Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Screwing around

Preparing to: inject some time into my favorite addiction...WoW

So Corb and I ended up helping Trip put together his computer desk today. It's fair to say the three of us spent the night screwing...and don't think we didn't make that joke plenty. It went fairly smoothly, aside from mixing up one set of screws and one screw refusing to go in right. I enjoyed it really, it's like a puzzle.

Tomorrow we're supposed to get together with Kevin and play some Halo 2 and that should be cool. He's bringing down his Xbox, so I don't have to sweat lugging mine around. I'm looking forward to hanging.

Not much else going on besides playing WoW. I think tomorrow afternoon I may try to put up a few words about some of the cool things in the game. I haven't been specific because I wasn't sure my readers (both of you) would be interested. Then I realized...I don't care. It's called incoherent rambling for a reason people.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Father and son


Here's a pic of my brother Gabe holding young Cam. Aren't they cute. Posted by Hello

Here is a photo of my nephew Cameron. Say hello to the little guy. Posted by Hello

Monday, December 27, 2004

A new life

Oh I haven't mentioned it yet, because I was waiting for a photo to post. But my bro seems to be a little too busy to send along a photo. Anyway I am now an uncle... I am officially Weird Uncle E. Young Cameron Alexander Cardwell (I'm not sure of that spelling, I'm actually hoping for Kameron, but whatever) joined the festivities on Dec. 23, with no exceptional difficulties so sayeth Gabe, his father.

So that's kinda cool, I have a new life to turn to the dark side. So here's to the continuation of my family line...as scary as that sounds. I'll put up the pics as soon as they come.

Skip to the end, how do I kill it?

Well the holiday season is closing down, with only one more depressing holiday left, New Year's Day. Hopefully I can make it through it. Xmas wasn't so bad, hanging with friends, playing video games, eating way too much.

Yesterday I watched the Steelers avenge their lone loss of the season, topping the Ravens. Those guys simply look good across the board. Roethlisberger got injured and that worried me, but hopefully he'll be ok. Next week's week's game with Buffalo is a bit of a problem tho. The Steelers have absolutely nothing to play for, while the Bills are in the playoff hunt. But a loss right before the playoffs is not good for momentum. I think that game could be a real problem, especially since someone always gets injured in a game like that, to add irony.

I also spent some time watching movies instead of playing WoW (it's a step forward). I watched Hellboy, which was good the second time around. I also watched Return of the King (tho I did play a little WoW, through the first bit) and I wasn't sure what they added for the extended edition. It's hard to tell since I only saw it once in the theatre about a year ago, not that it makes that much difference.

Saturday, December 25, 2004

I was well hung by the chimney with care

Been busy doing this and that the last coupla days. I've been peppering my WoW time with actual entertainment outside the home. Last night, Mike and I rolled out into the party town that is Martinsville. On Xmas Eve the only thing open was Sportlanes and that was totally sad...totally sad.

I suppose we could have gone to the Dutch Inn, but I soo hate that place that I refused. We ended up going to Trip's for a bit of Halo 2. I schooled them both and we called it an early night. I then went into full gaming nerd mode (ok, I'm always in full gaming nerd mode).

Today I sat around playing WoW and then hooked up with Trip and Corb for a little Halo 2. We also watched Greg the Bunny, which Trip got on DVD for Xmas. Too bad they cancelled it, it was jsut the right amount of absurd. Plus I love puppets in adult situations...well I'm actually not big on puppet porn, but I like say PG-13 to R rated puppets.

Friday, December 24, 2004

Trix are for kids

I had a really good time tonight. We (Mike and I) had planned to go to Roanoke and hang with Kev, which woulda been cool, but that didn't pan out. I was a little disappointed when I found out, but had a good time anyway. We (Mike, Greg, Sharon and I) ended up going to G-boro for some last minute shopping (which blew) and then had a nice dinner at Carrabas (sirloin marsala is yummy).

After that we hit a coupla bars, hooked up with Nick and Abby and that was cool. We left before it got terribly late, as Greg was semi-concious from lack of sleep. After dropping them off, Mike and I hooked up with Chafin and Rick, who I hadnt' hung with in years, and went back to Chafin's pad. It was a harrowing drive back there because he lives in bumfuck Laurel Park and was swerving quite a bit. Still we had a good time hanging out and I'm definitely gonna have to get up with them again. We watched part of Kill Bill Vol. 1 and that made me want to see it even more. I'm now jonesing for some kung fu action.

Anyway tomorrow is X-mas Eve, which doesn't really mean much to me other than everything will be closed. I'm not as much of a humbug as I used to be, but I'll still be glad to get all the malls and traffic back to normal levels.

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Fear the nose tackle dive

Hit G-boro last night for some poker action. We played tournament style, which I hate and I went out in eighth place. It sucked because I got beat by a runner runner straight draw, but what are you gonna do? It could have been worse, one guy went out on the first hand with pocket aces. It doesn't get much worse than that.

After that Mike, Nick and myself hit JP Looney's for a coupla beers and some food and that was cool. We sat around talking about the good old days of Techmo Bowl. Good times.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Obsessions and records

Now watching: ESPN (PTI)

So I've been playing tons of WoW, no surprise. My warlock is now up to level 29 and building. I love almost everything about this game, it's just awesome. I can't get enough. I am constantly driven to keep moving my character up in level, but even more I'm constantly driven to keep doing something. Even when I'm not working to get xp, I'm having fun. It's cool hanging around the auction house. It's fun to build your fishing skill (which really isn't an exciting activity). It's simply Warcrack.

Other than that I've been watching the final season of Buffy. That show is so good, it's unbelievable. The characters have nice depth and real motivations that play out in the show. It's funny, without giving in to sacrificing the plot for humor. It's a sad thing that the show is over.

Watched some football yesterday. I know Nick was happy that Marino's record stands another week, but Peyton Manning will get it next week. Peyton showed some class, not throwing the ball with the game in hand. Taking the knee shows he deserves to be a legend.

I am with Nick tonight, tho. I am rooting for the Phins to kick the crap out of the Pats. It's a long shot, but stranger things have happened.

Sunday, December 19, 2004

Total domination

Now watching: football

Went to Kevin and Courtney's Xmas gathering yesterday and had a good time. It was low key and that's fine with me. Had some nice rosemary pinwheels and hung out.

After that Trip and I got some pizza and came back to his place. We just watched football (which is notable as Trip isn't a football fan) and chilled out. It was an interesting game to watch, the Panthers dominated the Falcons, but weren't able to put enough points on the board. Trip contends that if the score is tied, then the Panthers didn't dominate. He doesn't understand that the battle for yardage is integral to football success. Or rather he refused to acknowledge it to antagonize me, either way.

I was rooting for Carolina, until they played for the tie with 1:30 left. How stupid is that? The game was tied and they had a chance to run a 2-minute drill and they let the clock go. Total pussy-ball. So they go to OT, the Panthers throw a pick and Atlanta wins. That's what happens when you play to tie.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Aim low

Now listening to: Fugazi

Had a nice dinner with Jeff, his wife Melissa, Corb and Trip tonight. We went to Rania's, which Trip hates. Sadly the restaurant did nothing to change his opinion and may have turned me toward his way of thinking a little. His pasta was watery and he reported his chicken as being tough. My steak was less than well prepared, but my crab cake was excellent. The ambience is nice, tho. Still not a great meal, all told. But we still had a good time. It was cool to see Jeff and Melissa, since I see them once or twice a year.

Jeff got me Dodgeball for X-mas and we watched that at Trip's after eating. Man is that movie funny. I'm giving it a foot massage rating, with some filet mignon lines. Trip got Corb and I (and also Danny, who hasn't received his yet) a little remote controlled tank so we could play mini-Combat for real. It's pretty cool. Trip's German Tiger tank is uber-fast tho, so he has the maneuverabilty advantage over my Russian T-35.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go to Kev's for a little Xmas party thing. I'm a little leary. First of all, it means I have to be moderately sociable for two days in a row. We all know that my social batteries can run low and I turn into Capt. Surly quick. Also the party is scheduled during the middle of the Steelers-Giants game. A season like this doesn't come along every year and I want to enjoy it to the fullest. I suppose I'll go, but I'm gonna lobby Kev to get to watch the game.

Friday, December 17, 2004

Merry Christmas, Kiss my ass, Kiss his ass, Kiss your ass, Happy Hannukah

Now listening to: The Eels

So I've been to distracted to blog lately. I've been caught up with WoW and X-mas crap. So I'll recap my week since my last post. Wednesday I stayed at home and watched The Stepford Wives with Mom. It was ok, nothing special. I'd say Meh. overall. Mom then watched Meet the Parents, which she likes a lot. I kinda half watched, half played WoW. That about wraps up that.

