The Bloggest Loser

2006-11-28T14:16:00.001-08:00

Oh shit.

2006-04-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

Israel will be annihilated.

Some really bad days are coming. Really bad.

How man Generals does it take?

2006-04-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

12 retired U.S. Generals are calling for Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld to resign. They claim that he is basically an arrogant prick who didn't listent to a word anyone else said about how to approach the military operations in Iraq.

These are Generals that fought in Iraq...Generals. Generals are the upper-eschelon of military, to be greatly respected, and according to Bush, the guys to listen to when it comes to military decisions. Now it looks like Bush didn't listen to them, instead he listened to Rumsfeld, who didn't listen to them either. Bush is supporting Rumsfeld, for now at least.

I'm really curious to see how the Right wing machine spins this. Would they go after 12 retired U.S. Generals? I can't imagine how that would work, since they've basically been saying anyone speaking out against the military is unpatriotic for the past 4 years. They can't really go after Rumsfeld since he's one of the big dogs. My guess is that they don't really talk about it unless it gets a lot more attention, and then they'll use the "difference of opinion" argument when talking about the Generals and Rumsfeld.

Okay, this guy is a tool.

2006-04-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

Following up on my previous post, I found This opinion piece.

He talks about how America is forgetting about what happened on 9-11, and how we can't ignore what happens when we are complacent. He accuses the media of purposefully not showing 9-11 footage. Should we just show the footage everyday, no matter what the news for that day was regarding? Maybe we should have a 24 hour news station devoted to just playing 9-11 footage.

After the attacks, and the weeks following we were subjected to those images on a daily basis. We were told to go about our lives, if we didn't go about our lives then "The terrorists have won." Remember that phrase? If we acted scared, and allowed ourselves to be motivated by that fear, then the terrorists who committed the act of violence against us would have achieved a primary goal.

Now, 4 and a half years later this guy is telling us that by actually moving on with our lives we are forgetting how scary the world is. We are ignoring the fact that we could be attacked again tomorrow. We should go to a movie theater to be reminded of how scary things can be.

What a douchebag.

"During World War II, moviegoers were constantly treated to newsreels depicting the damage at Pearl Harbor, along with current events on both the Pacific and European fronts. Hollywood churned out hundreds of World War II pictures, the vast majority pushing for further American involvement in defeating Germany and Japan and celebrating the heroism of men and women involved in the war effort."

There is a big difference between how information was distributed back in the first half of the 20th century and how we get information today. I read this guys wonderful article on the Internet. The same Internet where a Google search will bring up a million articles, videos, and photographs pertaining to 9-11. We haven't forgotten, we've just decided not to live in constant fear. We don't need Hollywood to save us from complacency, and we certainly don't need some third rate op-ed writer to tell us how we should react to a film depicting the events of that day.

We're still finding body parts from that day

AND

We are currently deciding on the death penalty for a terrorist involved in 9/11

How exactly have we forgotten?

I don't know about you, but I'm not ready

2006-04-07T08:22:00.000-07:00

I am not ready to watch a film about 9/11. I'm not ready to watch Hollywood try to make a buck off people who aren't even 5 years dead.

United 93 is coming. A movie about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11/01.

And the Families of Flight 93, Inc., an association formed by families of those who died, recently announced that the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania will receive 10 percent of all box office revenue collected from the first three days of the North American release of the movie.

The first three days? Why not donate 10% of the entire gross? That strikes me as extremely odd, and almost reaks of a marketing ploy to get people in the seats those first three days. I'd rather just donate the entire cost of a ticket to the charity and not have to sit through a movie that will upset me.

Maybe the movie is great. Maybe it handles the situation with tact, and stays true to what we actually know (very little) about what happened on that plane. Still I don't want to see it, and I don't want to see Oliver Stone's upcoming "World Trade Center" movie either. I know how they end.

The greatest computer in the world

2006-04-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Apple's new Boot Camp software, I have created a small Windows partition so I can play some games. I've installed Oblivion and it's running great. The timing of this release couldn't be better. I was about to shell out for a 360 just so I could play Oblivion, now all I had to do was buy the PC version.

She's aged well.

2006-03-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

I don't have much interest in seeing Basic Instinct 2, but I'm blown away by how good Sharon Stone looks. I wonder if she's had work done.

Ever wonder what tripping on acid is like?

2006-03-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

Watch this

Crazy, cool, crazy, whoa.

Thank you Screenhead

This is just nuts

2006-03-29T13:38:00.000-08:00

Debra Maggart

Debra Maggart says that gay couples may want to adopt children to sexually molest them. She says they shouldn't be allowed to adopt for this reason.

