The Whirlwind

You should see the other guy

2010-08-13T08:34:00.001-04:00

Or maybe the other dog.

When wrestling one's own dog, one must prepare for the claw to the face move. Clearly, I am not a master at Canine MMA.

Del Lago

2010-07-26T15:38:00.003-04:00

This past weekend my wife's family and I took a trip to the lake. Yeah, we took the baby with us too. The in-laws decided to rent a 5 bedroom lake house for a few days and they asked us to join them, so off we went! Funnily enough, my family had done the exact same thing a month before and ended up renting the exact same house completely on accident. So the wife and I already knew how to get there, as well as all the little quirks that the house seemed to have. Or rather, not have. The house was very large and very nice, but the owners just seemed to be leaving some things out that you'd think a normal house would have. Such as curtains or blinds on the bedroom windows- we didn't want to be woken up at 7am while on vacation! (This was solved by stacking pillows in the windows, and hanging comforters over them as well)

My father-in-law is a huge fan of Bass Pro Shop, and a fan of manly outdoorsy stuff in general. So he decided to rent a pontoon boat for the second day of our stay on the lake. He and I picked it up at 9am and spent the next 2 hours exploring a few coves and trying to catch some fish- we failed. However, I did manage to catch the bottom of the lake. As well as a random dock. And a tree branch, which decided to keep the lure. Farewell crank-bait.. you served me... not very well. But you served me, nonetheless.

Roundabout 11am, we piloted the boat back to our lake house to pick up all the womenfolk so we could enjoy a nice picnic lunch. However, this is where our story takes an unfortunate turn, my friends. You see, the weather this last half of July has been incredibly hot. I believe that day the heat index was around 110 degrees. So naturally, we looked for a shady spot on the water. As it was now just about noon, we had to get our boat directly next to the bank underneath some branches. Everyone busts out some sandwiches and we begin eating. However, the pontoon boat has continued drifting along the bank... directly toward a branch overhanging the water. I called to my wife, who was sitting at the bow, to let me know if she was about to hit the branch, so I could back the boat up.

A couple minutes later I hear "Uh... back up please. Branch is about a foot away."

I move to back the boat up, but find that I seem to bring the prop online- it had gotten stuck in the mud. As I began to raise the prop up out of the mud, the bow of the boat struck the branch.

Unknown to us, the tree branch was the home to a large colony of mayflies.

Chaos erupted from the front of the boat where my wife was sitting, accompanied by her mother, sister, aunt, and our 18 month old child. Every single one of them let out a blood curdling scream as hundreds of mayflies boiled out of the tree branch and descended upon them with murder in their hearts. Just kidding, mayflies are harmless, but they didn't know that.

"BACK UP! BACK UP!" they all scream as they desperately attempt to cover their food. It was like one of the plagues visited upon Egypt in the Old Testament.

Finally the prop came free of the mud and I was able to reverse us out of the roiling mass of mayflies. Everyone calmed down quickly, aside from the baby (who had never seen 4 adults scream in terror, so naturally she was terrified). We spent the next 10-15 minutes killing random mayflies as we encountered them all over the boat.

Cool story, eh bro?

2010-07-12T19:58:00.001-04:00

I swear I'll update this thing with more than just a list of my child's words. According to our baby book, Bean should be able to say 3 words. May possibly be able to say 50 words. Well, we've got 55.

1) Hi
2) Bye
3) Kitty
4) Dog
5) Meow
6) Woof
7) Mama
8) Dada
9) Pop
10) Gamma (grandma)
11) Kell
12) Up
13) Down
14) Uh-oh
15) Yay
16) Bowl
17) Here
18) This
19) Ball
20) Owl
21) Bear
22) Elmo
23) Bird
24) Ear
25) Eye
26) Hair
27) Yes
28) No
29) Yum Yum
30) Moo
31) Duck
32) Quack
33) Roar
34) Go
35) Keys
36) Beep Beep
37) Six
38) Eight
39) Bubble
40) Nipple (hehe)
41) I love you
42) Frog
43) Ribbit
44) What’s That
45) Hat
46) See You
47) Cookie
48) Juice
49) Fish
50) Ah Ah (Monkey Sounds)
51) Sit
52) Get
53) Baby
54) Bauer
55) Thank You

Words

2010-05-12T15:16:00.003-04:00

Words are important things. And my daughter can use them! According to our baby book, a kiddo her age might be able to use 2 or 3 words. Here's a list of everything she can say, as of approximately 15 months:

Bauer (our dog)
Bowl
Dog
Kitty
Mama
Dada
Pop
Bye
Hi
Here
Ear
Thank You
Yum Yum!
Woof!
Meow!
Elmo
Uh oh

This child is a beast.

She also knows a great deal more words than she can actually say. For example, last time she visited my in-laws, she was playing with some of the toys that live at their house. On one end of the living room was a small stroller, and on the other end was a bear. I said "Hey Bean, can you put your bear in the stroller?" And she did just that! Walked over, grabbed the bear, ,plopped it in the stroller, and then proceeded to take it for a walk around the house.

Probably her favorite game is to play hide and seek. She will scream "BYE!!" and go run behind a chair to hide; after a few moments, she'll pop back out and yell "HI!" I think she could play it for hours.

Also, she goes insane for ice cream. She's only had it twice, but both times she has absolutely lost her mind. She wants MORE MORE MORE NOW NOW NOW. So yeah.. we're gonna lay off the ice cream for a bit.

Itchy eyebrow

2009-09-23T20:39:00.002-04:00

I just finished mowing about 45 minutes ago, and apparently a mosquito got my eyebrow. AND IT ITCHES.

Itchy itchy... hungry... itchy.

Lots of stuff's been going down lately.

The good: Football season has started, the beard is looking quite nice, the Bean is doing awesome- she'll be 8 months old tomorrow.

The bad: The South's been invaded by an aggressor and Atlanta is besieged again... this time not by Yankees, but by water! I think it is safe to say that the multi-year drought we have endured in GA for the past few years is over. It started raining last Tuesday and continued pretty much non-stop for 6 days. A lot of Atlanta and its surrounding areas are flooded hardcore. We're fine over here to the east, but a great many folks are in a baaaad way.

Also bad news that I just got while typing this post up- my grandpa is in the hospital. No real details yet, but I'm kind of freaked out. My Pop has never really had any serious health issues- in fact, none of my grandparents have. I don't really know what to do here!

Summer time...

2009-08-04T10:31:00.001-04:00

... is a strange time to try growing a beard, but I'm doing it anyway. It all started with a move, of all things. The wife and baby and I have moved out of our townhouse in the city (where we had been for over 3 years) to a rental house located in a small town about 30 minutes away. I'm still adjusting to the longer commute, but other than that things are going pretty smoothly. We wanted a place that was all one story, as we did not want to have the baby dealing with stairs once she learns to crawl and walk. The house also comes with a great fenced in backyard that Bauer absolutely l-o-v-e-s. He will bolt out of the backdoor and sprint after the squirrels.

It's funny because the squirrel ends up dead.

Anyway, I was talking about my beard. It all started when my electric razor and its cord were packed and I could not find them. After a week, they were finally located, but by that time I had grown more facial hair than I ever had before. So I decided to just go with it. We'll see how it looks after 3 weeks or so, at which point I will make the judgment call as to whether Sir Beard will live or meet his fate via the blade.

Evidence of said beard. And also evidence that my offspring is ridiculously cute.

I also realized (yet again) last night that I'm all grown up. As I mentioned, we now are in a house. With a yard. That needs to be maintained. Which means I bought a lawn mower a couple weeks ago, and last night I used it for the first time. And I'm pleased to say that it was the easiest lawn mower I've ever used. Started up easily with one crank, and everything was smooth sailing from there. It's an assisted push Craftsman with variable speed control. Took about an hour to mow the front, side, and back yards. Next time, I'm going to crack out the iPod so I'll have something to listen to.

Which brings me to the topic of Podcasts. I've never really owned an iPod- I have one that technically belongs to my office, and I haven't used it much. But that is about to change. Between mowing the lawn and commuting 30 minutes to work (and back), I've decided I'm going to begin listening to music and Podcasts. Problem is, I don't really know where to start as far as podcasts go. I'm going to being checking out the Bombcast from Giantbomb.com, and the Joystiq podcast. We'll see if I like them. Do you have any you would suggest? I'm open for trying just about anything.

Shoop da woop!

2009-06-19T13:48:00.001-04:00

So I've decided I need to update this thing a little more often, especially when it comes to baby updates. Yes, this blog is now a baby blog. You are allowed this one opportunity to point-and-laugh. I've turned into a woman.

Ok no more laughing.

Seriously, cut it out.

Need another reason I've turned into a woman? I very nearly just spelled "cut" as "cute." Is Desperate Housewives on? I can't wait to see what Bree bakes next!

Baby Update
Bean (as I will be referring to the baby from here on out) has recently figured out what bedtime really is. Her bedtime is usually between 8-8:30pm, and whenever I start carrying her upstairs to a darkened room, I can feel her start to tense up a little bit. We'll make it into the bedroom just fine... but once I sit down in the rocking chair she starts crying. It's even worse if I try to lay her down on the bed. It usually takes about 10 minutes to finally get her to calm down enough to think about falling asleep, and another 5-10 to actually make it to Sleepsville. Thankfully, putting her down in the crib has gotten to be relatively easy. For about a month, I had to be extremely careful in lying her down. She would wake up at the smallest shift in her weight or positioning of limbs. This was made even more difficult due to her refusal to sleep on her back. For the first 4 months of her life, she slept in her car seat, which has about a 20-degree incline. She'd be all bunched up in there, her legs and arms squished together like she was back in the womb. Because of how she looked when she slept like this, we started calling her "Bean". I like it as a nickname. Whenever I get home from work, I call out "Hi Bean!" or "Howdy Beanie!" and I get huge smiles. Smiling 5 month olds are awesome.

Game Update
Got Resident Evil 5 from Gamefly. Pretty good action game. It's not scary or suspenseful, which is a bit of a bummer considering how big of a part those two emotions were in the original Resident Evil games. But this game isn't trying to be those, so it is okay. I've almost completed the story mode, and so far I'd give it a solid B. A quick note to the makers of RE: enough with the leeches. I'm tired of them. They're not scary- just annoying. Leechmen do nothing for me.

Google Reader is awesome

2009-04-23T10:03:00.001-04:00

I am a big fan of almost everything Google provides as a service. It is my main, primary search engine. I use Google Maps when I'm trying to get the directions for a trip. I use Google Calendar to schedule many of the things going on in my life. Froogle is a great tool for making shopping/wish lists, which I can then share with friends and family who ask for ideas on what to get me for birthdays or Christmas. GoogleDocs is a nice little feature that acts as a sort of online Microsoft Office suite - it can handle text, spreadsheets, and possibly even Powerpoint presentations. And, of course, Gmail acts as my main email account.