Today Trip and I went to Danville, had a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and did some final shopping. I finally found one of the things I've been looking high and low for and so that's cool. We then came home and watched The Apprentice, which I'm glad is over. Of course the militant white guy won, it's the rules of business.

After that a little Halo 2 action (I was really rusty for the first few games, then turned it on a bit.) Finally we watched Conan and I came home.

On arriving at my doorstep there were, not one, but two county sheriffs in my driveway. Or rather their cars were in the driveway. Mom was up and annoyed, as the downstairs neighbors had had a fight earlier. It's so fun to have lively neighbors...can someone tell me why I shouldn't hate people?

Anyway now I intend to get a little WoW time in and then go to bed at a semi-reasonable hour. I need to get up and put together some gift packages for the holiday feast tomorrow. Jeff is coming in and I'm looking forward to a fun evening.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Startling confessions

I battled the WoW addiction and won! Well I won for the moment yesterday. Of course it wasn't as tho I did anything uselful, I just started watching the final season of Buffy, which is good so far. Still I did step away from the game and nothing bad happened...yet.

I also watched The Biggest Loser. You know what amazes me about reality tv? These people realize they are in a game and know that someone will probably have to get screwed for the others to win. Then they get all testy when they are the one's that get screwed. Come on, it's a game. It shouldn't come as a shock that someone lied. Ohh no, they put themselves in front of you. Big surprise. I'd pistol whip some of my closest friends for that type of money. I'd feel bad about it, but I'd have to do it. (I'm looking at you Trip.)

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

You're like a big floppy cock

I'm currently torn between watching the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I borrowed from Trip, and playing more WoW. It's a conundrum. What to do, what to do?

Yesterday I finished off most of my X-Mas shopping. Man do I hate going to the mall this time of year. I run into everyone I know and have to deal with stupid people. It's a pain. The place was packed yesterday.

After that I went to Trip's and we watched American Wedding, which was better than either of us expected. It was a lot better than the second American Pie movie, which is faint praise, really, but it was pretty good. I'd give it +1 chainmail.

After that we got into a little Halo 2 action and Team Rocket Sauce kicked a little ass. We can't be denied.

Monday, December 13, 2004

I collected all the bear tongues I needed to start a plague

Ohh this weekend was fun. I played video games pretty much every waking moment. Of course I've been power leveling my undead warlock on World of Warcraft and that game gets better and better. I'm loving it.

On Saturday, after an afternoon of WoW Corb, Danny and myself metriculated over to Trip's for a nice Halo 2 LAN party and had a good time. It was really fun. I have to be honest, I figured that having played on Live would have made playing with only four people less fun, boring even. But that wasn't the case at all. We experimented with game types and had ball. After leaving Trip's I played WoW until 5 a.m., it seemed like I blinked and three hours were gone.

I got back on the WoW horse again on Sunday, with only a brief respite to watch the Steelers top the Jets. It was a great game. Good defense both ways and I love seeing Jerome Bettis get the glory. He is the man. His TD pass was inspired play calling. Pittsburgh moves to 12-1 and clinches a playoff spot. We just have to keep pace with the Patriots and keep home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Not sure what my plan is today. I need to close out some Xmas shopping. I also may try to step away from the laptop and not play WoW for a bit. I'll probably end up playing anyway.

Saturday, December 11, 2004

We don't have time to train a cat

Yesterday was all about two ends of the movie spectrum. I got up early (noon) again and Trip and I caught an Ocean's 12 matinee. It was nice, only five other people in the theatre and they wanted to see the movie, not chat. The movie was really good. I loved the first one and this one was almost as good. Again, nothing beats a good caper movie, especially not with that cast. I'd saying it was filet mignon, despite a couple of moments of implausibility.

After that sterling start to the day, we went to Blockbuster and rented Starship Troopers 2. OK I really liked the first Starship Troopers. He had next to nothing to do with Heinlein's book (aside from the title and the bugs) but it was fun. Also I thought it had a certain style. The sequel, however, didn't have any sort of style.

It had a few moments of decent CG, but when compared to the horrible sets and props, it only went to emphasis how crappy they were. They must have gotten extra cash for CG by not bothering to hire real actors. They just got derelicts off the streets to play the roles and it was abysmal. I had low expectations going in and it didn't even meet those. So I have to give this movie the gas face with a torn colon rating.

Incidently I am considering changing my rating system a hair, by getting rid of the shaq-fu rating and replacing it with the stink eye. I'll ruminate on that today.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Not cold enough yet...but I dig the rain

Now listening to: Interpol

Arrghh I'm tired. I got up at the buttcrack of dawn and Trip and I went Xmas shopping for like 14 hours. ...ok it was 11 a.m. (a.m.!!!!) and we shoped for around six hours, but I'm still highly tired. I spent a grotesque amount of money. I get caught up in Xmas shopping. I'm buying stuff for friends, then I buy something for me. Sort of a one for you, one for me policy. I wish I could get rid of it, but I'm a selfish bastard.

We stomped around the mall a lot and for a Thursday afternoon it was packed. I kept thinking it was Saturday. (Who keeps up with the days of the week?) After all the consumerism, we came home and watched reality tv. It was a truly American day.

We also watched the movie Confidence, which was pretty good. Dustin Hoffman, Edward Burns and Rachel Weisz (rowr!) all were excellent. It was a good caper movie and I'd say it gets the +1 chainmail. Also Paul Giamatti was his usual excellent self in a supporting role.

On my drive home I saw lots of fire trucks rolling around. It was rainy, with lightning and clearly the lightning started some fire. I had loads of horrible imagery of my apartment being on fire with my parents dead and everything I own burnt. Isn't it terrible when a thought like that comes into your head and you think about how dreadful it would be to have to have something like that happen. Needless to say I was thankful nothing of the sort occurred to me.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Digital madness

I started the day playing Space Invaders and got the high score at cheapassgamer.com. I then moved into WoW for a bit...ok more like a few hours. I had dinner, then played Halo 2 for about 45 minutes. I sucked completely at Halo 2. I'm not sure why I'm playing so poorly lately. It blows.

After that I went in for a marathon session of WoW. I played until I my ass was sore from sitting in the chair. But I'm almost up to 19th level, which is pretty sweet.

Do I have a video game addiction? I dunno, but tomorrow I'm gonna go out and do some X-mas shopping and get some fresh air.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

We don't know the half of it

Now listening to: lots of Wednesday Morning Downloads I've gotten from Salon.com but never actually listened to

I think I get duller by the minute. I don't do much besides watch tv, eat and play video games. I get more and more antisocial by the day. It's sometimes funny to realize that what I'm doing is a result of my desire to avoid people. Even in WoW I prefer doing things alone and not playing with other gamers. Hell, Nick invited me to play poker tonight and I declined because I didn't feel like being social.

I also had a severely sad moment in WoW today. I had joined a group (against my will) and during a break in the adventuring they brought up their ages. Their ages were 14, 15 and 17 and then they asked mine. God I felt like such an old bastard saying 30. It also boggled my mind, because I couldn't imagine a scenario where I would ask my parents for a $50 game (assuming we had a relatively new computer that could play it) and then a monthly fee added on top. Oh and it comes out at the end of Dec. before Xmas, so it can't be that type of gift. I was agog.

Cyborgs are afraid of peekabo

Now watching: The Upright Citizens Brigade

Haven't done anything of interest in the last two days. Played WoW a bit, played a little Halo 2 and watched a bit of the Cowboys-Seahawks game. Nothing special. I'm in desperate need of a life.

I finally got a decent start on Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's very slow at this point, but I'm hoping it picks up. I suppose the topic of 19th century British magic doesn't lend itself to a fast start.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Such is my faith

Now listening to: Nick Cave

I can't believe the Steelers pulled off that win. I really thought Jacksonville had it in the bag, but Pittsburgh managed to pull of a crazy finale to take the victory. Wow. The Steelers made so many mistakes that should have added up to a loss: tons of penalties, coverage breakdowns on third-and-long, and getting away from the run. Still they won... I'm hoping that kind of mental toughness will play out in the playoffs as well. It's also nice that Big Ben remains unbeaten. I'm hoping for homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Jaguars are gonna be good in a year or two. Leftwich is dangerous and with that kind of play they could be on the road to success. Of course half the players on their team are former Steelers.

Played a ton of WoW this afternoon and I'm loving it. My undead warlock is up to level 15. Wow...you can't say that without sounding like a total nerd. It is getting more challenging tho and I'll probably be forced to do some grouping soon, which I'm not overly keen on. I like to solo. I'm a loner Dotty, a rebel.