Seriously? Seriously, she said this. It's one thing to say Homosexuals can't get married, but to say that they can't be loving parents of an adopted child is just fucked up beyond belief. There are more foster parents out there that abuse their foster children than there are gay couples looking to molest a child. It's insane that republicans are against children being adopted. Not only are the adoption requirements so off the charts in the U.S.A that many heterosexual couples find it easier to go overseas to get a child, but now they want to eliminate homosexual couples for whom adoption is the most practical way for them to start a family. Now they'll need to go overseas and adopt, and if they are smart maybe they'll stay overseas to raise their family since it's obvious that this country isn't getting any smarter.

Someone needs to wake this bitch up to the realities of the world.

Visit her website and let her know she's a disgrace.

Julian Beever

2006-03-27T12:44:00.000-08:00

I know everyone and their mother has gotten an email with this guy's sidewalk art in them, but this one is just too damn cool not to post here.

Hasta La Vista

2006-03-22T06:56:00.000-08:00

Consumer version delayed until early 2007

Microsoft is extremely lucky that there isn't another serious competitor in the OS market, because I think 6 years between consumer OS updates is too long. They just got around to updating Internet Explorer to a beta version of 7, which finally includes some features that third party browsers have been sporting for years.

Since most people equate computers to Windows I don't think there will ever be a serious competitor to Microsoft in the OS field, and unfortunately that means that they can take their time to improve their product. Without competition they have no incentive to work faster.

Japan wins

2006-03-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

What has happened to the dominance of the United States in the sporting world? Our team didn't even make it to the semi-finals of the sport that we created, leaving Japan and Cuba left to duke it out in the World Baseball Championship. Our Olympic basketball team comprised of the best the NBA had to offer took home the bronze in the last Olympic games. In the most popular sport in the world the United States is barely a blip on the radar. When I was growing up the U.S.A was the best at just about everything, and now it seems like we're getting passed by in so many ways. In the grand scheme of things sports isn't such a big deal, but it's education, economy, and lifestyles. Even South Africa is allowing gay marriage. We're sending jobs overseas in record numbers, and we're importing more and more products that could be manufactured here. I don't think the rest of the world really looks to us as an example anymore, and that's incredibly sad.

I guess we're still the best snowboarders in the world. Go us!

Why I love the Internet

2006-03-21T07:54:00.000-08:00

Caution, not safe for work if you are prone to fits of laughter.

Purple haired freak photo chop

Mac

2006-03-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

So, I've been using Macs for a little over a month now, and I have to say that unless Windows really steps up their game, I'm not going back to the PC as my primary computer. The Mac is just better. My experience in learning OS X, and transitioning from Windows has been extremely pleasant. I'm not a Microsoft hater, far from it, it's a Windows world, and as a result I have Microsoft Office installed on both Macs. Office is better than iWork (Apple's offering). I've even encountered a few websites that don't like the Mac OS, and that's frustrating, but it's a price I'm willing to pay for the ease of use I'm getting from the Macs. I've still got an older Windows laptop that I'm keeping around for things that absolutely need Windows.

My MacBook and my Mac Mini are networked, and it was the easiest set up I've ever done. I selected "Share" on both computers and within 20 seconds all of my wife's iTunes stuff appeared on my laptop iTunes. A lot of the stuff you can do with a Mac you can do with third party apps on PC's, but it's nice to have it built in. The iLife utilities really are all they've been made out to be. Web design, music creation, movies, DVD's, and photos are all handled with an intuitive interface that generates some damn impressive results.

My main complaint about the Mac would have to be the "DotMac" service. DotMac is a suite of online utilities that you can use to synch up information, store files online, and host web content. You also get a @mac.com email address with it. The service costs $99 a year, and it's really weak. When Google is giving away almost 3 gigs of storage for nothing, I should be getting at least that much for my $99. With DotMac I have a gig of storage to split between my email, my web content, and my online file storage. For free I could host photos on Flickr, post on Blogger, and store files on Gmail using Gmail Space. It just seems like a waste of money, and if it weren't for the seamless integration into the OS and the iLife utilities I wouldn't keep it.

Windows Vista is going to pretty much be OS X on a PC, and I feel like I'm already there. I can't wait to see what Mac comes up with for their next major OS release.

Does Bush think soldiers grow on trees?

2006-03-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Bush hasn't learned much from this whole Iraq affair. He still thinks pre-emptive strikes are the way to go, and he listed a bunch of countries that may be on a hit list, including Iran, North Korea, and Russia. I'm in total shock that this cowboy act Bush has is still going on. He's wasted more money, more human life, and more resources than any president in the past 30 years, and he's now saying that he has no problem with upping the ante with any other country that feels squirrely.

Bush and pre-emptive strikes

Starforce Vs. Stardock

2006-03-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

Star Force Copy Protection
Stardock...Makers of Galactic Civilization II

An employee of Starforce posted a link to an illegal Warez download of Stardock's game "Galactic Civilization II". The employee posted the link because in his mind, Stardock was just begging to have their stuff pirated. If they didn't want their stuff pirated they would have put some form of copy protection on the disk (probably Starforce).