However, perhaps my favorite Google App is Google Reader. I like to think about it as a sort of newspaper that only gives me the stuff I care about. If I find a website or blog interesting, I just add it to my Google Reader. And everytime that website is updated, it is automatically brought into Google Reader for me to check out. So, when I wake up in the morning, I have nice series of articles to read. Here's a list of the stuff I subscribe to.

Friends
Megan with the Egg Sound - A friend and former co-worker of mine who has moved out to Los Angeles. Her little page here is a good way to keep up to date on what she's doing, and how close she currently is to conquering the movie industry.
Carrieoke's Knitting Blog - A friend and CURRENT co-worker of mine. It's mainly a blog dedicated to her knitting, but she sometimes writes about personal stuff. Apparently, this blog has been around for years and has gained quite a following in that time. Seriously, hundreds of people read her blog. She's a superstar.
From Paper to Polygon's - My friend Slamin's blog. It's kind of funny- he first started his blog with the purpose of writing just random stuff every once in awhile. He didn't want it to become a journal entry sort of blog. But now, that is what it is! Hooray!
Lady Homebody - My wife's new blog. She writes about just about anything. Check it out.
The d20Blonde - My friend Liz's blog. I've actually never met her, though we first met online when I was 13 or 14. She's a cool chick. She claims to be the "Most Popular Girl on the Internet." She should update more often.
the spaces between - Friend of mine from high school. She hasn't updated in awhile either unfortunately.
Twenty-Something - My friend Greer's blog. She is also new to the blogging world, and so far she's done a good job of writing funny little stories of her life. She also just learned she's pregnant, so I'm sure the blog will start talking more about that soon.
Shrink Rapping - Greer's dad's blog. He's a psychatrist, and an incredibly intelligent/witty guy.

Random
Video Copilot - A website dedicated to providing After Effects tutorials. GREAT website for those interested in that software. The host is very easy to follow, and they have tutorials ranging in difficulty from beginner all the way up to pro.
xkcd - A comic that comes out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's usually a very geeky comic, and sometimes some of the math/computer programming jokes are over my head, but man- most of the time it's hilarious. Check it out, and don't forget to mouse over the image to get the alt text!
Expect Nothing! - this is a page I've been following since probably 1999 or so. The guy who runs it used to run a Warcraft II, then Starcraft site. He actually began using his page as a blog LONG before it became popular or common place. He's always got fun links to check out.
Overseen in Athens - Pictures that people take in Athens, GA. Some hilarious shots in there. Some of the pictures are of things I have actually seen myself around town.
Overheard in Athens - People post quotes that they have heard while in Athens. Most of these are from UGA's campus or downtown.
PostSecret - People from all over the country anonymously send their secrets written on postcards to this guy in Germantown, MD who then posts them on his site. Some are funny, some are sad, and great deal are ohhh soooooo dramatic.

Sports
Jeff Owens: The Real Deal - A blog kept by current senior Georgia Bulldog Jeff Owens. He writes about the football program from the inside. He's a very articulate writer. Keep up the great work Jeff.
Georgia Sports Blog - Kind of self-explanatory, doncha think?
Get the Picture - Focuses solely on college football, with a decidedly Georgia lean. Great place to hear about what is going on both in the UGA program, as well as around the country.
Hey Jenny Slater - This guy doesn't really go into the strategies/match rundown of college sports- he writes from a fan's perspective. He's a Bulldawg through and through, and he's absolutely hilarious. In the offseason, his posts about politics, women, and Legoland are all top notch.

Tauntauns!

2009-04-01T14:50:00.001-04:00

ThinkGeek :: Tauntaun Sleeping Bag

I really wish that this were real. Happy April Fools Day everybody!

This is also a test of the ScribeFire firefox addon. We'll see how I like it.

Make it (stop) rain

2009-03-30T11:52:00.002-04:00

It's rained for the past 4 days. Make it stop.

Went to Gwinnett county for J's birthday party this past weekend, and had a really great time. We were able to see Moxa's new house for the first time- I was very impressed! We took the baby, and she did extremely well. Very well behaved as she was passed around from person to person. Moxa busted out the grill, and he cooked some awesome hamburgers and brats. Mmmmmmmmmm. So delicious. We followed that up with a game of Quelf, which is a board game I had never heard of. It is basically just a game of complete random tomfoolery. I had to talk like a pirate for the entire game, while Moxa had to regale the group with tales of his childhood in Sri Lanka caring for timberwolves. Silly silly game.

Baby is now 9 weeks old, and she's a beast. She's started regularly sleeping about 7 hours each night, which I am a huge fan of. She smiles big now, too!

The next few weeks are going to be incredibly busy for me. At least I shouldn't be too bored!

MaRcH MaDnEsS

2009-03-05T13:44:00.003-05:00

Sorry, I know that headline is incredibly annoying.

It's official: the week from February 23-March 2nd 2009 officially was officially one of the most surreal, crazy, and frustrating weeks of my life. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Monday morning - Wife wakes up with intense pain in her abdomen. We're talkin' tears. After suffering through it for about an hour and half, her mother takes her to the hospital while I stay home with baby. After a series of tests, they confirm that she has gallstones and will need to have her gallbladder removed. CRAP. Surgery sucks. At least she'll get to have it done over her Spring Break, so she shouldn't have to miss any classes. This is major, since she already missed so much due to birthing the baby.

Wednesday - My uncle's house burned down. I feel so bad for my uncle right now. He's just gone through a divorce (he has 2 teenage daughters), was living with my grandmother, was having money problems since he is in the construction business and that whole industry is in the crapper, and now the house he built himself is no more. Nobody was hurt (not even the dog), so that is the good news.

Friday - This wasn't bad, just interesting. Drove down to Albany to film an interview. It's been a long time since I've been to south Georgia. It's a totally different experience than the one I'm used to. I borrowed my brother's GPS for the trip and man, that thing is AWESOME. I got there about an hour ahead of schedule and was hungry. So I whipped out the GPS, looked at the local restaurants, picked one, and the unit took me right to the store. Amazing.

Saturday - Baby done got baptized! Yay! Then we had a party! Yay! With my favorite flavor wings! Yay! Family and friends! Yay!

Sunday - Snow. Seriously. Snow in Georgia. We started that day with light flurries at the inlaws house. About 1pm, we went to spend a little bit of time with my parents before we headed back up north. The snow kept coming. We left my parents at about 3pm, and made it about 15-20 miles before we had to turn around. Traffic on the interstate was gridlocked; nobody knew what to do or how to drive in the snow, myself included. There was no way I was going to be driving 2.5 hours on backroads in the snow like that. And it was a good thing, because northeast GA got around 6 inches of snow, which is by far the most snow I've ever seen in my life. We made it back home on Monday, which was fine because my work was closed anyway. Here are some pictures. Not mine, but credit to The View from the Upper Deck.

Click to view larger size, which I recommend

My personal favorite

Babies, babies everywhere, and not a drop to drink...

2009-02-20T15:45:00.002-05:00

Babies are crazy. The sheer idea that I'm a dad now throws me for a loop now every time I really think about it. I have a daughter. The idea is just so incredibly foreign. But cool at the same time.

Baby Thoughts

Sleep is a precious, precious thing. I knew that babies are a lot of work. I've heard from other parents how rough night time is with a newborn. I'd read baby books full of tips on how to cope with lack of sleep. Man, it sure is different when you're actually going through it and not simply reading it. This is coming from a person who really has never had any issues with sleep like insomnia, night terrors, etc. So I had kind of just taken sleep for granted. NEVER AGAIN!
Doing all of this without the support of family and friends sure would be rough. Luckily, both sets of grandparents have been incredibly generous with their time/money. Thank you parents, you guys are awesome.
My baby is grunty. Whenever she finishes nursing (especially at night), she will go through a period of about 15-20 minutes where she is grunting really loudly. I think she's trying to fart or something. Sometimes it gets so rough that KT actually has to leave the room so she can get some sleep. Luckily, I can sleep through it =D
Toothless smiles really are the best smiles. I've only seen a couple of them so far (hey, she's only 3 weeks old), but the ones I have experienced have been great!
Laying on your bed with a sleeping baby on your chest = one of the best things ever.
My baby is seriously lacking in the "other children her age department." I'm afraid she'll grow up without any friends. Somebody needs to step it up.
Baby poop is yellow. Like straight up yellow mustard. It's a bit distressing sometimes. If I didn't know it was supposed to be like that, I probably would have called the nuclear power station and asked if we could use my child's poop for fuel.
Babies do not like hard rock music. I thought I'd try it. It didn't work. =(
The stress that comes along with having a newborn baby in the house doesn't just affect the parents. It affects the dog. And oh boy does it affect Bauer. I took him to the dog park about 2 weeks after SK was born.. it was his first trip to the park in probably 5 months at least. Looking back on it, it was too much of a shock to his system. He'd only had limited exposure to other dogs during that time. So of course he picked up a stomach bug while we were there. Stomach bug + Baby stress = Explosive diarrhea & vomiting blood. My dog is a mess... and now so is my carpet. =|

Those moments..

2009-01-16T13:30:00.004-05:00

I was just watching some stuff on Youtube on my lunch break, and I came across a couple movie/television clips from the past that have really stuck with me through the years. For various reasons, these moments had an impact on me.

My apologies for lack of English. You get the idea.

This is from a scene near the end of probably my favorite movie of all time, Back to the Future. In the scene before this, Marty's attempt to unite his parents for their first kiss and eventual life together appears to have finally worked. His father, George, knocked out the school bully, finally proving to himself that he had the courage and determination to act like a man and go after what he wants... Lorraine. However, in this scene, George loses this new found self-confidence and, as a result, is about to lose Lorraine. Marty's parents aren't going to be together, and Marty is fading away. Just as all seems lost, George steps back up and gets his girl. This moment, which takes place at the 55 second mark, is orchestrated absolutely beautifully. Everything comes together perfectly: the cinematography (it's a beautiful shot), the music (building to a crescendo and just letting loose), the singer's voice/lyrics.. it's great. I remember thinking to myself "Wow!" when I first watched this movie as a child. I've seen the film too many times to count- really. But this moment always has an impact on me. I get goosebumps everytime.

