Random Thing

Couldn't think of a good title. Man, what a rough night. Seriously, wanted to get a good night's sleep cause I had to work from 9-1 today, then drive to Greensboro, NC this afternoon. But alas, it was not to be.

First, I needed to update my iPod with fresh tunes and playlist for the journey. Unfortunately, somehow my iTunes library file got deleted! Luckily, I had one that was about a month old, plus all my songs and movies backed up, so it only took about half an hour to get everything back on track. But still, that's really annoying. And the internet connection at the house is being really slow and obnoxious.

Second, Charles has been watching Firefly. I told him MONTHS ago, perhaps even YEARS, that it was a great show and he should watch it, but no. I think he finally saw Serenity a couple months ago, and liked it, and so I pushed the TV series again, and finally he said 'oh, its all the same people...ok'. Strange boy. And he LOVES it. Who was right? I did warn him about post-Firefly 'no new episode' depression. Which he now has. But you can't, as a fan, know that there's Firefly playing in the house and not at least stop by for a bit.

Third, I got addicted to Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series. For those of you not familiar with the original, its an anime show about a card game. Some brilliant mind with a lot of free time has taken each episode, in order, and made 5 minute digest versions that completely make fun of the original and are HILARIOUS. So I was watching a bunch of those. Do a search on YouTube if you are interested. Or really bored.

Fourth, the stupid cat. I don't know WHO opened my hall doorway in the middle of the night, but there I was sleeping, when I woke up to a cat sleeping on my chest, making it hard to breathe. It was like having fuzzy, purring asthma. Why do they INSIST on sleeping as close to your head as possible? Do they not realize that people have to breathe? That and she smacked me in the face with her little paw whenever I moved. So I chucked her out the door.

Anyway, I'm a little tired today. Day 11 of giving up red meat and sweets for Lent. Maybe that's making me cranky. Mom making chocolate chip cookies yesterday didn't help, either.

The good news is that I get to see Behtia today. We're meeting to get caught up on wedding plans, and I'm going to fill out my half of our apartment application. Sweet! New apartment! Still trying to puzzle out how I'm going to get 2 tons of books (seriously, 2 tons) as well as all my other stuff down there.

More next week, as well as an apartment/wedding update if I can.

Porkchop Sandwiches
Hey links are working! This, if I haven't posted it already, is a GI Joe PSA spoof that I thought was a stitch.

Slaying Monsters

Last night the computer got a virus. Normally I wouldn't care about little insignificant spyware crap, but it was messing with my home internet page and creating pop-ups and all manner of annoyance. Time to hitch up my nerd pants and brandish the 3.5 floppy disk of wyrm slaying! Oh yes. It was awesome. This day and age its easy to forget the DOS commands and 16-bit graphics of the computers of old; now only encountered when you have to perform surgery on your software. The good news is that after using 'safe mode' and doing some DOS commanding and running a reliable anti-virus, I hath slain 16 virii that were lurking or piggybacking or whatever. It was awesome. Except that it was about 20 degrees where the computer is in the house. Makes your victory dance more of a blanket-covered shuffle at that temperature.

Today I'm at work, and its slow, but there's still stuff to do. Am updating my resume (I built it in Adobe InDesign, so it looks awesome. Cause it just doesn't do to have a boring looking resume when you design print items for a living) and will soon be sending it down to the nether realms of ATL. I've also decided that I can make fun of Atlanta, and soon the south in general, since I am going to get married and live there. I'm also looking for Confederate flag decals for my Honda.

Speaking of which, I am going to sell some coin and other historic moneys that I had collected later this week...keep your fingers crossed that I get a good deal. I am expecting around $100 or so for the lot. It would be all coinage, but I have a $10 bill from the CSA (I got it as a gift). I asked Behtia if the money's still good down there, but she said probably not. And that we probably wouldn't want to associate with the persons who WOULD accept it as legal tender. So I'll see what I can get for it at the coin shop.

Transmission ends.

Guitar Heroes & Tuxedos

This is an excerpt from an email I sent to Behtia describing the joys of tux hunting online that I found amusing, so thought I'd share it:

...a couple of the website names you'd expect, like tuxedos.com, finetuxedos.com, etuxedo.com; but then you divide into 3 categories: gangsta lame, just plain weird, and cutesy lame. Gangsta lame gives you sites like: tuxx.com (like its some kind of edgy thing), cheaptux.com (for the edgy on a budget), and awesometuxedo.com (its AWESOME!). Then the cutesy lame ones take on names like: tuxedojunction.com (I wonder if they have a tux with overalls?), friartux.com (clever, actually, but makes the tuxes seem stodgy and portly), and suityourself.com (ah, i get it, cause a tux is a SUIT and YOURSELF is wearing it ha ha ha...mmm...yeah...). Then there's just plain weird. Like tuxgear.com (sounds ok to start out, but the fact that they use the word GEAR makes it seem like you're girding your loins for battle or something, not renting a suit), or hickeyfreeman.com (its the guy's name, fine, but seriously, you HAD to go with that name for your STORE, too? Isn't the point of wearing a tux to GET hickeys? To be a NOT hickey-free man? Bad call), and tuxedopro.com (not like all those amateur tuxedos...?).

