movie to anyone who likes a good undercover cop story, or to anyone who liked Goodfellas and the like.

Let's hope the new Batman costume doesn't have nipples

2007-03-09T21:37:00.000-06:00

Of course, everyone expected this. I mean, if they didn't change the Batsuit, how are they going to market new toys? Seriously.
So, Aint It Cool News posted a leak from inside the studio that about half way through the new movie that he would change the costume. Apparently this change will make sense for the plot as he changes it for practical reasons. The word on the street is that it will look like heavy fabric and armor instead of rubber. I thought the Batman Begins costume was pretty good, but I agree that it did look bulky and a little rubbery. I mean, it wasn't AS rubbery as every single other Batman costume from all of the previous movies, but it was still rubbery. Of course, I'm just thankful that it didn't have nipples.

I hope I never need an Intervention

2007-03-09T21:34:00.000-06:00

My wife is watching the show Intervention on A&E right now. I generally don’t watch that show with her; it generally doesn’t interest me that much. My wife sure likes it though. I’m not sure if it’s the “I’m glad that’s not me” thoughts or if it’s the watching someone at such a low point in their life get help. I do know this. Those people definitely need help. I’ve watched it a couple of times and they usually go off to a drug rehab facility like this Stone Hawk place. Now, they very rarely if ever show the facility itself, but this Stone Hawk place looks nice. I mean, it looks like a vacation resort. Of course, I don’t mean to trivialize treatment centers and the great work that they do. While I’ve personally never been to drug rehab myself, the website for this Stone Hawk place looks like it has a great program. It looks clean and very nice, like I said, it looks like a resort. I imagine that having a treatment center that looks like a resort can help ease someone into the program. Like I said though, I can only imagine. All I know is that the people in that Intervention show have definitely hit rock bottom and if I was at such a low point in my life, I would want to take my first steps back into my new life at someplace like this. After all, you can always pretend you’re on vacation for the first few days. Of course, this is me thinking. The first few days are probably the worst ones and you probably couldn’t care less what the place looks like at that point. Hopefully I’ll never have to use a facility like Stone Hawk, but I’m sure glad that someone has a place like this just in case I ever do need it.

Newfound inspiration...falling short of expectations

2007-03-08T21:03:00.000-06:00

So, I hopped over to my pay to blog site, PayPerPost and there are no posts available that I qualify for. Bummer. I was hoping to post a couple of blog entries and start working my way toward buying something. No dice. They've got nothing I can write about, so you're all stuck with just my complaining.
I thought I might take this time to rework my t-shirt shop Saint Gray or Just Teesin. I stared at them for a few minutes...then closed the browser. Yeah, I'm not up to it. It looks like my lack of inspiration has set back in.
I'd shake my fist or curse at someone, but I'm just not up for that either. blah.

Sometimes, it pays by the minute

2007-03-07T22:54:00.000-06:00

You know, what works for some people, doesn’t work for everyone else. I’ve talked about cell phone providers before and how great certain deals were, but you know, some people either can’t commit to a standard 2-year contract or they just plain don’t want to. Sometimes it’s not their decision and their crummy credit rating keeps them from qualifying. In this day in age, you really can’t be without a cell phone. I don’t care if you don’t even have a plan on the phone at all, you need a phone to call for emergency services in…well, an emergency. Of course, 911 is not the only people you should or can call in an emergency, but that’s all they’ll let you call without a plan. For those people, I think that prepaid cell phones are the ideal solution. They’re relatively cheap and you only spend exactly what you want to or what you can afford. You just load it up with as many minutes as you’d like and you’re set. What’s that? You didn’t spend all of your minutes from last month? Well, then you have even less minutes to buy this month, don’t you. Let’s see you do that with a regular cell phone service deal. No doubt about it, there is a definite advantage of the prepaid phone for certain people.

Inspired by pointing out my lack of inspiration

2007-03-07T22:37:00.000-06:00

It's funny how things work. I haven't really been blogging as much as I used to as of late. Ever since I started this new job, I've just been uninspired and feeling uncreative. Not only has the public suffered because they can't read any more of my profound thoughts (...right), but my income has suffered as well. I supplement my income a little bit by writing for PayPerPost. If you're interested in doing that as well, there is an affiliate link to your right. Check it out. Anyway, back to my story. I haven't been blogging. I also haven't been working on my shirt shops either. I've been uninspired and unmotivated all around. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not because I hate my job or anything like that. I actually really like my job. I couldn't figure it out, and then it hit me today. I used to sit right accross from this guy who blogged everyday and worked on shirts several times a week. We would discuss blogs or shirts almost on a daily basis. Now...nothing. So, I wrote him an email blaming him for my lack of motivation. I spelled it all out for him. It was undeniable, indellible proof. There was no backing out of it. My failings were his fault. I'm not sure if that's what did it, it had to have been right? I got home and started blogging...and I started thinking about shirts. So, that's why you have a whole bunch of new blog entries to read. I was inspired and just started writing. I didn't have time to actually work on any new shirt ideas or make any of the changes I wanted to make to my shirts shops, but I'm hoping to do that tomorrow. I'm hoping that this new second wind keeps up and I can keep myself motivated without the help of an outside stimulant. I'm hoping that confiding in you (my blog readers) will be all of the stimulation and inspiration I need. How many of you are reading this? Let me check my stats... Wow. I'm doomed.