This is really the only scene I remember from Pinocchio. When I was maybe.. 3 or 4, my parents let me rent this movie every weekend for an entire month. That's how much I loved this movie. However, this one scene absolutely terrified me. Monstro the Whale had swallowed Pinocchio and Gepetto. Their only plan for escape was to start a fire in the whale's mouth, thereby causing him to cough/sneeze them out. Just watching this again scares the crap out of me.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society... I call this story... the Tale that Makes BPW Pee in his pants. I loved this show when I was about 10-12 (also known as the Awkward Years... which, now that I think about it, should really extend to age 15 or so). I actually couldn't find the clip of the episode that stuck with me the most. That episode was about a restaurant that served a very delicious soup. Nobody knew that the secret ingredient was a liquid drop of fear. The restaurant owner extracted the fear from people by using a magical gargoyle statue that would force people to face their worst fears. As the person screamed and tried to get away, the Gargoyle statue would then drain a life force from them. At the end of the episode, the main character gets trapped in a room with the gargoyle as the restaurant owner laughs maniacally. Really freaky. Since I couldn't find that episode.. here is one about clowns. I remember this episode pretty vividly as well. Of course, it has a crazy scary clown. There's no way a scary clown video won't stay with me.

"Can't sleep, clowns'll eat me!"

Anyway, that is just a few of the things I remember pretty distinctly from my childhood. I'll probably do this again at some point. It was pretty fun.

EDIT: I found the clip of the Are You Afraid of the Dark episode I was looking for. Here it is.

Oh yeah. Call of Duty: World at War is AWESOME.

Ka-Boom Blox!

2008-12-15T12:35:00.004-05:00

Wow, my 25th birthday was freaking AWESOME. List of swag is as follows:

SWAG

From the wife

Pillow - I'm quite particular about my pillows when I have a choice in the matter. I like them firm. Unfortunately, the wife has stolen all the pillows to place around herself come bedtime. Pregnant women need their pillows. So she got me my own pillow. I have since installed a high security, electric fence around it. It's mine.... my... precious.
The Dark Knight on DVD - We saw this in the theater when it first came out and I loved it. It is definitely in my Top 10 Movies list. The acting, pacing, plot twists, visuals.. everything about it is amazing.
A tea maker - BPW loves his sweet tea. I get it whenever I eat out somewhere, as that is the only time I'm really ever going to be able to drink it. But now I can make it in my own kitchen! HI FIVE! I haven't tried it out yet, but I'm excited. Tea whenever I want.. wowsers.

From Slamin and his wife, a 3 month subscription to Netflix. This is awesome. I've never had Netflix before and ever since the Xbox was updated with the ability to stream Netflix at any time, I've been wanting to try it out. Well, thanks to J, now I can! We fired it up and watched The Sphere last night. The service was absolutely 100% perfect. Very easy to setup and select movies, perfect quality digital stream on the Xbox. Really, it was like watching a DVD. Wow. A++++++ Would buy from again.
From Moxa and his girlfriend, 1600 Microsoft points for the Xbox. Super cool. I already spent them actually. I bought BC: Rearmed and 4 additional maps for Call of Duty 4. BC: Rearmed is alot of fun so far. It really takes me back to the feel of the old NES games. The game is hard! It doesn't hold your hand- you have to figure things out for yourself. For example, I went tried to infiltrate a cave, but it was dark. I couldn't see anything. But the game didn't stop me from entering. I'm pretty sure that I could have actually beaten the level if I knew my way around. But since I didn't, no way that was going to happen.
$15 Target gift card from Meglet. Thanks Meglet! I have no idea what I'm going to spend it on yet, but whatever it is, it will be awesome.
My parents went a little nuts! They got me a full-year subscription to Gamefly! WOW. Totally unexpected. An entire year.. I'm actually going to be able to play all the great games that came out this past year! Gears of War 2, Fallout 3.. wow. I can't wait!

Oh.. and don't forget this amazing system seller.

But really, my birthday was awesome. A co-worker took me out to lunch, wife and I got to eat at Olive Garden that night. A great start to what is definitely going to be a huge year for me. 39 days until baby. HOLY CRAP!

Whaaa?!

2008-12-10T08:49:00.001-05:00

I'm 25! Holy crap.

Life Experience Test

2008-12-01T14:56:00.001-05:00

I took this test and thought it was kinda fun. Take it yourself. Yes J, I'm talking to you.

The Life Experience Test

Overall, you have partaken in 76 out of 169 possible life experiences.
Your average life experience score is therefore 45%.

The average score is 51%, making your experiences more than 28% of the people who have taken this test.
The average for your age group (18-25) is 45%.

Broken down by category:
Art: 7/17 (41%)

Career & Work: 7/13 (54%)

Civics & Technology: 4/7 (57%)

Crime & Disarray: 4/11 (36%)

Education: 11/18 (61%)

Fashion: 5/10 (50%)

Fitness, Health and Sports: 2/7 (29%)

Life in General: 6/14 (43%)

Relationships: 8/14 (57%)

Religion & Politics: 1/4 (25%)

Social: 12/22 (55%)

Travel: 4/20 (20%)

Vices: 5/12 (42%)

Take the test and see how YOU compare

Bum deedee bum

2008-11-24T13:26:00.003-05:00

I've always been a fan of November- it has a great holiday, the first good cold weather, great tree colors, and lots of great football. Now it is coming to a close. That means we're only 2 months away the baby- INSANE. 2 months away from being a daddy. G-Money threw us a baby shower this past weekend and it was flippin' sweet. We had about 15 people over and much fun and frivolity was had by all. We had some really surprising gifts that we definitely weren't expecting people to get us because of the prices. I mean.. we're talking about college students here. We are very thankful for our friends. Everyone has been very giving, and it's not even the holidays!

Right now I'm on kind of a weird musical kick. I'm really digging covers. And I'm also really digging the TalkBox. So combine the two and you get this.

That is freaking sweet. I want one. Okay, not really- I'd never use it. But it would be fun to play around with. I'm not borrowing someone else's either. Cause that's gross.

I got Fable 2, and beat it. I enjoyed the game, but it kind of started to drag towards the final parts of the adventure. The combat was enjoyable, the voice acting was really great, and the game was really pretty. But man.. it was way too easy. I never even came CLOSE to dying. And the final ending- please. That really ranks up there in the Top 5 of Crappiest Game Endings ever. In fact, right now, I can't think of anything that is worse. So... congrats Fable 2! You've got that going for you!

Xmas and birthday coming up. Games on the list include: Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty: World at War, and Boom Blox. I'm also really hoping to get a few months of Gamefly. Lots of great, quality games have come out recently, and I'm itching to try some of them out.

Oh yeah, and this:

History

2008-11-05T09:00:00.002-05:00

Ever since middle school, I had found the study of the past to be incredibly intriguing and engaging. I loved looking at maps of old countries. I was absorbed with learning about kings, queens, emperors, warriors and the like. I would pour over military documents for hours, envisioning ancient battles and heroic charges. I took great pleasure in looking at the big picture of history- how certain events impacted other events, seeing the cascading effect of one particular action upon the rest of history. It is incredibly sobering to think of how one act or movement can have such incredibly important impact on the future.

Which is why, I believe, regardless of political beliefs, everyone should recognize what a historic event just happened. The people of the United States of America elected a black man as its leader. The leader of a country which, for nearly 100 years after its creation, practiced slavery. A country which, for over a 100 years after the abolition of slavery, segregated blacks to the outside of society, keeping them away from success and achievement with the help of Jim Crow. If it weren't for a group of civil rights leaders in the 1960s, who knows when blacks would have finally begun to break through the barrier separating them from their white countrymen. If it weren't for those civil rights leaders, the people of America would most certainly not have voted in a black president on November 4th, 2008.

I saw this posting, and wanted to share it here:

"I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President."

1.21 Jigga....WHATS?

2008-10-30T12:09:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time. Shoulda left you (left you)..

Another month, another baby shower. Only this one I actually got to goto. It was hosted by my mom, way on down in Wartown, and it was a good time. I took the day before off work and we made a nice 3 day weekend out of it. A good time was had, and we got a bunch of baby loot!! Me likes baby loot. Only 3 more months left to go until the due date. We are slowly coming to this realization. Don't rush us.

In gaming news, I went by the store and traded in about 5 of my old games in exchange for Fable 2. I'm not very far into the game yet, but I am really enjoying it. There is a lot to do, and I'm exploring all the different facets of the game. I think mixing it up like this is keeping the game fresh for me. I like the combat, although it is really just too easy. The enemy AI is really poor.. I can just keep shooting them from afar, and they are mostly dead by the time they get to melee range. I am focusing mainly on long range weaponry, with a little bit of melee and magic thrown in there when necessary. For my first play through, I'm just sticking to a Good Male character. When I play through it again, I'm totally going to be an evil sorceress.

This weekend, we'll be going camping with the Theslaminj and his wife. Hopefully we'll make it through unfrozen.. I'm torn though. I really want to have fun, and I'm sure I will, but MAN I WANT TO WATCH THE UGA-FLORIDA GAME! I can practically hear it now..

(Apparently Knowshon can hear it as well...)

Yip Yip

2008-09-29T15:43:00.002-04:00

PHOTO UPDATE!

The following pictures are from the 2008 UGA-Alabama game at Sanford Stadium.

TheSlaminJ working. He does the Out of Town Scores.

View of the field, pre-game. This game was a blackout.

View from my camera. Awesome.

Shot of the videoboard, pre-game. At this point, there was still well over an hour before the game began. And the student section was beginning to fill up. Great fan support.

Me and the Men's Basketball SEC Championship trophy.

It's Saturday in... Charlotte??

2008-09-24T16:06:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, we went up to Charlotte, NC for the baby shower with the wife's family. Her parents, aunts, cousins, and sister were all there. I took Friday off of work (HELLO BENEFITS, I LOVE YOU) and we drove up. After farting around (literally...) in a fabric store looking for stuff for the baby's room, we got ready to have dinner. Only.. the power suddenly went out. Whaa? Turns out a tanker truck went off the road and took out a telephone pole with power lines attached to it. The accident ended up knocking out power to a fairly LARGE area of Charlotte for over 5 HOURS. Admittedly, I've never lived in a big city before. Athens is the largest place I've ever lived.. but it seems to me that losing power for that long in a major city like Charlotte is a pretty big deal. Naturally, we were unable to cook dinner (pork tenderloin, oh how I missed you), so we took to the streets in search of a eatery that still had power. At this point, we didn't know power was out across the city. Traffic lights were out, and very few people were obeying the traffic laws. It was pretty hilarious seeing all these city folk get REALLY angry at one another. After driving for about 15 minutes, we made it to a powered part of town and ate at Showmar's. I had a chicken gyro that was awesome! Everyone else got fish. They suck.

(this is fish. fish is gross. that is all.)

Naturally, dudes are not really *wanted* to be at the actual baby shower, nor do dudes generally want to be there themselves. So me and the dad-in-law went to a sports bar just around the corner from where we were staying. Dad-in-law is a huge fan of the Ohio St. Buckeyes, which is natural seeing as how he is an alumni. The bar we went to, Murphy's, is an Irish pub that also serves as the home base for Ohio St. alumni in the Charlotte area. So we watched tOSU defeat Troy University. While we watched, we chowed down on some pretty good Perogis. Of course, after we finished them, the guys next to us ordered this huge plate of nachoes and dad-in-law gave me the evil eye. Man likes him some nachoes.