I also finished the second Lemony Snicket book and it was decent. I'm debating reading the third now, because they really aren't happy, fun-time books. They are kinda depressing. Not bad, mind you, just a there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

It would have killed a lesser man

I just had a close encounter of the deer kind. Coming home from Trip's I turned onto my road. Lo and behold there was a veritable herd standing either on the road or just off of it. I slammed on the brakes and managed to not hit another deer. The one I was mere feet from lambasting was around a six-point buck. He should thank his lucky stars that he had a run in with "The Deerslayer" and lived to tell the tale.

I call my Jeep "The Deerslayer" because it has three confirmed kills and not much damage to show for it. Its story is whispered late at night in the sleeping dens of deer to scare the fawns into good behavior. Of course I have no animosity to the deer population and make no attempt at malicious driving, it's just that they are a constant threat to automobiles around these parts.

Anyway not much went on today, played a bit of WoW and then cleaned out my closet. Packed up a lot of old clothes and cleared some space. I then lounged for a while and went to Trip's. We went out and rented Walking Tall, starring The Rock. Trip has told me that the original was really good and I'd like to see it, but Netflix is gone for now. Oh well.

The new Walking Tall was 73 minutes of film that didn't bother with any of that pesky character development or narrative. It was all about The Rock beating people down with a 4x4 block of wood. Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? A mindless action movie that I'd say was Meh. I do have to admit that I liked Johnny Knoxville being a goof and had a good time making fun of the movie with Trip.

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Bow to my will, minion

Now listening to: Interpol

Took my PS2 to Trip's today to show him Katamari Damancy, which he enjoying right up until he got completely fed up with it. I've never seen such a swift turnaround. I forgot to bring my second controller, so there was no multiplayer to be had, which slowed things down a bit. It occured to me that I never play my PS2 anymore and it's fairly useless to me. I occasionally look through the PS2 games, but I've got so many XBox or PC games I'd rather play that it's kinda moot.


Corb came over later and we ended up going the way of Halo 2 for much of the evening. It was fun, well except for that one level where I couldn't get a kill to save my life. That was just sad. We didn't play any team games, so Team Rocket Sauce never got into any action.

Corb commented on my poker winnings the other day by saying I was "very brave." This was because I am unemployed and spent money on gambling. Apparently he thinks I'm Oliver Twist and put my last nickel on a roll of the dice. I suppose in his mind gambling is the same regardless of it you're playing poker or the lottery. But to rest his mind, I am not completely destitute (yet) and playing poker with 10 guys means I have a one in ten chance of winning, or better if my skills are better than their's. It also helpes when the cards come in your favor, which they certainly did last Friday.

Anyhoo, I'm getting back to my WoW addiction. The more I play, the more I want to play. It's that good. For Khaz Modan!!

Friday, December 03, 2004

For the Horde!!

Now listening to: ambient webradio

Had a good story idea on my way home from Trip's tonight. I came in, hooked up my laptop (which I took to Trip's to show off World of Warcraft) and wrote the first page. I stopped there because WoW is beckoning to me. I know, I'm lazy and far too easily distracted. Still it's better to have done something. Plus I think I need to let the idea gestate a little more and develop into a story arc, all I've got now is a premise and a general idea. I need to work on filling in the blanks. I'm not going to tell the idea, because where is the fun in that? I prefer to torture my few readers.

Today was all about WoW. I spent the afternoon reading about the questions I had after starting to play last night and then played for the rest of the afternoon. I then packed up and went to Trip's to let him play. I ended up starting a new character while I was there, an Orcish warrior. All Horde, all the time.

Mom also brought me some more books home from the library. I got a couple of Lemony Snicket books to power through and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which sounded pretty cool when I read the flap. So I have plenty to keep me busy for a bit.

Oh I forgot to mention I finally followed through and cancelled Netflix. While I have absolutely no complaints about the service, I wanted to do something else for a while. Plus I can't really justify playing monthly fees for both WoW and Netflix, I can only handle so much entertainment. Off to Azeroth!!!

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Sunless tanning lotion

Now watching: South Park

Had a good time in Roanoke today. Hooked up with Kev and we did a little shopping. I did manage to control my spending for the most part, although I did come away with World of Warcraft. But that was about all I bought, besides coffee and dinner. My frugal nature took hold, hell I even had buyer's remorse for WoW on the way home. The only problem was I did none of the X-mas shopping I intended. Oh well.

For dinner Kev and I hooked up with Adam at Red Palace and it was cool hanging out. That's one of the worst things about getting older, not seeing your friends as much because they have real lives. Not me tho, I've resisted the urge to become an adult and will continue to fritter my life away with video games and sleeping into the afternoon.

Anyway I'm gonna get into some Horde action now and get my undead warlock on. Woo.

Fear him

Posted by Hello

Team Rocket Sauce lives!!

Now listening to: an amalgam of hits I received from Trip

A more laidback day after Mike left town i.e. no poker or alcohol. I spent the afternoon watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. While I still maintain that this is the best movie of the three, particularly visually, I didn't like it as much the second time around. It's still good, but it runs a little slow at moments or maybe I just wasn't in the mood, I dunno.

I then hit the Halo 2 Rumble Pit and moved myself on up to level 9 and watched PTI, which is the best sports show on tv. I then headed over to Trip's and we finished up XMen Legends finally. I'd give the game a nice foot massage rating. I'm probably gonna trade that and Burnout 3 in tomorrow.

We watched The Biggest Loser again and it had a nice twist at the end, so that was fun. I swear I hate being caught up in a reality show, but this is something I can relate to. After that we hit the Halo 2 and had a good time. Together Trip and I form Team Rocket Sauce and we ran some hos and had a little fun. It was actually the first time I've really enjoyed playing team games.

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

What a waste

Now listening to: Embrace

After a weekend of daytripping to Greensboro, Mike decided to spend the evening in Martinsville and we actually had a decent time. We went to a new(ish) pub in uptown called Hurley's. It wasn't bad, mostly a lowkey environment. We watched the Packers hand St. Louis a beating and chatted, it was pretty cool. As good as you have any right to expect in Martinsville.

This afternoon I didn't do much, just watch football highlights and play a little Halo 2 (I'm closing in on level 9 since I picked up another win).

That's about it. I'm not feeling really verbose right now so I'll just go.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Gurgle, gurgle

Now listening to: X (Los Angeles)

Oh man did today start out rough. One of the horrible side effects of getting older is that hangover get worse and worse. This morning I felt like a nucular warhead (four more years of that crap...sigh) had went off in my belly. I woke up at 9 a.m. and didn't go back to bed, which was ok I suppose. I watched most of the Steelers' victory over the Redskins, which was significantly closer than I wanted it to be.

Around 3:30 p.m., Mike picked me up and we went to get Adam and headed to G-Boro. I had a good time hanging out, it's always fun to get the old crew together. Abbie cooked up some excellent vittles and we struck like a cobra. After that we played a little four-way poker tournament with a $20 buy-in. I don't think I played that well, but I managed to trap Nick and ended up taking second place, which meant I got my $20 back. Adam ended up winning the thing, oddly enough and seemed pleased with himself. He made a call I never expected him to make...although I probably should have. I knew he had a hand and he never gives those hands up. Still I was fine with breaking even. Now I am feeling beat, I may be in bed before 3 a.m.

Oh I finished reading the first Lemony Snicket book and it was ok. It's not Harry Potter, but it's aiming at a younger audience I think. I'd give it a foot massage rating overall. I did like the description of the villan Count Olaf and his dank household. Of course I just dig villanous people anyway. I started reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves, a book about grammar, as well. It's gonna be intrigueing to see if it will hold my attention.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

One more try


So this is finally the photo of my brother I tried to put up earlier in the week. Hopefully everyone can see it now. If not please let me know. Thanks. Posted by Hello

One more for the road

So I got a little drunk tonight. This always happens when Mike comes to town. Went to Greensboro and had quite a few drinks. So many hot women out...oh it hurts...it hurts. In the past I've found that drunken blogging is a bad idea, so this will be short. I had a good time, except for some asshole who wanted to talk shit in the bar (I was almost drunk enough to smash my glass over his head, but let it go). Mike and I had a good time and probably embarrassed the hell out of Greg by being douche bags around his new girlfriend. Ahh, he's fine.