Who's got time to read anymore...

2007-03-07T22:21:00.000-06:00

I love reading books, but I never have the time to do it. I used to read at lunch. I would head out to my car with a sandwich and a soda and read my book for an hour or so. Something changed and I can’t really do that anymore. It’s just not practical anymore. So, I went without for awhile. Then it struck me, I could listen to audiobooks on my 45 minute commute back and forth to work every day. That’s about an hour and a half of quality time with the book, time I would have just wasted listening to music or whatever else to distract me from the fact that I was sitting in traffic. Well, there is only one problem with audio books. They’re expensive. I mean, you generally don’t listen to them more than once, not usually at least. So, they’re sort of a waste of money. You spend $20-$40 on one, it gives you a bit of enjoyment, and then you never listen to it again. I recently borrowed an audiobook of World War Z by Max Brooks from a friend. You can read my thoughts on it in an earlier post. Borrowing is the best way to do it. Well, I found a place that you can borrow audiobooks from for a low monthly fee. The fee is less than you’d pay for an audiobook a month if you were to buy one. The best part is that there are coupons! You can go to Simply Audiobooks and sign up. It seems to be pretty reasonable at $11.95 a month and you can use the previously mentioned coupon to get a free 15 days. Not a bad deal. Of course, I’d prefer to curl up and read…but who’s got time for that these days. It’s much easier to just have someone read it to you.

Are you ready to be entertained?

2007-03-07T21:49:00.000-06:00

I have a friend who blogs. This friend is the very same person who introduced me to blogging and helped me get started in my online writing journey. Well, I occasionally check out his blog and I just HAD to comment. He is one talented writer. I'm not just saying that because he is a trainer and technical writer. I'm also not saying that because he is also writing a book in his spare time. I'm saying that because when I read his blog entries, he acheives the goal he sets for himself in every sentence he puts together. I am truly entertained. It may not be profound, but he is capable of that, and it may not be poinent, which he sometimes is, but it is always entertaining and well written. He effectively portraits his thoughts in an often humourous manner and he always leaves you wanting more. He never runs on, like I do all the time, and always gives you just the right amount of content. I just wanted to publicly announce my admiration of his entertaining writing. So, there it is. Check it out. You can click the link in this blog, or you can click the Original FB42 blog link to your right.

Finding the POWER to succeed!

2007-03-07T21:37:00.000-06:00

I need some power cables, and I've found two things in my search for it. The first is that there are a TON of people offering power cables online. The second is that finding the right power cable is actually fairly difficult. I mostly attribute this to the huge abundance of options out there and lack of a clear vision of what you need. Most people only look for what they've already seen instead of envisioning the perfect tool or product and then searching to see if someone has already made it. I guess this is where truly innovative people start inventing stuff, eh? Occasionally, I find something that I didn't know I needed until I see it. It's one of those scenerios where you always thought some problem you had was annoying, but there was nothing you could do to fix it, so you live with it. Well, I have a lot of different peripherals for my PC requiring a miriad of different cables strung about. Well, I found this universal USB adapter that rocks. I promptly ordered one and moved back on to my power cable search. I happen to find the exact power cable I needed at the same site. Bonus! Happy is me on this day. Check out the USB thingy I bought.

Hollywoodland reviewed

2007-03-04T22:39:00.000-06:00

I just finished watching Hollywoodland. In case you're not familiar, it's a movie that just came out on DVD about an investigation into George Reeves' death. George Reeves was the guy who played Superman on the TV series back in the day. His death was ruled a suicide, but there have always been suspicions that there was foul play. This movie doesn't really give you an answer, but it certainly plays to the possibility of a murder or an accident. The movie hops back and forth between the investigation and flashbacks of George Reeves' life. Ben Affleck plays George Reeves, and he does a pretty good job. The big hype about this movie when it first hit the theatres was that this is the movie that is going to revive Ben Affleck's career. They say he's so good in this that it will restore everyone's faith in his acting ability. Well, I don't know about all of that, but he does do a good job. I mean, he still seemed like Ben Affleck, but he was believable as George Reeves. I don't know if it's because they both share the same sadness in their careers or something, but there is a sadness to him that really pulls off the character. It almost makes you wonder if there are moments when you don't see Ben Affleck acting and you're actually seeing him thinking about his own career. Of course, I never thought he was that great, so I never saw a progression of him getting bad. He was never very good to me, so he's always been about the same. I mean, I actually remember seeing him in Chasing Amy and thinking that this guy can't act very well and I'll probably never see him acting in anything else again. Boy was I wrong.
Anyway, Hollywoodland is good. I enjoyed it. It's not action packed and it certainly isn't exciting, but it is interesting. It's slow and methodical, but it's entertaining. If you like that sort of movie, you should check it out. It reminded me a little of The Black Dahlia which came out not too long ago, but it was better than that movie.