We also watched a bit of the Florida-Tennessee game... which wasn't so much a game as a MASSACRE. Ugh, Tennessee is horrible. I was hoping they would give His Holiness, Tim Tebow, a run for his money.. but no. Then again, I hate any team that wears orange. So I guess I can't be too upset.

(I hate orange.)
So anyway, after the ladies had their baby shower, we mighty men made out way back for the post-shower cookout. Much good food was had by all. Much good conversation was had by all.. until 8:00 that is. Then it was time for Georgia vs. Arizona State on national television. The game started off a little shaky, but it didn't take long for the Dawgs to settle into a good rhythm. Highlight of the night?

(Eagles don't soar. They ride on Knowshon's back. Also, check out the cheerleader's face.)

All in all, a very good weekend. Lots of driving.. but good times.

Also, today, I cut the crap out of my thumb helping my coworker move around stuff in his office. It needs TWO BandAids. I want my mommy. WORKER'S COMP!!!!

Bad boy!

2008-09-11T14:23:00.005-04:00

As with almost every blog ever started, I went on a break. It wasn't really intentional- I just stopped writing. I've continued to play games and such of course, and life has really swung into gear.

Wife and I found out in late May/early June that she was pregnant. She called me at work and told me that she had bought a home pregnancy test and it turned out positive. I don't remember much of our conversation, but I'm sure it consisted of quite a bit of silence and "Uhhhhh..."s and "REALLY?!"s. I do distinctly remember getting tunnel vision and not being able to focus my eyes on anything in front of me. Good thing I was sitting down when she called. We went to the University health center where they did a more thorough test which confirmed the at home test's result. Wife and I looked at each other- "Holy crap, we're gonna have a baby."

The past few months have been very babyrific. We've completely reorganized the office by getting rid of my old college futon and college entertainment center(to sister-in-law), my N64 and wall length desk (to Slamin), and a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. We needed even more room, so we started selling books on Half.com. I had no idea how many books we had, or their worth! In about 2 months, we sold well over $450 worth of books. Heck. Yes. The office is currently in the process of being turned into a nursery. Other than a daybed to replace the futon, we haven't really gotten any big pieces of furniture yet. But there will be a crib, dresser/changing table, and other assorted goodies.

Football has started up again, and the Dawgs are 2-0 and are ranked #2 in the country. Their first two games (against Georgia Southern and Central Michigan) were pretty much blowouts. The second game featured this incredible display of athleticism.

HOLY CRAP!

Up this weekend is an away game against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Can't wait!

In gaming news, I'm going to try and list some games I've been playing recently. Upon learning that I am going to be a daddy, we looked at ways to start saving money. I decided that I would go ahead and cancel my Gamefly subscription. I really enjoyed the number of games I was able to play that I probably wouldn't have had a chance to check out had it not been for the service. Thanks Gamefly, I'll probably be signing back up again in the future.

Madden 09 - played the demo and thought it was awesome. So I traded in some games and got this puppy.
Grand Theft Auto IV - lots of fun, though I'm beginning to tire of it. It is easily the most beautiful game I've played, and the technology behind almost every facet of it is mind blowing. I still have fun clipping people in the leg with a car to see the realistic way they react. However, beyond just a couple of modes, the multiplayer is not very engaging. And I am not a person that enjoys collecting things, so feel no compulsion to hunt through the city for 200 freaking birds.
Condemned 2 - Got this through Gamefly. Pretty fun little game, and creepy as hell. I played this a few times at night with the lights off, and there was more than one time I screamed.

The next few weeks are going to get pretty crazy. Next weekend is our first babyshower, being thrown by the wife's family. After that, my weekends are full of either football games, work, more baby showers, and camping. I'm pretty excited. While the weekdays are filled with the doldrums of work, the weekends should be pretty exciting. Huzzah!

2008-06-17T14:10:00.001-04:00

Created by OnePlusYou

If you don't Knowshon...

2008-04-18T13:22:00.003-04:00

So, the other day, I was bored. Real bored. And I was in the mood to photoshop something. I racked my brain, trying to think of something I could create. My mind eventually worked its way back to a conversation I had w/ my boss Deuce about making a Knowshon Moreno wallpaper. He has a collection of football and basketball wallpapers on his personal laptop, but they are all mainly pro sports (chiefly, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers). Anyway, I decided to go forward with the idea of a Knowshon background. Probably the most difficult part of the job initially was actually finding a hi-res picture of Knowshon that didn't have a watermark on it. After searching for probably about 30 minutes, I finally found one on someone's personal photography site. Since I don't plan on making any money off of this thing, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to use it.

So here is the finished product:

(click to see it full screen)

I'm pretty happy with it. I might go back and change the text around a bit, but other than that, I love it!

Time for a beat down!

2008-03-13T15:43:00.006-04:00

The wife preordered Super Smash Bros. Brawl for me for Valentine's Day a month ago, and I was able to pick it up this week. It is, as I expected, incredibly fun. It is also jam-packed with a metric ton of content. The disc contains over 200 full-length orchestral music tracks, dozens of stages, hundreds of collectible trophies and stickers, a level editor, and lots of different mini games.

But the main point of this blog entry (and probably a few others) is to catalog my thoughts on each of the characters. I've had the game for about 3 days now, and I've logged just over 10 hours of total play time. Between a limited amount of online multiplayer, a few matches of local multiplayer with some friends, and going through the game's lengthy story mode, I haven't had the chance to even play all the characters that are available from the start of the game. So I'll just comment on the ones I've played so far.

Captain Falcon (still slightly.. ok maybe more than slightly.. homoerotic) Plays virtually the same as her did in Melee, at least so far. I've only played him in one mission of the story mode. He seems a little weaker than he did in Melee.
Diddy Kong (ever since DKC on the SNES, I've always thought that he screams some of the most annoying sounds known to man) This is the character that I am honestly the most surprised about. When he was first announced to be a playable character some months ago, I was fully prepared to hate this little monkey with the complete and total passion that my soul is capable of eliciting. But he's actually pretty decent. He's fast (I find that I'm predisposed to liking the faster characters over the slower, more powerful ones), and seems to pack more punch than other fast characters like Pikachu. Although, I do hate his UP+B recovery. It doesn't get you anywhere, as it must charge as you fall.. and by the time it is ready, you have fallen too far. Also, his Super Smash attack is incredibly powerful if you are able to get the handling down.
Falco
(while he is a good guy... he still just comes off as a jerk most of the time) I haven't played with him much yet, but I do greatly appreciate that he is slower than Fox (see below). The first time I played against him was in an online multiplayer match, and he immediately grabbed a Mega-Mushroom as soon as the match began. It surprised me, and almost made me pee myself. Fox (just stay in your Arwing, buddy... it's the only place I like you) I hate Fox. I've always hated Fox. I hate playing as him, and I hate playing against him. He's too fast for me to control- he feels slippery, and his jump is more like a fast little hop. He's too fast for me to hit- I go to smack him in the face, but he's already teleported behind me. And don't even get me started on his reflector.. Oh yeah, his Super Smash blows.
Ice Climbers (my god... they look like they have Down Syndrome) I'm not sure if I dislike the Ice Climbers more than I do Fox.. I'll have to sit down and make a list of pros and cons for each. Either way, this is another character (set of characters??) that remain virtually unchanged from Melee. I hardly ever used them then, and the same goes for now as well.
Ike
(phallic? noooooooo....) Having never played the Fire Emblem series, I really had no idea what to expect from Ike. I had played with Marth/Roy in Melee, so I was figuring he'd be just like them. He generally is, except he is slower and faster. The game designers actually did a really great job with him- he actually feels like he has momentum and weight. When Ike winds that giant beast-of-a-sword up and raises it above his head for a smash attack, you can actually FEEL that he is about to deliver a world of hurt upon some poor soul. His special moves are generally good, and his Super Smash is really fun to watch. King Dedede
(he's supposed to be Kirby's arch nemesis... but he looks so happy and cute. this bothers me) I was also quite unsure of what to think about King Dedede before I cracked open the game case. I hadn't played a Kirby game in over 10 years, so didn't remember Dedede very well. Well, I now know Dedede quite well, and let me tell you-- this guy is a BEAST. What a freaking fatty. But what a freaking power house as well. Dedede has the capability of launching someone with a relatively low damage meter into outerspace. My first time playing with him, I charged up his hammer and knocked all 3 of my opponents off of the level with one shot. Holy. Crap. His Super Smash is kind of dull and boring, and virtually useless on the scrolling stages. Kirby
(singer of one of the greatest songs on the internets) Yet another veteran who remains basically unchanged from the previous game. I haven't played with him much, but my thoughts on him from Melee still hold to be true: he's too freaking floaty for me to use on a consistent basis. Link
(while Link is sometimes annoying, you have to admit that his sword and shield really look awesome)
Ahhh, everyone's favorite elf/boy/young man/slightly-androgynous hero of Hyrule. His moves, like Kirby's, are also basically the same as they always have been. Although, his boomerang is now the Gale Boomerang from Twilight Princess, and it pulls your enemies slightly closer to you. Not much to say about Link other than one of his alternate costumes is Dark Link, and it looks freaking SWEET.

4 months later...

2008-03-05T08:53:00.002-05:00

Dammit.

It happened last night while I was playing some CoD4 multiplayer with Moxa. When it happened, it actually caused all the lights downstairs to flicker, and the clocks to reset. The 360 is a mini-EMP.

2008-02-28T14:39:00.003-05:00

So, Gamefly brought me Blazing Angels 2: Secrets of World War 2. I'm really enjoying it.

The game has a really unique control scheme that I've never seen before... though admittedly, I haven't played many console flight sims other than the Ace Combat and Star Fox series. The two key new innovations as far as I'm concerned are in the way you handle the speed of your aircraft, and the targeting of enemy forces. The right analog stick controls the throttle (up to accelerate, down to brake), and it feels great. Your controller shakes if you start going really fast, and when combined with the rumble from the machine guns, it really feels as though your hands are about to fall off and start vibrating across the floor like a cell phone gone haywire. The targeting is great as well, as you lock onto enemies with the L trigger. So long as you have that button held down, the enemy unit will stay in the middle of your screen. If an enemy plane flies past you, the camera turns so you can keep your eye on it as you turn to chase after him. Totally awesome.

The game also has a pretty robust upgrades system as well. For every kill you get or stunt you perform during the game, you gain Prestige Points. In between missions, you are allowed to upgrade various aspects of your weapons, your aircraft, or the abilities of your teammates. This kind of RPG element is actually very welcome as far as I'm concerned, as it allows me to modify the game a little bit to the style I want to play it. Right now, I've beefed up my maneuverability and speed, so my planes can dart in and out of battle really fast. Love it.