Anyway a good time was had by all. We are getting to hang out with Adam tomorrow, so hopefully that will be cool. I think we may play poker, so I'll probably end up giving back some of my winnings from last night. I ended up getting guilted into buying a bunch of drinks tonight, although it was nice not being the poor broke bitch for a change. Anyway I think iI hear my pillow summoning me.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

All in

Now listening to: Velocity Girl

So I had a decent night at the poker table. As I said, I went in expecting to lose, but ultimately I came out a little ahead. I put $20 in at the beginning of the evening and took $175 out at the end of the night! I could do no wrong. I saw awesome starting hands all the time and hit the flop a lot, even when my hand wasn't that great. By the end of the night, the guys left playing were completely demoralized. They all folded whenever I bet and it was probably a good idea, since I was never bluffing. It feels pretty damn good to be the big winner.

Some highlights: I had pocket 9s and the flop came down 9, 4, 4. I put out a guy who had bought in about two hands ago. Our host, Cal, was all in with a set of 9s and I had pocket Qs. I caught a my two-outter Q on the river to win. I have K5 of spades and play on a whim. The flop is three spades with the ace. So I got the nut flush and slowplayed it a bit.

You know I feel like I played well overall. Even if I hadda played just mediocre I would have won with the cards I was dealt, but I felt like I played really good on top of it. Of course, with the big stack it's easy to push people around and I did.

Plus I had fun hanging with Mike, Nick and Greg. Always good to hang with them. I'm annoyed that Adam is selling us out tomorrow. Annoyed, but not surprised. That mug has never picked hanging with his boys over hanging with his girl...never. I understand that some of the time, but come on, you can't always do it.

I'm feeling pretty charged up at the moment and I'm not sure how I'm gonna spend the rest of the evening. I may try to read, but I may just roll around in my cash roll.

Friday, November 26, 2004

Turkey farts

Well I played some Fallout last night. Until I got stuck by a glitch and gave up. I will have to start over from the beginning if I want to get back into the game. It's annoying, I tell ya. Anyway I started rereading Lamb today and it is as good as I remember it.

I spent most of the day reading, with a minor break for some highly frustrating Halo action. The soft games were not there today, I can tell you that.

Currently I'm preparing to get my poker on with Mike J. and Nick in Greensboro. Woo, I have a feeling I'm gonna drop a lot of cash. Sad really. But it'll still be fun hanging out.

Rock and roll ain't noise pollution

Now listening to: AC/DC

So Thanksgiving was pretty cool. I slept in...I mean I really slept in. It was nice and quiet. I got up and bumbled about for a bit, doing the internet thing and generally waking up. I flipped on the Colts-Lions game, which was a brutal beating. Manning is just looking phenomenol, six TDs today...amazing. The Cowboys-Bears game was substantially less well played. A defensive battle, because both offense suck ass.

My mom then prompted me to give Gabe a call and that was cool. We chatted for a while about this and that. I then played a bit of Halo 2 and found some nice soft games. Trip thinks I'm imagining this, but I'm telling you the games on the weekends and holidays are not as tough as the rest of the week. Especially during the times when I'm usually playing. I hypothesize this is because these are the regular guys who don't get to play the game for hours every day (a la the hardcore). They play it in bursts and level up in one fell swoop, but by the time they get back to the game they've lost their edge. Let me assure you that a couple of days off can curtail your skills, I've lived it. Anyway I won three matches today, which is a personal best.

After that I got my grub on...man I love gravy and mashed potatoes. I know it's supposed to be about the turkey, and I like that too, but gravy is the lubrication that makes everything go down smoother.

Corb and I then headed to Trip's for a little Will and Grace and some XMen Legends. We can't be far from the end of the game and I'm looking forward to it. I want to trade it in on and World of Warcraft is looking better every day. Anyway I'm off to play a little Fallout and maybe do some reading.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

America is wunderbar

Now listening to: Rammstein (Reise, Reise)

So today when I got up I was greeted by a suspicious package on my desk. Initially I thought it may be anthrax sent by my arch-nemesis, then I realized I don't have an arch-nemesis. So I inquired further. I noted my brother's name on the return address and decided they don't have enough reason to send me dangerous chemicals, so I opened it.

It was a belated B-Day present that rocked the house! It put me in a good mood for the rest of the day, even when I was playing back-to-back games of oddball and crazy king in Halo 2 and losing like a mofo.

He sent me a bag full of Roasted Monkey Nuts, which made me laugh. They are only peanuts, but the name is hilarious. I'm debating eating them or saving them as a conversation piece...I'll probably eat them sometime. I also got a kickass sticker that's either a robot or a guy in a flame proof suit, not sure which. He also sent me a Lord of the Rings GBA game, that is cool.

He also got me Fallout 1 and 2 for my PC. These games are highly revered in the PC community and I've considered picking them up in the past. So I'm looking forward to giving them a try after I finish writing here. Gonna get my post-apocalyptic roleplaying on.

The final piece of my gift was a kickass card featuring the Penguin of Death. It's one of the coolest things ever. So yeah, Gabe and Kelly (his wife) made my day.

Other than opening wayward gifts and playing Halo, I hung with Corb and Trip for a bit and watched some crap tv. Last night I finished The Stupidest Angel and man that book is incredible. I laughed my ass off several times. I ended up staying up until 6 a.m. to finish it and didn't regret it. You all are commanded to go out and buy Christopher Moore's books, especially this one and get him some more recognition because he deserves it. I'm giving this book a filet mignon rating and could definitely see it working it's way up to the headcavingly orgasmic category in time. Off to defeat radioactive mutants.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Wafflecrapper

Now listening to: Depeche Mode (Speak and Spell)

So I finally got a haircut and of course they had upped the price. Everytime I go there it's a buck or two more. It'll be $20 next time for 20 minutes of clipping. It makes me want to cut my own hair. But, of course, that is probably a horrible idea.

So I watched the Biggest Loser and Scrubs again today, as has become my usual practice. Woo. I also ended up watching the Amazing Race because of Trip. I dunno, I like seeing the cool places they go to, but I hope all the people fail. I have no interest in them.

I so want to buy World of Warcraft, but I honestly can't afford it without giving up Netflix. The monthly fee would actually be cheaper than Netflix, but I love getting movies every week. I'm torn. All the hype for WoW is awesome and I want to get in there and be an orc or undead character. I need to up my nerd level...ok that's not really possible, but I want to play nonetheless.

Anyway here is a link of our president with his fly open. Enjoy.

Land of the lost (blog)

I decided to delete my other blog Goal Line Stand. I hadn't updated it in forever and didn't feel the urge to keep up with it. So now it is a forgotten memory, lost for the ages.

It's a rainy chilly Nov. day and I finally get to see if my top truly is waterproof. I certainly hope it is, but even if there are leaks, I'm in little position to complain.

Anyway I need to go get a haircut before people start calling me hippie. Ta.

I'll be fucked in the ear by a blind spider monkey

Now listening to: The Eels

So not much happening here, as usual. I got a call from Mike today and I'm set to play some poker on Friday. Nothing like gambling to set the holidays off.

Just hung with Trip this evening and we played quite a bit of XMen Legends and are closing in on the end of the game. We also watched a little bit of the Pats-Chiefs game. I thought the Chiefs might have a chance at the end, but they choked. New England is tough, but the Chiefs' offense looked hapless most of the time I was watching.

After Trip tossed me I decided to hit Walmart as I was completely out of razors and the one in there is dull. It's like shaving with a rusty spoon. I make it a point to only shop at Walmart after midnight, it's so much easier. No tards filling up the lines or loitering in the exact spot in need to look in for 10 solid minutes. My only problem is all the boxes set out for restocking. Still better boxes than morons. The drive home from Walmart was kinda depressing tho. It was rainy and the streets were empty. Felt kinda lonely. My horrible duality: I'm both antisocial and lonely at the same time.

Upon arriving at home I decided to plunge into the new Christopher Moore book I got this weekend and man is it funny. I guffawed a couple of times while reading it. The title of this post is an actual line in the book. Also it's got my favorite fruit bat, Roberto returning to print. He is still wearing the Ray Bans. Did I mention this is a X-mas story? It is.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Magic Bus

It wasn't pretty, but the Steelers got it done. Man I love it. Eight game streak going strong, all is right with the world. I do believe that Jerome Bettis has answered every question about his ability to play. Roethlisberger is still winning them, although I was worried today with all the sacks sneaking through.

I tell you Cincinnati looked a lot better than 4-5. That defense is going to be a bear for years to come if Marvin Lewis hangs around. I think next year they will be pretty damn good.

Pittsburgh has the Redskins next week and I'm hoping that goes well. I don't know if I could put up with Danny ragging me about that loss for a while, although he's usually not that bad. Still I don't want to have to sweat it. Hopefully Duce Staley will be back and Plaxico Burress' injury won't be serious.