Also being shared today is the fact that Charles, William, and I have formed a band called 'Brothers Grimm' on Rock Band. I, of course, am lead guitar. Its awesome though, cause our little generated characters resemble us! I'm going to try and extract a picture of this somehow, and will post it here or on facebook when I do. We're also on the cusp of embarking on our World Tour. Oh yes. To bring the dulcet tones, hot beats, and smooth licks of the 'Brothers Grimm' to the masses. In a related note, after playing for several hours yesterday, I dreamed I was upstaging Clapton at a children's concert. It was awesome.

Aaaaaand today I'm bored at work. Surprise surprise. Hopefully we get out early, though. I could use the extra time off. Also, I finished my taxes! First time I've ever had them done more than 2-3 days in advance of April 15. Mostly I did them because I'm getting a good chunk o' change back from Uncle Sam. I know it was my money to begin with, but it still feels like free money from the government. I almost feel worthy of some nerd glasses and a blazer with question marks all over it like that crazy man from the infomercials.

So here's a question. Does it make more sense to do 45 seconds worth of work, or to walk over, explain it (2 or 3 times, as apparently I'm stupid...never mind that I've been doing this longer than they've been out of MIDDLE school), go back and sit down, then wait for ME to do 45 seconds worth of work, and then have to review it again anyway? I estimate it takes a total of 4-5 TIMES as long to do it that way. Am I learning anything from it? No, I just transposed 2 letters in one word of one line of one paragraph of text that measures less than an inch square in a page that's more than a foot wide. It HAPPENS. And it will probably happen again. This company is really dumb sometimes. Or maybe its just the people in it, I don't know. To me, and I know this is wacky, it seems logical to generate as little work as possible to achieve the result. Yeah, I could go home today by way of Ocean City, but that doesn't mean I SHOULD. Cause its a waste.

And now its time to get something to eat! Farewell.

Lookin' Snazzy

Well, since last Saturday, when I posted because I was extremely bored, not a lot has happened, since I am STILL at work, and STILL extremely bored. I have discovered some fun new things online, and have done some small steps in the greater progression of life, however, and will regale you with the tales of such.

So this week continues the 'where to have the wedding' discussions. Looks like it will probably be in the Atlanta area. I know, I know, those of you who are in the greater DC metro area are like 'nooooo!' but please be aware that I DID ask, I HAVE put my two cents in, but I DO want my bride to be happy, and she and the mother-in-law want to have it down there for ease of wedding preparations. No word as to specific location yet. Plus it'll be a good excuse to road trip, (don't speed from Charlotte, NC to Gaffney, SC. The cops are quite vigilant in that area. Also, you can check out the Atlanta Aquarium whilst you are visiting, which is really neat. On par with Baltimore, in fact.

I've also been looking at tuxedos. I know at least some of you will expect that I get a bizarre tux. And I might. There are some VERY nice black velvet pirate coats out there. And I found some Victorian suits (http://www.gentlemansemporium.com for those looking for similar. Good prices, good product)that are neat. I really like a longer coat, and perhaps a 'mandarin collar' option is good too. No bowties. No cummerbunds. I'm thinking monocles might make an appearance, but that really depends on the tux style.

What else is going on...my health is good, I've been eating my citrus. Mmm...Vitamin C...umm...just finished watching The Office Season 3 on my iPod (whom I am naming 'Pequod', for several reasons. One, its got a similar sound to 'iPod', is the name of the ship in Moby Dick, a story about a white whale, and what do whales travel in? Pods! Thirdly, the word Pequod is named after an early American Indian tribe, the Pequot, which translates as 'The Destroyers', which is just cool and will intimidate all the other iPods.) and am now looking for something else to watch. This writer's strike thing REALLY needs to end. The good news is, I got all my iTunes material transferred to my portable hard drive. This was an issue at first because our computer is like, 8 years old and the USB ports were ancient and slow. But I used up all my Tech Geek Mojo and went to Staples, bought a PCI USB 2.0 card, which turned out to be the RIGHT ONE, and got it installed and working on my FIRST TRY. There was a little rush of geeky joy, accompanied by the 'new tech working' jig.

Also, I beat Rock Band. I am a ROCK LEGEND. Just thought I'd share. I have a couple links I wanted to send out too, but blogger.com is being capricious and isn't allowing me to insert links. Still, I'll paste them in below.

This is a 30-second spot combining Toyota and World of Warcraft. Its a stitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2_ueohYRhU

George Lucas in Love. Classic fan film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STRja-ABexU

Peace out. Colbert for President '08!