What an ending!

2008-02-13T11:37:00.003-05:00

Wow. I finished Half Life 2: Episode 2 last night, and that's the only word I can think of to describe the final hour of the game. Wow. Or maybe "really-freakin-hard!"

I don't know if it is because I was playing with a console controller or what, but I had the hardest time finishing the final battle in White Forest. I found myself really struggling with the controls during the fight.. I'm not sure if I would have faced the same problem were I played it on the PC. I ended up dying a good bit! I won't post any spoilers or anything, because J might read this before he completes the Orange Box.

Overall, I'd say I was pretty pleased with the Orange Box. I enjoyed Portal, thought Episode 1 was pretty good, and thought the last half of Episode 2 was freaking awesome. The first half, not so much.. pretty boring actually. I didn't play much Team Fortress.. I tried it out for a bit, but wasn't really impressed. It's going to be a really long time before I play a multiplayer FPS that rivals Call of Duty 4.

2008-01-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

My new album.

I know.. weird.

Oops

2008-01-25T15:03:00.000-05:00

Hmm, looks like I've been slacking again. OOPS! My bad. Quite a bit of stuff has gone down since I last updated. I'll just give a quick gaming update:

I freaking RACKED UP when it came to games this holiday season. For my bday, I got Crackdown and Mass Effect from the wife, and a wireless receiver for the 360 from Moxa and TheslaminJ . Thanks guys! A week later, the wife went off on a cruise w/ her girlfriends to the Bahamas and I decided to keep myself busy with Call of Duty 4. It didn't take me long at ALL to fall head first into the ocean that is CoD4 multiplayer. I'm still swimming around in it too, discovering all sorts of great stuff! I honestly haven't had this much fun with a FPS since Battlefield 2 on the PC, and Goldeneye for the N64. The manner in which you rank up is ingenious, and all the weapons are very balanced. Definitely a 9/10 from me.

And what's great is that I actually got it for Christmas, after I rented it! And not only that, but also Super Mario Galaxy and Assassin's Creed as well! Wow! I'm definitely not going to be lacking when it comes to the game department for quite awhile. I haven't finished any of them yet.

Right now, I've got the Orange Box from Gamefly. I'm really enjoying it. People weren't kidding when they were talking about the sheer amount of quality material you get when you pick up the Orange Box. I played Half-Life 2 on the PC when it first came out a few years ago, so I'm not planning on playing that again. I started out with Portal, splitting time between wrapping my head around diverse puzzles and laughing my butt off at the writing. The game is only about 3-4 hours long, which I think is a good length. It lets you accomplish a pretty wide variety of puzzles without repeating itself. I finished Episode 1 a couple nights ago, and started in on Episode 2 right after. I should be able to finish it this weekend. I'm probably not going to play much Team Fortress 2, because I don't know anyone else who has it.

Elftastic

2007-11-30T10:50:00.000-05:00

First off, a hilarious link.

Gaming Update!

Well, I got Mass Effect. And I'm so glad I did. It really is a great game. In it, you play the role of Commander Shepard, a human being tasked with hunting down a devious villain, bent on eradicating all organic life from the galaxy. Pretty standard sci-fi storyline in that respect. However, as you delve deeper into the storylines (of which there are MANY!) you begin to uncover various threads that really stand out from the norm. And it is in these threads that you are often tasked with making some pretty serious moral choices. For example, I just completed a mission where a plant-like organism had achieved mind control over a group of colonists on the planet Feros. Upon learning the circumstances I was in, I had to decide whether to kill all the colonists (as they were being forced to try and kill me) or throw some special detoxifying grenades at them in an attempt to cure them. In the end, I tried to cure them, but ended up killing a few along the way. Oops.

Reviews of the game are top-notch, though one of the gripes reviewers have with the game is with the combat. They felt it was too limited, and not much fun. I disagree whole-heartedly with that statement. I love the combat. Combining firepower with biotic powers (kinda like Force powers from Star Wars) that use a physics engine is a great feeling, and every battle feels great. I'm loving every minute so far. I could go on about other aspects of the game that I love, but I'll save that for another time.

In other news, my parents bought me the Wii version of Guitar Hero III as an early birthday present. SWEET! I'd played Guitar Hero II at G-String's house and loved it. So getting GHIII is great. I completed the game on Medium difficulty last night. I haven't done every song yet, and man, the last few are KILLER! My best achievement so far: getting a 567-note streak on "My Name is Jonas" by Weezer. It. Was. Awesome. I'm glad I had witnesses!

Just in the nick of time..

2007-11-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

I finished Bioshock last night. Took me about 2 weeks, I think. And it was awesome. When you really think about it, the gameplay in Bioshock doesn't really change very much once you get about an hour into the game. The end game experience is essentially the same as what you were doing when you got your first Plasmid power. Granted, things are a bit more evolved by the end in that you have the ability to use 6 powers instead of 2. But your overall goal is the same - kill anything and everything that moves, hunt for ammo and health, whack a Big Daddy and liberate his bounty. But, that doesn't really detract from the overall experience. The atmosphere of the game is incredible. The voice acting - the best I've ever heard. And 2 crazy freaking plot twists in the middle of the game. BPW said "WHAT!?"

Anyway, it's a good thing I finished Bioshock last night. Because tomorrow, I am getting this:

Brown chicken brown cow!

2007-10-31T20:16:00.000-04:00

So, I now have one of these.

And Moxa is letting me borrow this.

All is right in the world! Also some other great news is that the Dawgs finally put a beat down on the Gators. A very exciting game - even being objective! GO DAWGS!

I finished GUN last night. Overall, it was a pretty fun game! It wasn't too deep, and therefore I could play it every couple of days and not feel like I missed out on much. But the gameplay was fast and fun, and you really do get to feel like a hardcore gunslinger. Shooting a rival cowboy off of his horse at 100 yards with a rifle bullet to the gut, and seeing him drop to the ground and roll across the dirt... sweet.

Ninja Skills

2007-10-25T16:42:00.000-04:00

Quick update. Saw this.

It is a Ninja Remote that works with virtually any name brand television. It's just a small universal remote control, but the sheer fact that it is tiny lends it to be devious. Very devious. Imagine strolling past a sports bar while the Super Bowl is being played. Now imagine turning the TV off just as a wide receiver goes up for the big catch just as time expires. Further your imagining as dozens of people suddenly scream out in panic, anger, or pain from heart failure. This device could be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands.

Luckily, some guy has already gone and taken our imaginations and made them real! Thank you strange foreign man!

Update-a-thon!

2007-10-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

Two days in a row. Wow, huh? This is just to add some photos. After I got married in June 2006, my wife and I adopted a puppy in February 2007. He was a Valentine's Day present. A mutt, they told us he was a mix of Husky, Chow-Chow, and terrier. Seeing as how we were in the midst of watching 24, we had to name him Bauer.

He's been an awesome guy so far. Of course, the above picture was taken back when we first got him. 8 weeks old, 5 lbs. He's now over 10 months, and 54 lbs! Here's a more recent picture.

What a beast, huh?

WORK UPDATE!

So, since I last played around with this blog, I got a job with a company called Daktronics working UGA sporting events. Everything I do gets shown up on the Jumbotron at the different games (football, mens and womens basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball). My responsibilities range from running cameras to operating a couple computer systems that handle all the graphics and animations. I am working on a new demo reel for my work, and I am including some highlights of my camera work. Here is a short rendition that I'm pretty proud of.

GAMING UPDATE!

I've been playing some GUN, and I have to say, it's pretty fun. It has some great gunplay and shootouts, some fantastic voice acting, and great music. A very good atmosphere that, while violent and a bit over the top, comes pretty close to what the Wild West was like. At least, as far as I imagine.

Resurrection

2007-10-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

Out of seemingly nowhere, I've decided to begin updating this blog again. Over 2 years have passed, and alot has happened. However, I'm going to keep the personal stuff short and brief. I will be taking this blog in a whole new direction. Formerly, it was more of a random thing. I would post about various things I found on the internet, or things going on in my life. The blog will surely still contain some of that. However, I hope to incorporate alot more aspects that tie into gaming. For example, on the right hand side of the blog you will see a running list of games that I'm playing now, as well as a list of games that I've beaten recently. With being married now, I have a lot less time for gaming. But I hope to keep this updated as regularly as possible.

Gaming Update!
Back in September, I took the plunge and signed up for an account at Gamefly. So far, I would rate the experience as a positive one. It sucks that the distribution center that ships to Georgia is all the way in California though. Sometimes it takes a week for a game to make it to me. Most times though, it's only around 4 days or so. So far, I've been able to play Excitetruck, Animal Crossing, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II, Mario Party 8, and a couple others thanks to Gamefly. Right now, I'm awaiting GUN for the PS2 to arrive in my mailbox. I've heard good things. It's nice to be able to keep up with the industry, without having to shell out a bunch of money buying stuff.

I should be picking up an Xbox360 in the very near future. I'm excited. The system supports a large library of great games, but the one I'm looking forward to the most is Mass Effect, set to release November 20, 2007. Everything I've seen about this game just blows me away. I'm also excited about Assassin's Creed and the possibility to play already released games like Bioshock, Halo 3, and Crackdown.

So yeah, I just want to reiterate how I'm hoping to keep this thing going. With the sheer number of quality games coming out in the near future, I'm sure I'll be good to go!

OHHHH YEAHHH!!

2005-08-10T10:46:00.000-04:00

/Kool Aid Man

Well, the internship is over. Much love to the people over at 41, ya'll were great. Despite my earlier posting that I hadn't learned anything, I would have to say that I did grow as a cameraman/editor while I was at the station. I feel much more comfortable with the various cameras now. I've made some good contacts that will help in the future. Leave me some love, Courtney.

Going out to the woman's house for the last time tonight. She goes back to school tomorrow, and I go back this coming Saturday. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm a little anxious. I had become accustomed to living in the dorms these past 3 years, so moving to an apartment seems like a big step. Plus, conserving energy and water to keep the bills down is going to be crazy.

Anyway I'm out. Just saw a commercial on TV for something called "Urine Gone!" that has me scared.

JENNIFER CANADA IN 2005!

Great googily moogily

2005-07-30T00:45:00.000-04:00

So, work was crazy today. I don't think I had a down-time once I set foot inside. We immediately left to go shoot a package about Peach County's refusal to allow ppl to build new mobile homes. So I did all the shooting for this thing (plus a quick VO/SOT) and the editing. It was busy, but fun.

The cool thing though is this: this guy that we interviewed unfortunately lost his mobile home to fire a few years back. Well, the county commissioners have refused to allow him to build a replacement home in the EXACT same place in the SAME mobile home park he lived in before. He had been trying to contact the commissioners to find out why, etc. for the past few months to no avail.