In pog form

Now listening to: Nick Drake

Went shopping in Greensboro with Trip today and we shopped... a lot. We stomped around half the stores in the city. We hit Bed, Bath and Beyond, World Market and Target and I have no doubt that every person in those stores thought we were just the cutest gay couple ever. HA! Like Trip could score a hot piece of ass like me!

I did manage to refrain from spending a lot of cash...mostly because I have bills to pay and want to keep my internet connection. I did buy the new Christopher Moore book, The Stupidest Angel. I love his books, they are friggin hysterical. Everyone should read Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It's soo funny and not even overly sacreligious for you Bible-thumping types. This new book is a Christmas story, which gave me pause because I hate X-mas. But because I love all his other works and I had a $10 gift coupon, I went for it.

I was hoping to trade Burnout 3 in for a new game today, but the trade value was low and there wasn't anything I was willing to pay for right now. I'm hoping to hold off and trade Burnout and XMen Legends for the new Goldeneye game and Final Fantasy 1 & 2 coming out for GBA. I'll probably have to kick in some cash, but those games look pretty damn sweet.

So I think I finally have all the issues resolved with this blog (I hope so). I got Gabe's photo reworked and it should appear now (let me know if it doesn't).

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Way down inside you need love

Now listening to: Fourtet

So I finally got rid of that crappy counter that was slowing the site down so much. I had gotten a coupla complaints, but I didn't think it was that bad. When I tried to load the site up at Trip's pad It took for-fucking-ever, so I realized the problem was much worse than I thought. And now I've fixed it...it took some trial and error to get that godawful counter to finally go away, but I got it finally. The new counter was set from where the last one started and so we're all off. I also moved the counter to the bottom of the page. so if it decides to slow things down, it will be the last thing to load.

Also I don't think my coolass picture of my brother came through for a lot of people. I'm not sure what to do about that, as I'm not sure what the problem was. I might get Trip to help me out with it tomorrow. Until then rest assured that it is awesome. If you have any trouble with the site (a la photos not loading or whatnot) let me know via email and I'll do what I can to fix it up...unless I don't care, then you're just screwed.

Today I didn't do much, played a little Halo 2, went to Trip's, played some XMen Legends. Woo. After getting so frustrated with the Xmen game we could barely stand it, Trip and I watched part of the Ramones Raw DVD, which is aptly named. It's raw footage of the band goofing off, with some cool concert footage added in. After getting bored with some of the goofy chatter, we switched up to Rammstein DVD, which was pretty cool. There stage show is quite a spectacle. Looking forward to hearing their new album, which releases on Tuesday.

Friday, November 19, 2004

They live so others may die

Now listening to: The Pixies (live)

So I got my mow on today and it wasn't a bad day for it. Overcast and cool, but not cold. It was nice to have a feeling of accomplishing something for a change. I guess I'm not totally satisfied being a complete slacker, just mostly satisfied.

Anyway watched the usual reality tv after that with Trip. I am now a thrall of Donald Trump and I hate it. I also love the perenial Trump "Big Pimp" sequence with him tooling around in a limo and cancelling meetings. That ego stroke must feel awesome for the horribly quaffed one.

I got another email from Gabe today. That's two in two days...three actually since he sent me a photo as well. Check this out:

How awesome is that? Feel safe, for my brother is helping protect the nation from terrorists that hate our freedom. I couldn't be more proud of the goofy bastard.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Amped up

I am coming down off a ridiculous feeling of irritation. I was playing Halo and the lag was killing me. On top of that I was getting frustrated and not playing well at all. Of course I played my first clan match (I'm in the cheapassgamer clan) while all this was going on and that only made me more annoyed as I continued to up the suckage.

After realizing that playing more was only gonna be more irritating, I shut it all down and decided to hit the interweb. Of course it is still hotter than hell here (I'm sure my downstairs neighbors have the heat turned all the way up.) and that's only making things worse. I am sipping a beer to try to tamp down the inferno that is my annoyance. It's quite tasty, actually. The beer that is...not my annoyance.

So today I did fuck all. Sat around and watched tv and played Halo 2. That's it...not other goals set or accomplished. God I'm a slackass. Tomorrow I'm gonna do some manual labor so I had to rest up. That's how I'm rationalizing it to myself.

I did get an email from my brother and that's cool. He's ultra busy, what with work, a wife and the stork zeroed in on his house. He finally got a computer, so maybe I'll get to hear from him more often. I hope so.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

It takes a nation of paint-sniffing morons to hold us back

Now listening to: The Hives

You know there is something completely satisfying about eating pizza, drinking Mountain Dew and watching a show about people trying to lose weight. It's so decadent. Trip and I were watching The Biggest Loser and commenting on who was a waste of space in the gym between bites of cheesy goodness. That's the wonder of reality tv: no matter how much of a goon you are, those people on tv are even worse...or so we like to believe.

Anyway, that show has become a guilty pleasure that I can't let go. I just relate to the whole weight loss thing as I've been there in the past. I should be there now, but laziness is hard to break. We also watched Scrubs, which continues to be the best sitcom on tv, in my opinion.

I also ended up watching Trip play quite a bit of Halo 2. I played a bit as his guest, but it's a lot less fulfilling than playing on my own account. I played a bit this afternoon and got my ranking up to 7. Wooo. The level of competition is getting tougher, I can definitely say that. Especially since I still suck on some of the maps...like Colossus and Ascension. Those two are tough for me. The bigger maps I also don't really know, but I never play on them anyway.

I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I love having a new top on the Jeep. Honestly I can't explain how good it feels to not look like white trash when I'm tooling around town. It's the way someone must feel when moveing out of the ghetto. I'm a human being again.

Monday, November 15, 2004

Sometimes nothing is a pretty cool hand

Now listening to: Ambient webradio

So my dad put my new top on the Jeep today and I am stoked. I spent part of the afternoon trying to get as much of the mildew and mold off of the interior, which was an endeavor. Still when I took it out this evening and didn't freeze various parts of my anatomy off it was marvelous. I was positively giddy.

That was until I went to the bank and found out I have even less money than I thought. I have no idea where it goes. I hate being broke...I know, I know I should get a job. It ain't that easy.

Went to Trip's and we watched Cool Hand Luke, which was pretty sweet. Defintely some cool lines and scenes. I'd say it was foot massage worthy.

I figured out that it is my counter that is making the page load so slowly. I may wait until around 2K to get a new counter and hopefully speed things along. I also got rid of the terror ranking as frankly I've always thought it was pretty stupid, but the Sesame Street characters amused me.

Funky drummer

Now listening to: The Minutemen (Live) and Sleater-Kinney (One Beat)

So I watched football early today. Not the Steelers-Cleveland game, as that wasn't broadcast, but the Ravens-Jets. I spent the afternoon rooting for the Jets, of all things. And, of course, they choked and let the Ravens win in OT. Sad. Still the Steelers highlights were marvelous. Did anyone see that block Hines Ward put on that lineman. Oh man I love to see a little guy in black and gold clobber a big man, especially a Brown.

After that Corb picked me up and we got Trip and played Halo 2 for a bit. I really liked the Juggernaut variant, which essentially makes two people take on one who is the juggernaut. Only the juggernaut can score, so you have to kill him to become him. That was cool. After that I came home and watched more football and whatever. I was gonna play some Halo, but didn't feel like it. I am trying to not get burnt out on the game in the first damn week. So I've been browsing the boundless landfill that is the internet.

I've decided I'm not going to spend much money this week or the next. I have to be frugal if I'm gonna be able to do any kind of x-mas shopping or celebration. I should be able to do it, as I've got more entertainment options than most game rooms. I also need to start setting up some time to write, a definite coupla hours to write each day. I have to get focused on something not Halo related for a bit.

Sunday, November 14, 2004

ire truck

Now listening to: M. Doughty-Live and Radiohead- Live

So I stepped back from Halo 2 today and haven't played at all, just to get some perspective. I started the day off watching a few minutes of football, then shifted into Woody Allen's Play it again, Sam. It was funny and quick-witted and I can't help be relate to Woody Allen's character. I'm saying it was foot massage worthy. I've got to get more of his movies.

After that I elected to join Corbin and go see Polar Express...this was a mistake. I was leary, but Corb wanted to mine it for holiday play ideas. This movie was a sedative. If I'm ever an insomniac I will buy this DVD and my problem will be solved. There were two scenes that were visually interesting and the rest was trite holiday claptrap. I know some will say I'm a jaded fuck that can't relate to movies kids like, but this was too dull to even keep a kid's interest for most of it. I'm saying it is deserving of the lowly mudbutt rating.