Get help in learning

2007-03-04T22:36:00.000-06:00

I’m getting close to graduating with my Bachelor’s degree soon, but I’ve still got a few classes to go. One thing that I thought was difficult was finding a tutor in your specific class. So, I’m always having to google this or google that in order to try and find the answers I needed. Sure, you can probably find a math tutor pretty easy, that’s a fairly common subject for tutoring. What about other subjects, though, what about the less obvious subjects? Well, I found a site where you can search for Personal Tutors, or you can list yourself as a tutor. It’s a great concept. They have a whole gaggle of subjects that they offer tutors for.
As for the site itself…it couldn’t be easier to use. Smack dab in the middle of the homepage there is a search window. You just enter your postcode, the subject required, and level required. Click search and you’re on your way to finding the secret weapon to acing your class, your new tutor. They offer book searches as well, which can be really helpful. They also have an educational news section, so you can keep up to date on the happenings in education. The site is well laid out, with no confusing flash animations or distracting ads. It’s well done and driven to one purpose, to find you a tutor. Check it out.

My thoughts on World War Z by Max Brooks

2007-02-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

I am recently finished the audio book version of World War Z by Max Brooks. I have to say, I was rather impressed. The audio book, and the actual book itself, are a fictional conglomeration of interviews. The interviews take place several years after a zombie threat almost destroyed the world. It is meant to be somewhat of a parody of the WWII books of a similar nature that have been published. I have to say, this format was very interesting to read (I've read about a quarter of the book so far) but it was even better to listen to. What made it so interesting is that each interview is read by a different person, so it sounds like actual interviews. There are a couple of famous voices on there, which was really cool. It was only distracting maybe once or twice, and only right when they came on because you were a little shocked or excited to hear them. For instance, I read that Henry Rollins read a part, so when he first came on, I was excited to hear him. I've seen Henry Rollins perform both musically and in spoken word. He's a very entertaining person in either format. I actually restarted his part a few minutes into it so I could re-listen and just pay attention to the story he was telling instead of just listening to Henry Rollins speak. The same thing happened when Alan Alda spoke as well. I was expecting that to happen with Mark Hamill's part, but I ended up not fulling recognizing his voice until about half way through his first part. By then, I was already into the story so there was no distraction. Rob Reiner reads a part too, but I didn't know it was him until afterwards when they mentioned it in the credits. Rob Reiner's cool and all, but he doesn't have a real distinctive voice, so he was a little harder to pick out. Definitely not like Henry Rollins or Alan Alda, or even Mark Hamill. Although, Mark Hamill has made quite the name for himself in the voice acting circuit, so I'm sure he can disguise his voice or accent pretty well by now. His character in the audio book had a little bit of an accent and it definitely had a roughneck attitude, as his character was a soldier in the war. He probably had the largest part in the book, he had several stories, two of which were basically back to back. His first part is where the book really starts getting interesting and he wraps everything up at the end of the book too, which a part or three in the middle as well. Like I said, he is a very prominent character.
Anyway, I wanted to recommend the audio version of the book to anyone interested in this sort of thing. It's told in a very real, very gritty way. At some point in listening, you almost feel like this zombie uprising actually happened. Everyone does a great job, but there are a couple of times where a thick accent was a little hard to understand. Of course, that makes it more authentic sounding though. There were several little nuances that made it good too. They would mention things and use expressions, but don't explain them to you beforehand. For instance, the soldier just starts calling the zombies Zack, similar to how the Viet Cong were called Charlie. They never give you a briefing and tell you this, they just make the references. Don't get me wrong, they do explain some stuff, but they don't spell everything out for you. That makes it feel a little more authentic because this book is supposed to be a real account of a war that really happened to us. In the world that this book is fictionally released in, you would know some of these terms so they wouldn't have to explain it to you first. It would be like me giving an interview and making a reference to a Harley. The interviewer wouldn't stop the interview or interject that a Harley is a reference to a Harley Davidson brand of motorcycle. It would be assumed that you know what a Harley is because it is now a common term.
I'll end the review by just plain old recommending you go out and pick it up.