Well, the reporter I worked with today ended up calling the head commissioner and asking all these really evil investigative questions. For example:

"Why is the county commission delaying discussion of this moratorium against mobile homes? Are you aware that there are people who are homeless? I have a source that says this entire thing is just because of a power struggle between you and a disgruntled citizen..."

I laughed pretty hard. Well, anyway, about 30 minutes after grilling the guy, we get an official fax from Peach County stating that next Monday they will be holding a special meeting to discuss the mobile home ban.

How SWEET is that? I've never really been an instrument for social change. It's cool. I'm glad it happened too, small-town politics can be pretty damned annoying sometimes.

Stay quiet, stay close they can't hear

2005-07-12T12:40:00.000-04:00

Well, got about a month left until I'm back in Athens. I'm looking forward to the apartment life and (suprisingly) my classes. I'm through w/ my history minor, so no more classes that require me to read 80+ pages a night and write large papers. I've got 3 telecomm classes and a Classical Greek Mythology class lined up. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend more time working on film projects and less time trudging through books. Although it's going to suck since Stecker, my favorite telecomm teacher, has retired. Hopefully the lady that replaced him will turn out to be good.

Things I've Learned at Work
1. Hold my shots longer
2. Don't drop the camera on Kaitlyn
3. Wear a jacket in the arctic edit bays

2005-06-30T09:37:00.000-04:00

OH MY GOD. COURTNEY AND KAITLYN ROCK SO HARD. THE C-K COMBO TEAM HAVE MADE ME INTO WHAT A MAN SHOULD BE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT. COURTNEY/KAITLYN/FIANCEE > EVERY OTHER HUMAN EVER.

Sing Flamingo, sing for the sun

2005-06-11T16:04:00.000-04:00

Yeah yeah, I haven't updated in forever. I know. So what. I'll just pick up now as if I had never stopped.

Just got back from a week-long trip to Lake Lanier with the fiancee and her family. It was a pretty good trip. Ate too much good food and I think I'm going to be fat forever as a result. KT and I skipped over to Lawrenceville and met Moxa at the Mall of Georgia. I didn't buy anything, but it was fun to just walk around. We also went to Dave and Buster's which was awesome. I love that place. I'll haveto upload some pictures in a few days for all to see.

The internship with 41 WMGT is going well. I've done quite a bit in my weeks there so far. I helped shoot two commercials, I've served as a cameraman for all the reporters, I've edited VO/SOTs that aired on the 5:30 and 11:00 news broadcasts. All in all, I haven't really learned all THAT much, but I already know most of the aspects of the camera. It's just good experience and opportunity. And it'll look damn good on a resume.

The importance of a tight crew...

2005-04-30T19:23:00.000-04:00

... cannot be understated.

So much has been going on lately, it's insane.

Cool Things Since Last Update
KT visiting me, me visiting KT
Completed a 2.5 minute short film entitled "Reflections"
Received good grades on several assignments
Completed "Zelda: The Wind Waker" in a total of 21 hours over the span of 5 days

Now, we have come to the end of the semester and, in a sense, the end of a distinct period in my life. For the past three years, I have lived on campus. Up to this point, I have had certain responsibilities such as cleaning a bathroom, etc. done for me on a regular basis. However, in less than a week, I am moving to an apartment where I will be responsible for cleaning, paying bills, keeping up with rent, etc. And while it's real cool that J will remain my roommate, it sucks that it's looking like Moxa will not be rooming with us. I know his prospective job in Gwinnett pays more $$$, but I'm a selfish bastard.

Anyway, tomorrow our room will undergo a rather huge change. The following items will leave our room: two lofts, a futon, a TV stand (and various game consoles), refridgerator, microwave.

Found an interesting website over on expectnothing. It allows you to create your own South Park character. I created the following:

I find it hilarious.

By the power of grayskull...

2005-04-14T13:09:00.000-04:00

Staff
You preferred a weapon with 23% power over speed and 36% range over melee.

You use a Staff. Length is up to you-- perhaps you use a quarterstaff, a Jo, or a pair of Escrima, but you favor the intense speed and impressive versatility of a simple wooden stick. Effective staff fighters are effective at fighting many opponents at once, even ones armed with swords. Your opponents will rue the day they underestimated the potency of your weapon.

Link: The What's Your Signature Weapon Test

Next excuse for losing sleep again

2005-04-13T22:10:00.000-04:00

Movie of me firing a Thompson submachine gun on J's birthday. Rock it, bpwwhirl!

The city never sleeps for you and I

2005-04-09T23:48:00.000-04:00

I have a new favorite band: Cartel, from out of Atlanta. You can find them here. Great stuff. Forker turned me onto them.. they are his buddies from high school. How freaking nuts is that, eh? EH!?

Lots of stuff has happened since the last update.

Cool Stuff About Last Week

Finished "Ninja Pins" - What a great feeling. I wrote the script to this short film last semester for a writing class and then this semester I actually get to direct it. It's cool to actually take something like that from its inception to its conclusion. Hopefully one day I can get a copy of it online. It is approximately 8 minutes in final length.
Visited my fiancee - Went to Rome and visited my woman. While my visit was short, fun was had by all. KT was helping head up "90's Weekend," which meant that there were a ton of events all centered around 90's stuff. Movies, a dance, scavenger hunts, etc. It was cute. I'm going again this weekend and I'll be able to stay longer this time.

Those are the only cool things I can think about right now. A ton of stuff has happened, but mainly things associated with work or school. I've never been this busy before in my life. Honestly, 2 or 3 days go by without me sitting down and having much relaxation time with friends or a video game or whatever. Class/work, dinner, homework till sleep. Luckily, summer break is approaching fast. Hopefully his car won't break down on the way here.

I'm spinning while falling down

2005-03-30T17:54:00.000-05:00

The idea here is to BOLD all the states you have visited, UNDERLINE all the states you have lived in, and ITALICIZE the state you live in currently.

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

I've seen the way the candles light your face

2005-03-26T23:02:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile..

Cool Things Since I've Last Updated
Spring Break.. relaxation and the beach
Shot some guns
Got engaged

Yeap thats right, I got engaged. Bought a .5 carat Princess-cut diamond set in Platinum on the RAFB-BX for $1500, which is $800 less than the same ring set in white gold at a retailer. Plus, it was tax free. w00t. After dating for nearly 4.5 years, we have decided to tie the knot. Of course, the actual event won't take place until after graduation (Summer 2006) but at least it is official now. Not much else has happened on this front, more to develop.

Spring Break was good. Went to a beach near Hilton Head, SC and spent a few days with KT's friends. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very hospitable - 50 degrees and somewhat rainy. But anyway...

Shot some weapons as a part of J's bday weekend. Shot a Thompson and a .45 pistol. Pictures and movies to come. It's after midnight now, I'm out.

I gots the chronic

2005-03-14T09:13:00.000-05:00

Cool Things About Last Week
Finally signed up for an apartment
Playing old school Mario Kart & Mario Golf
End of midterms, beginning of Spring Break

So yeah, mom is doing good. She's mobile and everything, but still has to stay home from work. More as time develops.

This week is going to be pretty lazy. Just do some reading while I'm at home. I'm heading off a beach house in South Carolina on Thursday with KT and some of her friends. But her friends be cool, so that's just fine. Other than that, I just need to do the following:

Haircut
Oil change
Taxes
Homework

I had to wake up early today cause I had made a friggin dentist appointment for 8am today. What was I thinking? Anyway, dialup is horrible, so I'm out of here.

2005-03-11T10:39:00.000-05:00

Found this quiz on Shutrump's livejournal thing.. filled it out for her and said I'd put it on mine. So here it is, for the whole 2 people that read this thing. (I HAD TO REPUBLISH THIS POST, AND THE OLD COMMENTS WERE LOST. BUT THANK YOU MARK, GREER, AND KT)

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you have a crush on me? Or did you ever have a crush on me?
5. Have we kissed? If no, would you kiss me?
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
7. Describe me in one word.
8. What was your first impression?
9. Do you still think that way about me now?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. When's the last time you saw me?
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
15. Are you going to put this on your journal and see what I say about you?
16. What is the biggest memory you have of me?

Pushing onward, forever without remorse

2005-03-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

Today, it began: the filming of my first short film, "Ninja Pins." Credits are as follows:

Me - Writer/Director/Editor
Forkner - DP/Cameraman
Lee - Producer
Dugan - Chip
Williams - Ninja

The screenplay was adapted from another short film entitled "A Ninja Pays Half My Rent." The film is basically about an job opening at a business which is filled by a Ninja (who never speaks). The story follows one of the employees, named Chip, as he and the Ninja have various encounters and are paired up on a project. Today, we filmed over half of the film (w00t!) and a big thanks goes out to all the extras and principals who contributed their time.

In other news:

- Mom had surgery today. =( Supposedly everything is fine. =) I have yet to hear details from her or my dad. Will call later.
- Only 3 days remain in the apartment hunt. *sigh*

Played with Transformers, G.I. Joe's and Thundercats - we was down wit' dat

2005-03-03T23:26:00.000-05:00

The week is continuing. Just one more day to go and it'll be over, that's what I gotta keep telling myself.

Sometimes I think back to what I was like when I was a little kid and then I compare that boy with who I am today. I think it's safe to say that we're all different from when we were small, but there are some definite similarities there. Looking back, I can't help but smile at all the things I did that I enjoyed so much back then:

1) Sitting on the living room floor watching football. I didn't care so much about the football; I'd have my GI Joes with me and I would reinact the tackles with them.
2) Riding bikes with my friends down to the Red Dirt. The Red Dirt was this area just a short ride away from my house where we would build forts and do club stuff. We would always decide to build a fort, work on it for 2 or 3 days, then find something else to amuse ourselves. Once, I "borrowed" my parents shovel and ho to help with the construction, fully intent on returning them. Well, I forgot them and the next day they were gone. That was the first time I ever had to spend my own money on something like that. I was 8 I think.
3) Delighting in spooky stories and other such superstitions. There was an old abandoned house back in some woods near my neighborhood.. we always said it was haunted. The thing actually WAS pretty creepy.. there was glass all over the floor and whenever you walked on it you swear you could hear stuff behind you. I think I only went there 2 or 3 times in the span of almost 12 years. I was seriously scared of that place.
4) Playing baseball. I loved the sport so much as a kid. When I wasn't playing it, I was drawing pictures of myself playing it. I tended to get put at first base, shortstop, or outfield. I think I had the most fun at SS. I think you could say that baseball helped put me on the track of Telecommunications. When I stopped playing baseball, I found that I still wanted to follow the sport.. and I figured I'd do it through sports broadcasting. I would always goof around with my voice in middle and high school. When I first got to college, I was entertaining the idea of going into radio broadcasting. The fact that there is NO money in it convinced me otherwise and I explored other areas within the J-school.. to find Telecomm!