After the movie, we had a nice Italian meal in Danville and came back to hang with Trip for a while. We watched the end of Daredevil, which didn't get better with the second viewing. We also watched the best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, which was funny as shit. I love him ripping on people. Sometimes i think I should follow in that puppet's footsteps...not so much the dog humping, but the insulting people for a living. I'd be good at that I think.


Saturday, November 13, 2004

Power of the vowels

Now listening to: ...and you will know us by the trail of dead and Clucth

So another day devoted almost entirely to Halo 2. I know my life gets more sad every day, but this game is just awesome. I really can't get away from it. It's like crack, except a bit cheaper overall I suppose. I am considering getting online now and running a few games.

Danny wants Trip and I to hook up with some of the guys he works with and run a tournament. I'm probably selling out as I hate new people and am a naysayer. I just hate being in that situation where I'm not comfortable with everyone. What can I say, I'm antisocial.

Today Marvel Comics sued NCSoft, who created the game City of Heroes, which I ranted about a lot. In COH you can create characters that resemble Marvel characters and so they sued. This is absurd. COH has a robust character custimization mode and the players can pretty much make anything. I'm not sure how NCSoft is responsible for boneheads playing as Marvel characters, particularly when they actively dissuade the copycat characters by booting them. I tell you there is simply too much litigation in this nation and we're all worse off for it. OK I'm getting off the soapbox now, before I get too nutty.

Friday, November 12, 2004

To boldly go...

Well Trip and I beat the campaign in Halo 2, so that's done. It was pretty cool, although the cliff hanger ending was a little abrupt. But what can you expect? That cliffhanger will help sell the Xbox 2.

I started the day off with some serious frustration. I decided to be industrious and put my new top on the Jeep. So I unpack the box and look through the instructions. The first thing I notice is that there are two screws that were missing from the contents of the package, so that annoyed me. Then when I started to read the instructions I realized that I need the original frame to the top. You know the one we took off to put my last top on...the one that had some serious wear on the moving parts. So yeah, I didn't get that top on and Bill has to find the old frame and hope it still works.

Ohh and after all that Bill comes in and starts to work on my exhaust, which has always been a bit of a problem. Come to find out the reason for that is there is a gasket missing from the exhaust manifold i.e. it was never installed at the factory. So all the crap I've had to deal with in the past is a direct result of some slacker at the Jeep plant. Arrghh. Anyway I'm hoping Bill can fix that without major issues and my we can figure out my top situation and my Jeep can get back to being a decent vehicle for the time being instead of the ghetto mobile it seems to be at the moment.

Enough with the trials and tribulations. I started reading Chindi by Jack McDevitt tonight and it's pretty good so far. A nice sci-fi tip that's entertaining. It's about the human race finding extra terrestrial life in the distant future after we've mastered space travel. Wow that sounds really nerdy when I type it out like that. All Star Trekky and whatnot.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Speaking Halonics

Now listening to: Interpol

Another day of my wasted life. I did little that didn't involve Halo 2. I played online pretty much all afternoon and am finally starting to figure out some of the maps.

I did manage to spatula my ass off the couch and head over to Trip's. We then went to Danville for some dinner and lite shopping (really lite as I'm poor). Then we came back and hemmed and hawwed about what to do for a bit. Ultimately we decided to play the co-op campaign mode on Halo 2 and got about halfway through it. We may finish it tomorrow, depending on the degree of difficulty and how much time we will put in it.

I really need to get my Jeep in order tomorrow with the new top, as the drive home tonight was frightfully cold. Winter is afoot.

Ohh today I realized that I'm starting to develop a small amount of hypochondria. Last night I had cotton mouth and couldn't seem to shake it no matter how much water I drank. While I was laying in bed trying to go to sleep I started to think that cotton mouth is a symptom of diabetes, a disease which I'm a high risk for. So I worried about that.

Fortunately... "Fortunately" today I realized it was just my sinuses doing weird things. So it's just a minor ache and not the crisis I thought. I've done this a few times in the past and hope I can get over my fear of illness. I think a lot of it is spurred on by the fact that I have no medical insurance at this point and with Bush in office I'm pretty much S.O.L. as far as that goes.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Running riot

Now listening to: Ambient webradio again

Well I haven't written in the last coupla days because Halo 2 came out. On Monday night, Trip, Danny and myself went to Danville for the midnight sale at EBGames. In retrospect this was stupid. About 200 people were there for the game, and we were about midway through the line. Every type of nerd imaginable in waiting for the pinnacle of gaming. I was annoyed when I heard a couple of people blew off the line, went to Wal Mart, bought the game and came back to laugh at the line. Kind of annoying. Anyway after we got back, we didn't really play a lot and I ended up going home and going to sleep.

Today I got up and started playing for true. I probably logged in about eight hours of play today. It's an awesome game, but now I am suffering from an eye strain headache. I'm also trying to calm down after being shot about eleventy billion times online, the stress level can get high in an online shooter.

Tommorrow i may try to put down the controller and leave the house at some point. Just for some fresh air and whatnot.

Ohh the new top came in for my Jeep, so I may even try to puzzle that out. Or maybe not. I think bed is in order now as this headache is killing me.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Prepare yourself for a pride-obliterating bitch slap

Now listening to: more ambient webradio

So the Steelers really got it done today. Took the Eagles to the woodshed for real. Oh man I hope this isn't some brief flash in the pan. We're only halfway through the season, so I'm not getting too excited yet, even though we've already won more games than last season. Still a lot of crap can happen between now and the playoffs, so I'm gonna maintain my humilty and stay hopeful.

As I didn't get to watch the Steelers play, I watched about half of the Skins-Lions game (bleh) and then Corb and I went to see The Incredibles. That's right I saw it again, twice in one weekend and it was worth it. I still loved it.

After that we hit Trip's and played a little Halo, probably the last Halo we'll play for a while since tomorrow at midnight Halo 2 will descend from it's divine home and take all us sinners away from earthly cares. I'm giddy with anticipation. It's getting great reviews. Game rankings has it rated at 98.7% (Game rankings tallies all the reviews it can find and creates an aggregate score based on the average).

It is now very late and I am wearing down. I think I may go to bed and dream about the Master Chief coming to save my soul from the wicked Covenant Elites.

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Bubbling and heartfelt praise

Now listening to: Ambient webradio

So I had a really awesome day today. Normally I get kinda bummed out on my B-Day (feel free to check the archive to see last year's depression), but today I just said fuck it, I'm gonna enjoy myself. So Trip and I went to Greensboro and had lunch at the Green Valley Grill (or something like that) and it was nice.

We then went to see The Incredibles. OK I'm usually loathe to hand out the headcavingly orgasmic rating, because I think that it takes time for some things to prove their significance, give a brass ring to strive for (if you will). Sometimes a song or movie can wear thin after listening to it for a while or sometimes it can move into classic status by standing the test of time. So I'm restrained with the pinnacle of my rating system. That said, I give The Incredibles headcavingly orgasmic rating with no hesitation. It was over two hours of absolute wonder. Great story, beautiful animation, fantastic voice acting...it had it all.

There was one moment where I broke out into a full on smile in the theatre, not because it was a funny moment in the movie, but because I realized how much joy I was getting from the film. I may go see it again tomorrow (especially since the Fox station here will be broadcasting the godawful Lions-Skins game instead of the Eagles-Steelers matchup, but don't get me started on that). But do yourself a favor and see this movie, it's amazing.

Friday, November 05, 2004

The call of the road

Well I have decided what I'm going to do with my life. It took a lot of soul searching, but I now know my true calling. I'm gonna become a hobo. That's right, riding the rails, singing folk songs and huddling around a barrel fire. Sounds like the good life doesn't it. It possesses a very Kerouac feel that I yearn for. Now I just have to find a good hobo gig with a nice retirement package and dental.

Not much to report at the moment. I found a cool website that has live shows from a variety of bands posted for free downloading. I spent most of the afternoon looking for cool stuff on that. I then went to Trip's and spent some quality time playing with Bodie (his Boston terrier) and watching reality tv.

I then came home and read Krondor the Betrayal for a while. It's pretty good, but I get the feeling there are some books that precede this one. I expect having read those would make this more enjoyable. Still it's pretty good so far.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Wrongity wrong

Well my aunt fact checked me and I came up lacking. It turns out that the rabidly right wing George Allen is my senator, not Chuck Robb, so I proved my own dim bulb theory by being an idiot myself. She also pointed out that lawyers are good legislators because they understand how the system works. Which is a good point. Although one has to note that my aunt is, in fact, a lawyer. :P

I suppose my angst toward the system isn't really about lawyers holding the positions, that does actually make sense. My problem is that power corrupts, or as Frank Herbert pointed out "Power attracts the corruptible." Basically the people who work to get the power are exactly the ones who shouldn't have it.