A great place for insurance quotes

2007-02-28T21:25:00.000-06:00

There is a great website to get insurance quotes called Insurance PortalOnline. You can get a quote on any of the three major insurance coverages, which are Life, Auto, and Homeowners. Are there any other kinds of insurance? I mean, I know there are specialized insurance coverages, but don't they all fit into at least one of those categories?
As for the site itself, it's very easy to use. Everything is laid out in a natural way that makes it a cinch to get the quote you're looking for. On the homepage you've got your three categories right there with large buttons to click in order to start the process. Each step asks you questions and moves you on to the next step. It couldn't be simpler.
I don't want to ramble on about them, but I just thought I'd share. Check it out and see if you can get a better deal on your insurance.

Efficiency through procrastination

2007-02-25T21:58:00.000-06:00

Let me set up the story, I had to bring home work this weekend. I work for a law firm and I have a large production of documents due on Monday. If you've been following along, I recently started a new job. My new job is a version or so behind what I'm used to in the software used for database management. Well, a lot of things are automated in those newer versions. Since we don't have those newer versions, things must be done by hand and a lot slower. So, when a production is due, several days notice is given and we work on it for those several days in order to get it ready, as apposed to my old job where only several hours notice (if you were lucky) were given. Well, I had a lot of documents to save images of with the necessary redactions to them. My boss had streamlined the process so it was possible to get about 300 images done per hour. Well, I had about 1700 to do this weekend. Yeah...I got started at about 8 pm on Sunday. Not a good idea. This would be one of those time that demonstrate the very definition of procrastination. Well, after tonight, I have a new theory. I think that procrastination is one of the key catalysts for new and innovative ideas. After I started working, I realized how bad an idea it was to wait this long to get started. I HAD to find some way of speeding this up or I was going to be up all night. So, I brainstormed an idea and did some quick Google searches. I found some key pieces of software that happen to be freeware and installed them. With the two little gems I found, I was able to take the time for processing the images from 300 an hour to all 1700 in under an hour. Oh yeah, I was able to mostly automate the entire process using nothing but free tools available online. If I hadn't of procrastinated, I might have just done my job the normal way and it probably would have taken me hours upon hours. I didn't though, I waited until the last minute (figuratively speaking) and it forced me to find a faster alternative solution. Due to my procrastination, I was able to streamline a process that took hours to do and now all of our future productions will run much, much quicker. I just wanted to say that every once in a while, something good happens because of a bad habit. Not always, not even occasionally, but every great once in a while it does.

The truth is revealed!

2007-02-25T14:16:00.001-06:00

You know, I hate it when companies do this. PayPerPost has made an announcement that they are going to make an announcement in a few weeks. What is the point of that!?! All it does is make people speculate as to what the announcement will be. Usually it’s really easy to guess or it’s downright impossible. Very rarely does it ever fall in between. I guess the point is to generate buzz, which it does with all of the speculation going on. Well, just to generate some rumors, I’m going to make my guess as to what the announcement will be. Here is my guess. Ted, the company CEO, will (finally) announce that HE is the true father to Anna Nicole Smith’s baby. FINALLY, the truth comes out! Don’t blame Ted though; he was really drunk at the time, so drunk in fact, that in this drunken stupor, he thought that she was Scarlett Johansson. Now, who could blame him for that. On a completely side tracked, but related note, Scarlett Johansson, who has had a secret crush on Ted for months after first seeing him on Rockstartup.com, is now repulsed by Ted because she stated that she could never follow Anna Nicole Smith. I have this all on a very good source, who heard it from a friend, who found out from another secret source, so you KNOW it has to be true. I guess we’ll just have to wait a few weeks for the announcement to find out. Get ready Howard K. Stern, it’s time to give up the money…I mean, baby.

Spontaneous Re-Frigeration

2007-02-25T14:00:00.000-06:00

I'm a little perplexed with my refrigerator. So, last week it just up and died on us. Our food started melting in the freezer and our fridge started warming up. Also, there was this odd clicking noise. Since it wasn't doing anything but blowing warm air, I just turned it off. Well, today my wife decided to clean out the fridge and actually clean the shelves since they were bare. So, she pulls them out and starts washing them. She is putting them back in wet and asks me to turn it on in hopes that it will help dry the shelves. Also, she jokes, maybe it'll just start working again. So, I turn it on and felt the air. The damn thing was working again! I couldn't believe it, there was cold air blowing. The freezer had even colder air blowing. A little while later, I checked one of the little ice bags we had in the freezer and sure enough, that sucker was frozen. I don't knwo what's going on with that thing. I'm still going to have the repair guy look at it. The last thing I need is to have it go out again and ruin a whole bunch of my food again.

Rockin' the Leica binoculars!