There were so many others.. an update for another time I suppose. Going home this weekend to visit w/ the parentals. Mom's having surgery next week.. here's to hopin' that turns out okay!

Average everyday seems psycho

2005-02-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a week. What an incredibly busy week.

Cool Things About Last Week
Finally finished my piece for Hope Haven
Finished designing the set and lighting design for the Monte Markham interview
Met Monte Markham and operated a camera jib for OISD's taping of an interview
Told by my supervisors that my set and lighting looked awesome
Katie visited over the weekend
Finally got to see Moxa's house

It's been a crazy week. As you can see, a ton of stuff has happened; and that's just the big things. Right now I'm sitting in the Student Learning Center taking a break from writing a paper that is due tomorrow. Been at it for 2.5 hours now and I've written 6 pages. It's going well, I should finish it in an hour. Luckily, it is just a rough draft and it is not for a grade.. but it has to be done anyway. I'm writing a critique of Wonderfalls, a cute TV show that was unfortunately cancelled. J turned me on to it.. it's pretty good. Too bad only 13 episodes exist.

The rest of this week looks pretty hectic too. In the next three days, I have to:

1) Read a book
2) Write a 5-7 page paper on said book
3) Study for a midterm
4) Take said midterm
5) Begin working out with Moxa

I need to get into a routine with the whole working out thing. It'll be cool though, cause Moxa needs to work out a ton and if I do it with him then I could see some health benefits... time to lose some of this flab!

Anyway, back to the paper.

There's a bad moon on the rise

2005-02-20T10:41:00.000-05:00

Heh.. funny joke!

A couple from Minneapolis decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to thaw out during one particularly icy cold winter. They both had jobs, and had difficulty coordinating their travel schedules. It was decided the husband would fly to Florida on a Thursday, and his wife would follow him the next day. Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the hotel. There he decided to open his laptop and send his wife an e-mail back in Minneapolis. However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address and sent the e-mail without noticing his error.
In the mean time: In Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband's funeral. He was a minister of many years who had been "called home to glory" following a heart attack (died and gone to report in heaven). The widow checked her e-mail, expecting messages from family and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted and fell to the floor. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My loving Wife
From: Your Departed Husband
Subject: I've arrived!

I've just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is hot down here.

Going down in a blaze of glory

2005-02-18T11:35:00.000-05:00

Today has been an interesting day so far, and it is only 11:45. We'll start at the beginning:

1) Woke up, took a shower and came back to check my mail/the regular websites I visit. On the Chaser Forums (link on right), I found this game that looks interesting. It's LEGOs! You build crap! J and I want to make a big building and some spaceships.. we'll see what happens.

2) This one will take a little explaining. A couple weeks ago I had a paper due for my History of America 1945-Present class. So I turned it in and got it back 2 days ago. To my horror, I discovered that I FAILED TO FINISH IT. The paper even ends in the middle of a sentence! I couldn't believe I did something like that. Neither could my professor (haha). But she gave me a B on it and told me that if I brought it back finished today then she would give me more points... this is amazing, considering the woman has been a very harsh grader in the past. So I gave the paper a proper ending and took it back. As I turned it in this morning, the professor asks me if it would be ok if she made a copy of the paper to use as an example of "excellent writing." I'm standing there thinking 'Ok.. you think an excellent paper is unfinished and deserving of a B?" What a weird experience.

3) Get in to work and I'm assigned a new project. Boss wants me to take 3 short clips from an interview with the judge that first integrated UGA. Only problem is that the interviewer screws up in his questioning with a bunch of pauses and "uhhh"s. So I quickly devised a way to edit that junk out.. a much quicker way than Boss expected. I finished the project in roughly 25 minutes.. and it took about 10 to export as Quicktime and to burn to CD. So in all, roughly 35-40 minutes. I turned it back in and Boss is like "Wha.. nice job." Yup yup.

Family is coming up tomorrow. J's dad and bro are coming today. It'll be a big Wartown party in Athens this weekend. We're going to be taking them by the apartments we want to move in to. Kinda scary actually, because the dorms are all full so people are going for the apartments like CRAZY. I'm worried we won't be able to get what we want. But I'm sure it will all work out in the end.

Running at an unofficial pace

2005-02-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

So I started an online photo album for people to look at pictures I deem important. Nothing much on there right now as I don't exactly have a digital camera or anything, but it will be updated as more and more photos regarding my life make their way to the Internet. Link on the right, or you can click here.

Not a way to mow you down

2005-02-15T19:49:00.000-05:00

Downloaded a mod for HL2 that allows you to mess around with the physics engine for the game. It's pretty hilarious. I made a few scenes you can check out below. Click on them to see the full size versions.

2005-02-15T17:30:00.000-05:00

Which Family Guy character are you?

Ha Ha! I wasn't even trying for this.

Tell her all your crazy dreams

2005-02-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

Updating from work again. Being paid $8/hr to update my blog. I'm actually waiting on my boss to come in here and review a lecture I've edited. It's pretty basic, except for the color of the thing gets weird towards the end. I don't know what my coworker was doing when she shot it, but whatever. It's fixed. Behold the power of Final Cut.

The weekend was a pretty good one. Great in fact. Went to visit KT in Rome and celebrated Valentine's Day over the weekend seeing as how she's across the state. Gave her The Notebook on DVD.. man I think every female on the planet loves that movie or wants to love it. I asked "So, what makes the movie so great?" to which KT responded "You'll see."

That's right, I had to watch it.

In all honesty, it really wasn't that bad. From a purely technical aspect, there were some cinematography and directing issues, but the story was good (and really, girls, that's all that matters right?). We also went out to eat at Johnny Carino's where I got this sampler dish thing that had lasagna, chicken parmesean, and spaghetti all together for the wonderful price of $12. Pretty good stuff.

Went to KT's college's version of a beauty pageant called "Miss Berry." Aside from watching KT and her fellow group members set up for the event, it was pretty enjoyable. A couple of the competitors had some interesting "talents," such as this one girl who just went crazy on a DDR pad. Props to her.

After that event, we drove to someone's duplex where there was a party going on. I didn't drink anything (as usual) and just watched people act silly.

Cool things about last week
Learning that a RFCU is coming to Athens. No more traveling home to cash my checks.
Going to Target with Jen, haven't spent time w/ her in forever
Finally playing Resident Evil 4 . Excellent game.
Superbowl Party, even if the Eagles lost

A Baby asks God

2005-02-10T13:04:00.000-05:00

A Baby asks GOD:

A baby asked God, "They tell me you are
sending me to earth tomorrow,
but how am I going to live there being so
small and helpless?"

God said, "Your angel will be waiting for you
and will take care of you."

The child further inquired, "But tell me, here
in heaven I don't have to do anything
but sing and smile to be happy."

God said, "Your angel will sing for you and
will also smile for you. And you will feel
your angel's love and be very happy."

Again the child asked, "And how am I going to
be able to understand when people talk
to me if I don't know the language?"

God said, "Your angel will tell you the most
beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear,
and with much patience and care, your
angel will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk
to you?"

God said, "Your angel will place your hands
together and will teach you how to pray."

"Who will protect me?"

God said, "Your angel will defend you even if
it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not
see you anymore."

God said, "Your angel will always talk to you
about Me and will teach you the way to come
back to Me, even though I will always be next
to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven,
but voices from Earth could be heard and
the child hurriedly asked, "God, if I am to
leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

"You will simply call her, "Mom."

Come away with me in the night

2005-02-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

Found this interesting. It's a collection of various newspaper headlines from around the world in regards to 9-11. Do not attempt on a dialup modem.

Sweat till you can't sweats no more

2005-02-03T22:25:00.000-05:00

24 hours of semi-torture are over. Two papers cranked out.. I'm getting good at this. I'm looking forward to this weekend. It'll be the first real weekend in quite awhile where I don't have anything pressing to do. Just sit back and relax for awhile.

I'm kinda ticked at Amazon.com right now. I ordered some books from them on January 23 and I got an email that because I chose their SuperSaver shipping (read: free) I won't be getting the books until February 22-26. That is just horrible, I mean really. Especially considering I have a paper on one of the books due the 26. Guess that's what I get for using the INTERNET!!!

In other news, I made a website for work. I had to practice embedding a Real file, so naturally Realplayer (hiss!) is required. I know Real Player sucks, but I had to use it. Anyway, it's here. It's pretty dumb and simple, but it was the first time I've really used HTML in probably 4-5 years. Yay to me.

Things are slow still at the office, although today like half the people were out with the flu. It's spreading.. people are dropping like flies. J is coming down with it, which means he'll probably snore alot the next couple nights. Hope it goes by quickly.

I found the following humorous:

Moxa: it's a girl
Moxa: named cinnamon
bpw whirl: Does she have a sister named Nutmeg?
bpw whirl: a brother named Barley?
Moxa: I don't have thyme for this nonsense

College is hilarious.

Oh baby give me just one chance..

2005-02-02T19:29:00.000-05:00

Best. Penny. Arcade. Ever.

Cookin' raw with the Brooklyn boy..

2005-01-31T10:59:00.000-05:00

At work, updating this thing once again. Nothing to do here, once again. Man, I hope stuff picks up soon. I've learned as many programs as can as well as I can... I think the only way I can learn more is by actually using the programs on projects. Cause I can only do so much if I don't have any real content to work with. Ah well. Maybe I'll check out a camera here in a little bit and go out and shoot some random footage and bring it back here to edit... I don't have anything else to do.

Anyway, we're still feeling the aftermath of that ice storm here. There's snow (!) still on the ground. Moxa told me last night that he and his girlfriend went sledding. SLEDDING. I've never been sledding.. and I've always wanted to do it. The most snow I've ever seen on the ground at any time was probably about 1/2''.. barely enough to make snowballs with. I would like to experience a good 8-10'' blizzard some time. Man, that would be pretty cool.

So, I've got this idea for a music video that I would like to do.. now that I finally have the equipment necessary to make one. The concept isn't a very difficult or deep one.. mainly just a guy walking around campus singing a song. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use a Linkin Park song. The guy will have some headphones on and will actually be listening to the song, so he will be mouthing the correct lyrics at the correct time. I'm basically just going for a flowing timeline here... although at the end, I'm planning on having the screen kind of explode or the guy start running or jumping or something.. right at the point where most Linkin Park songs just go crazy: "...is more than I can taaaaake-- *BAM!* I've become so numb..." I think I'm going to use J or Moxa as the star of the movie. Now that I think about it, I think I'm gonna use the semi-new Linkin Park/JayZ song.. there's a cool part in that song where a guy sighs in the background, and I just thought of a cool image of somebody standing still and breathing in the cold Athens air that is outside right now. Of course, I cant really get J or Moxa to rap like JayZ, so they could just sing Chester's parts. This is gonna be tight.