My aunt also points out a number of flaws in Nick's list of presidential goodness, particularly concerning the environment. At this point I'm of the opinion that if we destroy the environment and can't survive it's no more that we deserve. It'll just be nature solving it's problems the hard way.

Distant and cold and a sight to behold

Now listening to: Elliot Smith (From the Basement)

Well in a moment of weakness I downloaded the new Elliot Smith album and it's really pretty good. It's so damn sad. Of course that makes sense, as he committed suicide a while back. Really it's probably not the best music for a depressed person to be listening to...or maybe it is, I dunno. It's really good so far, I'm giving it a foot massage. I found the line "Give me one reason not to do it" haunting.

I'm sick of playing fake poker, there are too many idiots online (and in general). I'm thinking of doing some reading, but I felt like writing so here is this bonus post. Not sure who it's a bonus for, but here it is nonetheless. I should be writing something else, but I'm not feeling focused enough for that.

I finished reading Nicholson Baker's A Box of Matches today and it was pretty good. Really a nice observational book that dealt with quiet personal moments. I'd say +1 chainmail. I think I'm gonna dive back into the worlds of fantasy for a bit with some more Raymond Feist I got at the library.

I watched the movie Human Nature, directed by Michel Gondry and written by Charlie Kaufman. It was ok, but not what I have come to expect from those two. I also think it was tainted by a lackluster performance from Patricia Arquette, who I don't think is a good actress. Hot, but not really talented. Anyway I'm saying Meh. I got Cool Hand Luke in the mail today, so I am gonna finally take that off my never seen list.

I'm also gonna go start practicing for the Praxis test at the library tomorrow night. I've just got to do something and not be a total layabout (although I'm pretty good at it).

crying uncle...but mostly just crying

I officially don't believe in democracy. I don't believe in the "common man," even possibly being one of them. This all stems from my belief in only one absolute in this life and that absolute is that people are stupid. I don't have a good answer to what a better form of government is, but I really don't think people are capable of ruling themselves. We don't really believe in the common man as a nation, if we did we wouldn't always be electing the rich.

What makes me say these awful anti-American way of life things? Well for one Bush was elected...but enough of that. Another is that noone cares about government for the majority of the time. Sure when I big election comes round everyone gets fired up and talks about how important it is to vote and all that, but really who pays attention to all those "minor elections" like congressmen or senators. Not many, hell I'm guilty of it too. If you look at the people we end up voting for, it's just scary. There is not a worse group of people on the face of the earth. All snake oil salesmen, who hone their skills in courts of law until they are able to slime their way into writing those laws, most of which they write merely to look like they are doing something. Also they pass laws without ever reading what's in them...that's how the "Patriot Act" slid through in the first place.

Noone knows what their congressmen do. Hell you ask half the nation who their senators are and they can't tell you. (Mine are John Warner, who I have met, and Chuck Robb, to answer the inevitable question.) Anyway I've found our representative government to be quite lacking and am so fed up with politics and thinking about the election that I can barely stand it.

Nick posted a long list of positives that the Bush administration has accomplished. Sure there are a coupla things I've never heard of, but if you look at the fine print a lot of those things are "goals" and distortions. Bush has went on and on about how a president doesn't have control over the economy, but now his efforts have brought growth some how. He talks about goals for the environment and that's great. But if you don't do anything about it then who cares. My goal is to have people in every state that ends with the letter A wear green hats on the third Tuesday of every third month. Of course I have no way to enforce this so who cares what my goals are.

Anyway, congrats to all the Bush fans out there. You're ideals of God, guns and gays win over sane discourse. I'm done with politics for the moment, I feel ill everytime it comes into my mind. I'm gonna try to think about something else...maybe some philosophical ideas or maybe stupid video games. Or maybe I'll just start drinking and hoping that helps numb my addled mind.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

unbelievable

I feel ill and apathetic. I had problems falling asleep again and I still can't believe that over half of American believes Bush is a good president. I really don't understand. I think today I'm not gonna do much at all besides try to process this information. I'm at a loss for words.

I can't take anymore

Well it's election night and while I tried to avoid keeping up with it, I finally succumbed and am dissappointed with what I've seen. It seems like Bush is gonna win and I'll be forced to deal with another four years of this moron and an administration that feels like it doesn't have to answer to anyone. I suppose America gets what it deserves. It seems like there is just this shift toward intolerent Republicans who want to force their religion on everyone across the board.

Anyway I did get a lot done today. My dad got new tires put on my Jeep, which was sweet. I went to cast my superfluous vote and then hit the DMV. My theory that it's better to go in the afternoon around 3 or 4 proved to be true and I was in and out in 20 minutes. I aced the driver's test and realized that I put way too much worry into it. I also ordered a new top for the Jeep, so it may be back to being a decent vehicle for a while once I get that on it.

I hit Trip's and we watched the Fellowship of the Ring and then he went into full political watching. I gave up and left, but ended up watching that crap myself. Well I flipped between watching that and playing Burnout 3. And now I'm bummed about the presidential debacle. I want to rant and just shake people and ask them what their problem is. I suppose the upside is that our military is stretched too far to start a new war now. But maybe they'll start drafting people now...why not? Just tell the church goers it's god's will and they'll circle the wagons and get it passed.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Negation is their God

I just read a really cool article at Salon about one of my favorite philosophers, Albert Camus. He's considered an existentialist by most, but never liked the monikor himself. I always liked his books and would advise anyone with metaphysical questions to read them. The article does a good job of synopsizing (Is that a word?) his life and work in brief.

We won't get fooled again!

Now listening to: A mix cd that came with Wired magazine

Well it was one year ago today that I started this humble blog. While not managing to update every day I've stayed rather dedicated to it, despite my mundane life. I did kind of a ponderous thing for my 300th post so I'll keep this one less introspective for the moment.

Tomorrow is the day when the future of our nation is decided and everyone's hopes are realized or crushed. I have quite a bit to accomplish tomorrow, not the least of which is casting my utterly superfluous vote. I know Puff Daddy says Vote or Die, but in a Republican stronghold state, my liberal voting tends to get ignored in a big way (thanks electoral college). But I'm voting anyway, because that way if my guy loses I can bitch about it. Not that I wouldn't bitch anyway, but this way it is more defensible.

I also have to take the driver's written test to renew my license, as I've said before. That means I need to finish reading the driver's manual before I leave the house. I may also try to get a haircut and completely deplete my discretionary income for the week. I also need to apply for a coupla teaching jobs that are open. Who knows I could have a job in a few weeks.

Not sure how I'm gonna spend tomorrow. I can't just watch tv, since every second will be dedicated to election coverage. I just want to find out who won tomorrow night, not follow the minute to minute polling. I may just try to watch some movies and play games until after midnight.

Ohh, tonight I went to see Saw with Trip. It was ok, had some cool moments, but nothing spectacular. You know I really wanted Seven, but this was more like four. I'm giving it a +1 chainmail rating, but I'm still not really sure how I feel about it. It could be lower than that, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

Monday, November 01, 2004

Assisted Living Dracula

So it was a Happy Halloween for me. The Steelers tossed New England a beating, ending their 21 game winning streak. The Eagles beat the Ravens (giving the Steelers a two-game cushion in the AFC North) and the Redskins lost. Normally I don't care that much about the Skins, but since 1938 the Skins losing their final home game before the presidential election means that the incumbent loses. So nobody was rooting for Green Bay more than I was today.

After all that football, Corb picked me up and we headed to Trip's for a little Halo action (gotta hone my skills before Nov. 9). That was fun. After a short stint there we returned home and I watched football highlights, Celebrity Poker Showdown and Aqua Teen Hunger Force for the rest of the evening. It was good to see Neil Patrick Harris win at poker. You know I'm down with the NPH.

Oh I also watched this show on the best scary movie moments on Bravo. Some cool stuff there. I've been on a horror kick lately, so it fit right in. Anyway it's late and I am bound for the sheets.

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Consumerism on Devil's Night

Man am I tired. Last night I had some trouble falling asleep. This is a rarity, but it happened for one reason or another. Then just as I was starting to drift off into slumber, my downstairs neighbors roll in with the base. They have a LOUD conversation outside and then, the capper, they turned up 102 Jamz. This was at 5:30 a.m. Things finally quieted down around 6 a.m. and I fell asleep a little later. Only to be plagued by bad dreams all night. So that sucked.