2007-02-21T22:11:00.000-06:00

So, I’ve talked about Eagle Optics before and I know I’ve mentioned their great low prices, outstanding customer service, excellent selection, and their free financing on orders over $200. I’ve also talked about some various brands that they have for sale on their site. Well, I want to talk about one more now. I found a pair of leica binoculars on there that ROCK! Those suckers are rock solid and work outstanding. I am planning on picking up a pair to use at my new job. I know what you’re thinking, did you get a job bird watching? No, I got a job in an office that overlooks Busch Stadium in Saint Louis. It has such a perfect view, that I’ll never have to buy tickets again. My office overlooks the entire field from behind home plate and with the dip in the wall, it’s as though they moved stuff out of the way just for me. I’m going to pick up a pair of these binoculars and a small radio. Once baseball season starts, I’m going to listen to the day games on the radio and just turn around with the binoculars whenever something happens. Through binoculars from my office, the field looks the same as if you had no binoculars but had nosebleed seats. Not too shabby, eh? Check out the binoculars, they’re good stuff.

Damn the refrigerator!!!

2007-02-21T22:01:00.000-06:00

So, apparently my power went out today, as evident by the flashing clocks, and I'm assuming that this power outage somehow jacked up my fridge somehow. Well, it's not ALL broken, only the freezer isn't working. I opened the freezer and some of the food was a little wet, as though the freezer door had been left open and some frost had melted. I accused my wife of leaving the door open and she reminded me about the power outage. Then we both sort of cocked our heads and realized that the power had been on at least since we had gotten home, so the freezer would have been working for at least two hours. There shouldn't be melted anything in there. I picked up a Jello Pudding Pop, which are delicious by the way, and it was just pudding in a little plastic bag. There was no pop to the pudding. Somewhere Bill Cosby shed a tiny little tear.
So, I call Sears to have it fixed, since that's where i bought it. I was informed that my warrenty was over, but I could buy an extended warrenty for $219 right now. She also informed me that the standard price for repair on a fridge is between $160 to $300. She made a couple of guesses as to what could be causing the problem and her little price sheet was not kind to me in those guesses. So...I bought a warrenty. It was a no brainer really. The tech costs a minimum of $59 to come out and look at it. The warrenty is returnable within 60 days and if you have service done before returning it, they deduct the regular price of the service from the refund. So, since I bought the warrenty, if the repair is over $219, then I don't have to pay anything more and I got the repair cheaper. If the repair is significantly less, then I can return the warrenty and essentially just pay for the repair. No brainer. Now, if I could only get them to schedule my repair at a time that would be convenient to ME...

Wanna see my widget?

2007-02-21T21:12:00.000-06:00

Check out this widget from Box.net Widget. This sucker is cooler than cool, eh? What's that you say, you don't know what a widget is? Well, let me inform you. A widget from Box.net streams podcasts, music, photos, videos, or any other type of file type. They offering unlimited bandwidth with their widget AND they will host up to 1 GB of data for free. Check it out below.

Get your own Box.net widget and share anywhere!

More about Anna....

2007-02-21T19:37:00.000-06:00

Ok, seriously. I've had ENOUGH of Anna Nicole Smith. I know, respect for the dead and all that, but enough is enough. Everywhere I turn I read about her and every channel I flip to, she's on there. Or at least her mother is, or Howard K. Stern, or her baby, or someone claiming to be her baby's daddy. Isn't there a war going on? Didn't Bush just send more troops to the middle east? Isn't there that whole cancer thing still going on? Why can't we focus our energy on something more productive? I'm considering blocking myself into a cave until this whole thing blows over.

Finally, a focused dating service that makes sense.

2007-02-19T23:45:00.000-06:00

I posted about another dating service a little while ago that, to me, didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Well, I found another focused dating service, but this one makes sense. It’s a Jewish Dating Service. Now, I’m not Jewish myself, but I have several friends who are and I have an aunt who is. Well, she’s not really my aunt in the strictest sense of the term, she’s an old family friend from before I was born and I’ve always called her an aunt. For all intensive purposes, she’s my aunt and she’s Jewish. While, I’m all for free love and dating whomever you choose regardless of religion or race, I completely understand why a service like this is available. If I were Jewish and wanting to date someone who is also Jewish, it might be difficult to find someone without any kind of focus. You can’t really tell someone’s religion just by looking at them in most cases. You would have to ask them. That’s a pretty odd subject to just walk up and ask some attractive stranger about. On the other hand, if you think they might be Jewish and you approach and talk to them, you get to know them enough that you feel comfortable asking, and then they say no, well now you’re in an odd predicament because now you don’t want to date them but you’ve already made the investment of time and effort to talk to them and get to know them. How do back out? How do you proceed but let them know that you aren’t interested in dating anymore. Avoid it all, go to a focused dating site and eliminate the problem altogether. With that out of the way, you can find all sorts of faults in your dates without having to worry about what religion they are. Who knows, perhaps you’ll find someone with fewer faults than all the others and you just might actually find happiness. You never can tell.

Kick off your boots, lean back, and buy some shirts.

2007-02-19T23:31:00.000-06:00

Hey all, I found this great little t-shirt shop called Country Carolina. It's a themed shop with a southern style. While they do have stuff for guys, they mostly cater to the ladies. Most of their stuff has a slight edge to it, think southern belle with an attitude. The shirt I have posted to the left is a great example of that attitude. The shirt gives an attitude that only an actual Southern Hottie could pull off. Check them out if you get the time, it's a very well put together little t-shirt shop.