Oh yeah, I made this last night. It's my new logo:

Are you who you want to be..

2005-01-30T18:23:00.000-05:00

So yeah, been a few busy days since I posted in this mother. Lessee..

Last Thursday there was this big NASCAR themed dinner at the dining halls here on campus. Since the University only does this type of thing once every 5-6 weeks or so, J and I were pretty excited. Since it was touted as a NASCAR event, we didn't really know what to expect. J was hoping there would be a car parked inside the dining hall. Well, it wasn't inside, but it was pretty darn close...

So we posed with the car and got our picture taken.. "That's how we roll." Inside, the food was actually pretty darn good. AWESOME cake, some good steak, a pretty good hotdog (which I decked out with some chunky chili, cheese, mustard, and cole slaw..) and some other good stuff. Some guy was in the lobby hawking these little mini-corndog bite things that were pretty good.

Anyway, I went home this weekend to visit the 'rents and KT. I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted to with ANYONE though. I didn't get home until like 7:15pm Friday night.. and after a long day of work I only stayed awake until around midnight. But anyway, I woke up on Saturday with plans to goto KT's only to have this greet me:

That's not my car (I drive's a truck) but you get the picture. ICE RAIN. w00t. Which means ICED ROADS. /w00t. So I spent about 15 minutes scraping ice off my windshield and windows and trekked out to KT's. Here's a snapshot of GA, buried under a blanket of purple wonderfulness.

Holla.

2005-01-26T21:17:00.000-05:00

Made a couple images today at work. One is below. It needs work (a bit too empty) but we'll see what happens with it. Click it to view the full image.

Just finished reading 2 articles for my "History of America 1945-Present" class. One about the evolution of the "going steady" trned that began in the 1950s. I did not know this, but apparently before World War II the dating scene was much different. It centered around dating as many popular people as you could to in turn become popular yourself. If you dated only one person, you essentially amounted to nothing more than a social outcast. The author of the article pointed out how this disparity in dating practice highlights differences between the teenagers of the 30s/early 40s and the teenagers of the 50s. The dating scene of the 30s/40s was driven by competition whereas the 50s were dominated by a desire for security as opposed to popularity. Having a steady boyfriend/girlfriend removed the stress and hassle of continuous dating. I think I prefer the steady method... hah, especially considering I've been dating the same girl now for over 4 years.

2005-01-25T22:10:00.000-05:00

A revised version of the below picture. Not sure which I like better.

2005-01-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

I made this a couple minutes ago. Silly picture, but I'm brushing up on photoshop skills for my job. It's pretty basic, but yeah.. here it is:

And I'll be back in the high life again

2005-01-25T09:39:00.000-05:00

At work posting this, again. We've got a meeting in approximately 20 minutes, and I have nothing to do until then. So here I is.

J has been exploring the vastness of the online Winamp world and has come across a ton of streaming TV and radio channels. Most are horrible, but a select few have pretty decent feeds. All the official Winamp streams are top notch. KT told me about some Lindsey Lohan video she saw and how it was such a piece of crap, so of course I searched for it. Querying "Lohan" popped up 2 results:

1) Some weird video about Lindsey Lohan wanting to date some guy, but his parents won't let him (no doubt, they are frightened of her boobs). So, in rebellion, the two of them run off and start making out in an abandoned house. Mmmmk. Next we see them at some party when the guy's dad shows up and hauls him off. That wasn't even halfway through the video, but I stopped it there. Boring.

2) This one was titled "Rumors" and features tons of paparazzi following Lohan around clubs and whatnot. Almost immediately, I hated this video with a passion. As Lohan flits around various clubs and elevators, she touches her hair and puts her hands above her head about 345,008,320 times. And as she's doing it, all the other girls in the club are doing the same thing. Have girls evolved some sort of anti-gravity propulsion system in their hands, and no one told me? Anyway, the video is very much a Britney Spears-clone. Amidst Lohan's gyrating on the walls and floor of an elevator and swinging around in a giant bird cage (?), she tries to throw in one of those multi-dancer dances on a rooftop. Too bad she sucks at it. Her "moves" consist of bending her knees and covering her face. Go Lindsey, get down wit yo bad self.

So anyway, she's singing about wanting to be left alone by paparazzi and the like. Well.. honey.. you entered the wrong profession. You had to have noticed all the people who have come before you, trying to do the actress/singer role. Why does she think she would be any different, especially considering that she's a pretty girl with huge boobs? Doing nearly nude photo shoots, appearing on SNL, having top-grossing movies... surely the paparazzi would overlook that, right? Gah.

The below is now Office Space

2005-01-24T14:36:00.000-05:00

Typing this from work. I might start updating this thing from work, at least on my lunch breaks I guess (while I devour a bag lunch from the dining hall). The past couple of weeks I have started working at my new job here at OISD. Basically, my responsibilities here include editing video/audio, shooting lectures, and generally anything multimedia-wise that could be needed by a faculty member here at UGA. The equipment they have here is all really nice, top of the line stuff. Only problem is that right now there really isn't anything to do. With it being the start of the semester, there aren't many jobs for us to cover just yet. So I've just been getting used to the nifty software programs they have on this computer, like LiveType and DVD Studio Pro. Oh, btw.. I've got my own OFFICE and my own COMPUTER. It's a G4 Mac with all the bells and whistles. It's nice. But like I said, it gets pretty boring here not having anything to do. I'm working 20 hours a week here and then I have 12 hours of classes scheduled around this job. Unfortunately, that means I'm out of my room from 8:30am-5:00pm every weekday. I guess that makes my life seem more like I have a real 8 hour job.. not sure if I like waking up that early though. Today is payday though, so that's always fun.. we'll see exactly how much I end up receiving after taxes. BEFORE taxes, I should receive $320 for two weeks work. Ah well, money is money. And it's going to a good cause.

2005-01-17T19:02:00.000-05:00

So I followed this link to a quiz.. took it, turns out I'm 29 at heart. 29... I think I can live with that. =/

You Are 29 Years Old

29

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Birthday and Christmas Haul

2004-12-28T20:15:00.000-05:00

Birthday Haul includes:

$130 from various family members

Prince of Persia 2: Warrior Within (PS2)

Georgia Bulldogs throw blanket

Two World War II books

Christmas Haul includes:

LaCie 160GB portable harddrive with FireWire support

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
4-disc special edition box set (DVD)
Spiderman 2 (DVD)
Dawn of the Dead: Director's Cut (DVD)
Star Wars edition (DVD)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
Shadow Hearts: Covenant (PS2)

Another World War II book

Approximately $35 in gift cards (Best Buy, Blockbuster)

Several shirts and some pants.

Mi dia ultima de trabajo

2004-12-15T01:12:00.000-05:00

>Well, today was my final day of working at the video store. I've been keeping a sort of mini-journal of the interesting nights at work over on the Chaser forums. I'll import them over here someday so they'll be an easier to manage collection.

I'm excited about working at my new job. It is here on campus (right across the street) and is practically the perfect job that I could have as an undergraduate. I'll be working for an office here at the university that films lectures for professors to use in their curriculums, as well as filming and editing short promotional videos for the university in general. My supervisors seem like awesome people, and I can't wait to work with them.

But yeah, my last night at work at the video store was pretty funny. I didn't really care very much, so I basically just watched some movies. The funniest moment of the night involved my manager and this thug-looking guy. The conversation went like this (ver batum):

Manager: *opens member's account* Sir, it seems that you have about $30 in late fees.
Guy: What? From when?
Manager: February of 2000, sir.
Guy: Man, that ain't right. I was in jail in 2000.
Manager: Uhhh...
Guy: It had to have been one of my babys' mamas.
Manager: ......

It took all of my self control to keep from laughing. Hilarious.

Late night smackdown

2004-12-07T11:16:00.000-05:00

So after working on a paper for about an hour, I was mentally done at 11:30pm last night. So I hopped on BF and started working some magic.

First up: Berlin as Axis. Without using my exploit, I ended up going 22-22-9. At one point, I went through and killed about 7 guys before being killed myself. I was chucking nades with my fists and spitting bullets with my teeth, it was insanity. Axis ended up winning by 6 tickets. GG, allies.

Second up: Bocage as Axis. Had alot of fun on this one. I can't remember my score, but I was an engineer for the majority of the match. I concentrated on keeping the south bridge mined and ex-packed in the face of enemy armor. I distinctly remember dodging every bullet shot at me by a medic, dropping to one knee, and putting a .30 bullet through him. It was nice. I also saw an idiot sniper named RAVAGE go off to some god-forsaken building in the middle of nowhere, so I decided to follow him. I go inside the house and knife him as he is looking out a window. I'm walking back to the main lines, he comes after me (still a sniper). I kill him again. I take his sniping pack and lie down to snipe at the main Allied base. After a couple seconds, I see someone running straight at me. It's Ravage again. Oh no... *SNIPE* He drops again. He ends up coming after me in a tank and that's how he kills me. Idiot. Axis wins by 100+ tickets.

Last up: Market Garden as Allied. Now, I switched servers for this one and when I get in, the allies are being demolished. They're down 100+ tickets and they're still bleeding as the Axis have all the flags. So I parachute down and promptly capture the stone bridge. Too bad my entire freaking team refuses to spawn there and defend it! Everyone keeps spawning at the airfield where the do absolutely no good. So we lose the Stone Bridge. Alright, I'll try the Steel Bridge. Same results: I cap it, no one helps me, we lose it. At one point, a Tiger tank started chasing me and, as the driver was unable to kill me, he got out of his tank to do the job himself. Big mistake. So I snag the tank and use it against them. About 10 minutes later, the game ends with an Allied victory. Go me.

Tonight's record: 3-0 with 1 silver medal (Berlin) and 1 gold medal (Market Garden)

Test2

2004-12-06T21:08:00.000-05:00

Test2

Battlefield Exploits

2004-12-06T14:06:00.000-05:00

Battlefield hasn't been very fun today. EA just released the 1.61 patch a couple days ago and not many servers have updated to it yet. As a result, Moxa and I had to stick to some crappy servers with horrible pings.

We tried Battleaxe, and that didn't work out so well. Horrible ping+retarded teammates = Not much fun.

So we tried a Husky map that was moderately better. When we entered the game, the British were already in trouble, having only captured the beach flag. So I snuck through the hills on the edge of the map and took the heavy tank flag near the bridge. As it went gray, the giant BF110 plane went on a bombing run which I avoided. His copilot also bailed to kill me, but I took that fool out. I capped the point and all seemed like it would work out well. Unfortunately, the team here sucked as well. Gah. We took a couple other points, but the Axis kept stealing our equipment from the beach. Combine that with the fact that the damn plane kept raping us, and it just became a headache.

Test

2004-12-05T23:12:00.000-05:00

Testing