Having told Trip I would go with him to G-Boro at a decent hour I got up around 11:30 a.m. feeling like crap. So there was that. For about half the day in G-Boro I felt like ass, but I finally came out of it around 5 p.m. I suppose.

The reason for our expedition was that Trip was planning to buy a new tv and he did. He went crazy 8 bonkers with his new credit card and got a sweet ass 44-inch Zenith HD LCD screen that has a fantabulous picture. I'm officially jealous. He also picked up all the high falootin' (that's just for Abby) cables and a new DVD player to top it off. So he was in electronics nirvana. Of course this meant I spent half the day wandering around electronics departments bored while he looked, but I suppose it could have been worse.

To fit his monstrous tv into his Tracker, we had to put the top down for the ride home. Fortunately today was the warmest day we've had in a while, so I didn't freeze my nads off.

Feeling in the Halloween spirit I picked up a couple of classic zombie movies, Evil Dead 2 and the original Dawn of the Dead. Both of these are timeless classics in the rotting undead genre. Anyway I'm going to go hit my pillow with extreme prejudice and be up and focused for the Steelers-Patriots game tomorrow.

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Heaven ain't close in a place like this

Now listening to: The Killers

So today was the typical Friday for me these days. I slept late (the sound of rain outside making my slumber all the more pleasureable). When I finally rousted I fiddled online for a bit then prepared for the trek to Trip's.

As I was leaving I got into a political discussion with my mom, who is going to vote for Bush. I really don't understand why and asked her what Bush had done to merit her voting for him. She replied that she wouldn't vote for "a damn liberal" and I was amazed. When I asked her to give me some positives she saw in Bush she said he married Laura Bush. (She has a thing against Theresa Heinz for some reason I haven't fathomed yet). She also mentioned how Kerry applied for his own purple hearts. When I commented on how neither of those things had anything to governing a nation, she just laughed.

It seems like Bush supporters never have hard reasons for voting for him, it's always some intangible thing or something they don't like about his opponent. Then when you try to give them facts about how horrible the Bush administration is, they never have anything to say, they just refuse to acknowledge it. I find it frustrating.

Anyway Trip and I grabbed dinner at El Parrel and then went to his pad, hooked up with Corb and played Xmen Legends and Halo. After Corb bailed, Trip and I played Mortal Kombat chess to get even more name brand games in.

Ohh yeah, last night I found out that this online game Guild Wars was free for the next coupla days and so I gave it a try and it's ok. It's a little hard to figure out at first, but it's fun. It reminds me of playing Diablo, except it's a persistent online world. If you can try it out, I say go for it.

Friday, October 29, 2004

Is it necrophilia if they're undead?

Now listening to: Wilco

So today was rainy and as such, I couldn't drag my ass out of bed. So I didn't go back to Kev's today, perhaps tomorrow. Instead I watched the movie Cronos, which was ok, somewhere in the Meh. to +1 chainmail range. I then scrambled around town, hitting the bank and stopping by the DMV for a drivers guide. This is so I can pass the stupid license renewal test I have to take. I'm nervous that I'll fail and get a ticket on the way home, that seems to be the type of luck I've had this year.

I also hit the library and checked out a few books to read (cost effective). After all that I picked up some pizza and headed to Trip's and we watched the Dawn of the Dead remake. It was pretty good I suppose (+1 chainmail), but didn't hold a candle to the original George Romero film (foot massage). That's partly me being a snob and partly the movie not having anywhere near the same level of social commentary. Also I have to say that I prefer slower, campy zombie to the fast killing machines in the new movies. I like goofy zombies that even I can outrun, what can I say? I also like it when zombies yell "BRAINS!!!" just cause it makes me laugh.

Anyway from there we watched The Apprentice, which was the same as ever. I'm scared by how quickly I have taken to the show tho...more reality tv infesting my brain is bad. Still I enjoy how The Donald always works his big pimping shots in. The plane flying him in and the limo rolling around the city. It's so nouveau riche.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

A smile makes all the difference

Now listening to: Fugazi

Haven't posted in a couple of days because Blogger didn't want to play. Some problems with the system I suppose, not really sure. Anyway I actually did something out of the ordinary today, so that's good. I went to Kevin's new house. He and Courtney just bought it and it is really nice. Since Kev is a loyal reader I am required to say this even if it isn't true, but in this case it definitely is true. Looks like a nice community, the house is quite nice, both inside and out. Seems like a good place to have a family...if you're into that sort of thing.

Anyway we had a good day tooling around and hanging out. Got to spend some quality time at Lowe's and Walmart. Big fun. We ended up grabbing Mexican food and heading back to the homestead to Courtney and little Eve.

Ok I think I've made my anti-child stance clear in the past. I'm simply not a fan for the most part. But I have to admit, when I was saying goodbye to Eve and playing with her a bit and she smiled it was really cool. I'm not saying that I have any desire to ever have kids, but that smile made me realize that having a kid could have its perks. But don't go thinking I'm a "big softie" as Kev called me, I'm still a hardcore asshole deep down and I'm not gonna let anyone forget it.

Anyway I drove home through the spitting rain and it wasn't really that bad, despite the horrible condition of my Jeep's top. I enjoyed the dissonant strains of Sonic Youth's oddly tuned guitars. Once home I watched the usual tv, caught the new South Park and then watched a bit of the new reality show cartoon on Comedy Central, I think it's Drawn In or something. It was ok...I might give it one more shot just for the pig character who kept crapping in odd things (like a cantalope and a sombrero), but it wasn't that great.

I also watched the last coupla innings of the World Series, just so I can say I saw history in the making. The Red Sox curse is finally over...so I can stop hearing about it. Now if we can only get this stupid election in the books. I saw Jesse Jackson on The Daily Show talking about voter registration scandals and I just know it's gonna be ugly after this election.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

That's why they call him The Godfather

Now listening to: P.J. Harvey

Basically all I did today was watch a bit of tv and sleep. That's the big plan, to completely kill entire days doing nothing of note.

I did watch Old School with Trip again. Man is that movie great. I love Vince Vaughn's speech pattern...it just makes for the funny. After that we watched some of the Broncos-Bengals game, which was ok. Lots of turnovers. But honestly I don't give a crap about either team really, so I lost interest.

Since I came home all I've done is screwed around on the internet and played poker. Tonight was a night that proves variance happens to everyone. I know I'm playing poker with no real consequences and so I am used to being beat by people who shouldn't be in the hand and adjust my play as such. However tonight I felt I was playing solid hands and still losing to miracle starting hands, that you can't anticipate. Kinda sucks, but hey I haven't really lost anything. It's just irritating.

Monday, October 25, 2004

Wishful thinking

So today was exciting. I woke up early and chartered a flight to Nepal. While there I caught a helicopter to the basecamp of a group preparing to climb Mt. Everest. I then connected with one of the supermodels climbing the mountain. I'm typing this up from her laptop with satellite feed internet and we're sipping champagne.

Yeah I know...that's just sad. My day was actually the exact opposite. I sat on the couch and watched football and tv all day long. I get tired of typing up the same crap and thought I'd spice things up a bit.

Anyway nothing of note went on today. Well actually the Dolphins pulled off a victory, so here's a shout out to Nick. He's gotta be feeling good this week. I had to suffer through a week without the Steelers playing.

Oh another downside, there were no jobs worth applying for in the papers this weekend. So now I have to scramble to find some crap to apply for. Gonna be a great week.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

You're so off you're on

Now listening to: Sebadoh (Bakesale)

So Trip, Corb and I went to see Friday Night Lights tonight in Danville. It was really good, particularly if you like football. I thought it was well acted, not heavy handed with the message action and the editing was very visceral. It really felt like you were on the field. I had read the book, which naturally has more depth, and thought it was good and this movie does a nice job of keeping the heart of the book intact.

After that it was dinner at Red Lobster and back home for some Halo action. Trip had to get up early to park cars for the race so we called in a night around 10:30. I came home and watched some football highlights and then The Venture Bros. (which is one of my fav. things on tv these days.

Later on I watched this cool thing on CSPAN with Jon Stewart answering questions. Gotta love that guy, he's just the man. My Aunt Yvonne sent me a cool article about him from the Washington Post and I'd link to it if it weren't a registration site. Who wants to sign up for all that crap? My faithful reader..I think not. I'll email it to you if you ask. He was awesome on Crossfire.

Anyway now I'm fiddling around the net and playing poker for play money. I've been focusing on playing Omaha and 7-card stud, just for variety. Plus I can usually own the play money games at hold 'em. Not that I'm cocky, it's just those people have no idea how to play for real. Plus I like trying to figure out different games. Just makes it more interesting. Tomorrow should be a lazy day of watching football and perhaps watching a movie or two.