Make your purchases MINTY fresh!

2007-02-19T23:29:00.001-06:00

What’ll freshen your breath and spend like cash? It’s the MINT Credit Card of course! No, I’m just kidding…about the breath part. Well, unless you use the credit card to buy some breath mints, that is. Seriously though, I want to talk to you about credit cards for a sec. Did you know that the MC2 MINT credit card, which came in out 2003 was the first card to alter the shape of the credit card in 37 years over in the UK? Pretty cool little bit of useless knowledge, eh? Oh, the change was that the lower right hand of the corner was removed. The card is still very popular and with some deals going on with 0% interest until December, people are still signing up left and right for it. They’ve also got a MINT Gift Card, which is basically a pre-paid credit card that you give to someone as a gift. It’s kind of like buying a gift card to someone’s favorite store…only they can use anywhere they want instead of the one place that you happened to think they would want to spend money in. It’s a better deal all around. Anyway, I just thought I’d share.

Do you hear that? That's the sound of inevitability.

2007-02-18T23:16:00.000-06:00

I'm taking bets on exactly when Britney Spears will have her nervous breakdown. It's not a matter of "ifs" it's a matter of when. It will happen, oh yes. Someone besides the tabloids has to profit from this, so it might as well be me. So, go ahead...place your bets here! Oh, and don't worry about me Mr. Gaming Commission man, I'm in the bathtub while I'm writing this, so I count as a floating casino. I am in Missouri, it's legal if it's floating, remember?

Someone reviews your blog and you get paid for it!

2007-02-15T22:54:00.000-06:00

So, you want to earn money through blogging, but you don’t want to have to write ads for PayPerPost.com, eh? No problem. You can use the Review My Post program and build blog traffic while earning some extra cash. The program is open to all bloggers and it’s quite simple. You basically don’t have to do much more than you do now. What you do is you post a little badge at the bottom of your blog entry and that little badge asks your reader to review your blog entry. For them, it’s not much different than leaving a comment. Easy, right? Well, for every review someone leaves you, you get cash. It’s so easy, it’s ridiculous not to do it.
What you need to do is to click the link in this entry and sign up. Once you’ve signed up, you click the “Affiliate Tools” in your blogger interface. You then select Review My Post for details on it all. It’s simple. They have the coding you need there and you just copy and paste it right in. If you can edit your posting template, you can add it there and then you’d never even have to think about it.
This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to earn some extra money with their blog, but doesn’t want to “pollute” their blog with ads. Well, this lets you earn money from your blog by having people review the blog entries that you already write. Seriously, what are you waiting for?

Updated reviews from my new PC

2007-02-15T22:40:00.000-06:00

So, if you've been following along, I earned money from this blog and bought myself a new PC. I bought all of the parts and built it myself. As you probably know, if you build your own PC you get to customize it and put in all the good stuff that you want, but you also have to act as your own tech support when things don't go right. Well, things started off not going right for me. The first thing was a sucky blue screen of death. That turned out to be the hard drive. I replaced that and no more blue screen. Then, I was getting hiccups and freezes when typing. That turned out to be a bad or incompatible keyboard, so I replaced it. No more problems there. Now, I'm happy to say that my PC is problem free. It's running smooth and fast. I really like Windows Vista. It's also smooth and fast. Almost everything works with Vista, and what doesn't, will soon. I have a couple of applications that don't work, but both websites of the software product say that they will have updates to fix it very soon. You can't expect everyone to be ready right out of the gate with a brand new operating system. Anyway, the PC is working great. I'll write more on it later, if anything pops into mind.

You can make money blogging, like me.

2007-02-15T22:38:00.001-06:00

I’ve talked about them before, but for those of you just joining us, Occasionally I write ads for PayPerPost.com. I make money blogging and it’s fantastic. It’s paid for a new computer, the very computer I’m typing this exact blog entry on. It will more than likely pay for next Christmas for my family and possibly allow me to take my wife on a little vacation. I’m very happy with PayPerPost.com and it’s been very good to me. Recently, they changed things and shook things up a bit. They’ve added a segmentation system to the mix. Previously, if an advertiser only wanted a certain kind of blog writing for them, or if they wanted certain rankings for it, they had to mention it in the posting request. Well, now they can pick what criteria they want and the new system doesn’t allow anyone not qualified to take the opportunities when they come up. This new system results in advertisers getting better quality blog posts on the kinds of blogs they want posting, while it also allows us bloggers to take opportunities that better fit our blog. There has also been a little side effect going on, and that’s more money. Due to the restraints placed on the blog posts, they are offering more money for them. That’s right, even more money than previously offered. Now, they offered some good money before, so this is really great news. If you’ve looked at many of the sites offering to pay for blog posts, they either don’t offer enough posts to make it worth your time, or they just don’t pay what PayPerPost.com pays. They also aren’t asking you to trick anyone either. They require full disclosure on your blog, either in each individual post or in a site wide disclosure policy (like the one I have). They really know what they’re doing. So, if you’re a blogger and you’ve considered blogging for money, then click the link at the beginning of this post or check out the button to the right. Blog on!

First paycheck!

2007-02-15T22:24:00.000-06:00

I received my first paycheck today. Woo hoo! You know what's funny is that this isn't a full paycheck. My new job pays on the same days as my previous job. They pay semi-monthly, so they pay on the 15th and the last day of the month. Well, I didn't start until the 5th of the month, so there are 4 days left off of the paycheck, but this paycheck is STILL bigger than my previous full paychecks. Woo hoo!

Click away...and send some ecards to someone special.

2007-02-14T21:36:00.000-06:00

There are some free funny eCards out on Egreetings.com. They've got some cute cards that you might want to send to a very special lady, on a very special day...like Valentine's day...which is today, so you'd better get a move on it. Or, they have some risque and off-color cards that you'd best be sending to your best bud. Who am I to judge though, you could send the risque ecards to your lady. I wouldn't want to assume anyone's humor level. Anyway, you can sign up for a subscription for $13.99 and send unlimited ecards to whomever you'd like. If you're not sure about it, you can get a 30 day free trial and send as many ecards out as you can click. So, click away...click away.

For kids who do stuff with their Daddy...or Mommy...or Grandparents

2007-02-13T21:49:00.000-06:00

There is a great website called The Flight-Brothers T-shirt Shop and they have some of the cutest shirts for kids. For example, they have this whole series of shirts dedicated to watching **something** with mommy or Daddy. I've got the example of watching Football with Daddy here, but they've got a ton of others that are equally as cute. They've got just about every sport you can imagine, and he's constantly adding more. They've got Football, Baseball, Hockey, Soccer, and a ton more. You really should check them out.

Flights to everywhere!

2007-02-13T21:38:00.000-06:00

A great travel site called DialAFlight has Flights to Johannesburg, Flights to Australia, Flights to Japan, Flights to everywhere. They have great rates and their website is super easy to use. They even have very specialized trips to various places to see very specific things. For example, you can fly to South Africa to see the England vs. South Africa rugby game, if that's what you like. They seem to have it all. Check it out.

A surprise best seller

2007-02-11T20:35:00.000-06:00

I don't know what it is, but I've been selling a TON of these "I was worth the wait" infant shirts and creepers. When I first created this design, I thought it was cute, but I honestly didn't know if it was going to sell. Little did I know that it would be my biggest seller. If you've got a newly delivered bundle of joy, or if you know someone who does, consider this shirt for that little munchkin. Can all the people who've already ordered this shirt be wrong?

A new baby in the world

2007-02-10T21:23:00.000-06:00

A very close friend of mine had a baby yesterday. His little boy was brought into this world a little after noon. I went by the hospital today to see him, and boy is he cute. Looking at him brought back a wave of feelings. At first, I remembered how little and adorable my kids were when they were born. I remembered the joy I felt in the delivery room when I saw them for the first time. I remember them grasping my little finger in their fists. The little sucking motion they make with their mouths while they sleep is pretty darn cute too. Then I started remembering poop. Lots and lots of poop. Also, the waking up in the middle of the night, several times. I remember the crying that was difficult if not impossible to soothe. I remember having to be so careful and gentle with them. All of a sudden, while I still miss those other things, and I wouldn't trade the experiences I had for anything, I was still glad to give him back. I was glad that it was him going through that first couple of hellacious months where the baby doesn't do much other than eat, sleep, and poop. I'm glad my kids are older and slightly more self sufficient. I'm glad that I'm at where I'm at with my little family. You know what...I've got it pretty good.

Looking for love...with lots of money?

2007-02-10T21:21:00.000-06:00

So, I found this site for Millionaire Dating. Oh no, you read that right. Apparently people with a million dollars or more are having problems finding dates and they need a special website for it. I suppose that an ordinary dating website would cause too many problems when they finally meet someone and they find out that they only like them for their money. Well, at this site, that’s all out in the open, so there’s no false pretenses and you’re not wondering if they’re with you because of the money or not. They went to a millionaire dating site to find you, so of course they are with you because of the money. Of course, you (the millionaire) were looking for someone like that because you wouldn’t have posted on a millionaire dating site if you hadn’t. As for the site itself, it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a dating site. They’ve got everything right as far as how easy the site is to use and how to search for potential dates. So, if you’re a single millionaire and not finding the kind of guy/girl you’re looking for at the local polo club, then check out the site.

More on my new keyboard

2007-02-10T21:19:00.000-06:00

So, I checked out the display model on my keyboard and it has the same annoying clack on the space bar. I also checked out several other keyboards and they all clack. The only one that didn't clack was a $99 keyboard/mouse combo. I don't need a new mouse, I have a mouse and I like it. Also, I don't want to spend a hundred bucks on a new keyboard when the only thing wrong with the one I have is that it clacks a bit. So, I decided to just live with the clacking.

Get some flowers on the cheap

2007-02-09T22:43:00.001-06:00

If you have ever, or will ever buy anything online, you need to visit Coupon Chief first. With Valentine’s Day coming up, you might want to check the 1-800-Flowers coupons they’ve got there. I’m always amazed at the great deals that Coupon Chief always has. I don’t see how you can buy anything online with checking with them first. It just doesn’t make sense…well, unless you just plain like spending more money than you have to.

One week down...

2007-02-09T22:30:00.000-06:00

So, I have officially finished my first week at the new job. I have to tell you, I think I made the right choice. It was a little bit sketchy at first, but now that I'm a week in, I think it was the right move. I am getting an office sometime in the next week or two, and while my boss knows where it is, she isn't telling me. She did say that I will be happy with it though. So, if she thinks I'll be happy with it, then I'm sure I will be. I've never actually had an office before, so I'm actually really happy that I'm getting one at all. I mean, I've had a temporary office that I've worked in for a bit because something I was doing required it, but I've never had an office for no other reason than I deserved one or that one came with the job. I'm thrilled!

Get flowers delivered to her and be her hero.

2007-02-09T22:29:00.001-06:00

Everyone wants to give flowers to their girlfriends, wives, mothers, loved ones…but who wants to actually go to a florist and pick out flowers? Nobody, that’s who. So, you opt for online flower delivery. I mean, why wouldn’t you? You can pick your flowers online through a certified FTD online florist and they deliver nationwide. There’s no reason for you to ever step into an actual brick and mortar florist shop again. Oh, here’s a little hint too. Have the flowers delivered to her work. Girls like flowers, sure, but what they like more is the attention of getting them. They don’t get nearly any attention, if any at all, if you deliver them to her house. Deliver them to her work and you’ll be her hero.

A new keyboard!

2007-02-09T22:16:00.000-06:00

So, I was having problems typing on my new computer. It was sort of semi-freezing up every once in a while. I thought it was everything, but it turns out it was just while typing. It would hold on a key or the space every once in a while, which resulted in repeated letters or spaces. So, before I tore apart my computer thinking it was bad memory or something else causing the virtual hiccup, I decided to test the keyboard first. So I bought a new keyboard and it seems to be working fine. I bought the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000. You know what, I really like it, but I have two problems with it as well. The first being that it has no palm rest, so it's not very comfortable to type on straight out of the box. This can be easily fixed by purchasing a palm rest, which I'll do tomorrow. The second thing, and I don't know if this can be fixed or not. I may swing by Office Depot and try their display model to see if it does this too. The space bar clicks pretty loud. It's loud enough that it's very distracting to me. I'm going batty listening to it right now. None of the other keys click like this. The other keys make that keyboard key pressed sound, but the space bar sounds like two pieces of plastic clicking together. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to sound like this. If I test the display model and it doesn't do it, then I'll bring this one back and exchange it. I have to bring back my chair anyway. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the chair. I bought an office chair for my tiny little home office. The thing broke on me. So, I took it back and got a new one. This one is broken too! The other one broke because it wasn't meant to leaned back in the way I was leaning and the back snapped. So, really it was my fault. This chair is broken right out of the box. NOT MY FAULT. I can't lower or raise the chair because the little lever is broken. So, I'm taking it back again tomorrow and I think I'm going to upgrade to a different chair.

Does this mean we'll see more or less of her?

2007-02-08T20:36:00.000-06:00

Anna Nicole Smith is dead. My wife likes watching Entertainment Tonight and she's a regular story on there. She's constantly being talked about on that show. With her death, I can't help but to wonder if we're going to see more of her or less of her. We'll probably hear a lot more about her, then it will just end. The only thing I'm curious about is that new baby of hers. I wonder if that guy looking to prove that it's his will get his paternity test now. I wonder if he even still wants it, considering that if he is named the father that he would be on Dad duty full time. Oh well, I guess we'll find out, won't we.

Don't waste money an a card, send an eCard instead!

2007-02-08T20:34:00.000-06:00

I normally don’t send those eCard things, but there was a really funny Cupid pickup lines eCard and I couldn’t resist. They’ve got some really funny eCards on Egreetings.com. In this age of electronic mail, it only makes sense that someone would send or receive eCards instead of, or in addition to an old fashioned paper card. The site has a special going for their eCards in that you can send unlimited eCards for a yearly subscription for only $13.99. That’s not bad when you consider how much you’d pay for those paper cards for every holiday and birthday you would be normally buying cards for. Check it out.