Sounds a little like the mafia with the whole "protection money" racket. Either you allow us to copy protect your software, or we'll make sure that we get it out to as many people as we can, since you obviously don't care about it being pirated.

Tycho over at Penny Arcade has a much more intelligent and well versed post about said subject that I will now direct you to. I pretty much agree with the entire post.

Bitter much?

2006-03-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

The author of the short story that was adapted into the motion picture "Brokeback Mountain" has written a letter, basically saying that "Crash" shouldn't have won best picture at the Academy Awards.

Scathing letter

Here's an excerpt:

Rumour has it that Lionsgate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of Trash _ excuse me _ Crash a few weeks before the ballot deadline," Proulx writes.

God forbid the people who make their movies want the Academy members to actually watch the films before they make a judgement on who to vote for. I'm sure the Academy received copies of all the films nominated for best picture, and if they didn't, then the producers of those movies weren't doing their jobs.

Google Stuff

2006-03-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Google is going to court because it doesn't want to release search queries to the government. The government wants to take a sampling of Google's queries and run them back through the search engine to see the results. So, essentially, Google gives them 1000 random queries, someone in the government runs the queries back through Google, and checks the results? Does this seem like a tremendous waste of time to anyone else? If you want to know what shows up in searches, can't the government come up with it's own queries? And just because someone searches for something, that doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to implicate the searcher as a criminal. I've searched for all kinds of crazy shit on Google, just to see what comes up. I've read about how to make a dirty bomb, I've read about terror cells, and other assorted stuff. What would the government do with that information? I can't see a single benefit to having these search queries from any search engine, not just Google. It's a way to make it seem like the government is doing something when they really aren't.

If you really want to know what people are searching for, check this link out. It's a search voyeur, and it's going to blow your mind when you see what people are searching for on the net.

Now, lest you think Google is a bunch of great guys by not giving their queries to the government (MSN, Yahoo, and others have granted the request, but did not provide any personal information about who performed the searches), I think this defiance is more of a attention thing, making them out to be freedom fighters or something. I love Google, and their tools are great, but they did cave in when the Chinese government asked them to filter their results to make them more communist friendly. Sounds a lot like what good old Rupert Murdoch did when the Communist regime didn't like some of the materials being broadcast over Murdoch's satellite television service. Rupert blocked access to any content the Chinese government found objectionable. China is the largest untapped market in the world, who cares if the people are no more than pawns.

That being said, Google has also just release an interactive map of Mars. Check it out HERE.

Interactive Earth and Mars down, 7 more planets to go. I for one give Google about 6 years to get the rest of them.

Son of a bitch

2006-03-14T07:07:00.000-08:00

24 Killed off Tony last night. I was utterly shocked. So far David Palmer, Michelle Dessler, Edgar Styles, and now Tony have all been killed this season. WTF writers? Seriously, you're starting to piss me off.

I really like the show, it's been one of my favorites since it first aired, but it's getting really draining to watch it. The action stuff is great, even when the plots are thin, but the killing of all these characters we've come to enjoy as viewers is just fucking crazy. Tony and Michelle reunited last season, why couldn't they walk off into the sunset? Why'd they need to be brought back only to be killed? Shock value, plain and simple. It's a way to tell the audience that nobody is safe...but now there are no characters left to care about besides Jack, maybe Chloe.
Rumor has it that the next season will take place in London, I hope so because I don't think I can take another season in L.A.

More Black and White weirdness

2006-03-10T09:22:00.000-08:00

Since I posted about the FX show Black.White the other day, I thought this article from Snopes was pretty timely. One twin is black and the other is white. Cool.

American Idol voters...You suck.

2006-03-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ayla, I'll miss your freakishly tall frame, your tomboyish charm, and your lovely voice. Each time I'm forced to endure another week of Kelly Pickle and her country bumpkin ways, I'll shed a tiny little tear for you.

The Victim is the Sheep

2006-03-10T07:54:00.000-08:00

The Smoking Gun has a disturbing report about a guy who came onto his neighbor's property and tried to 'fuck' his sheep.

I love that the report calls the sheep the victim.

I always find it interesting how people try to cover up what really happened with these crazy ass stories that just sound so incredibly forced and fake.

I'm a mathematical genius

2006-03-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

There's Fermat, Einstein, Nash, and now...me.

I scored a 95% on my math midterm bizznitches!@!

You better recognize my mad math skills.

I think I'm sitting this one out.

2006-03-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

I just got back from EB Games across the street from work. I inquired, like I always do about the status the X-Box 360. The guy tells me that for $50 he can put me down for a pre-order for a shipment arriving in the middle of April. I must have looked at the guy like he was out of his damn mind, because he immediately said that I'd have better luck getting one on Ebay right now.

I did a quick inventory check online, and the damn things are still hard to come by. I found several $800 + bundle packs, and some core systems...but the Premium, in other words real system, is still M.I.A.

I never ever though I'd hear the words Pre-order when speaking of a system that came out nearly 5 months ago. I'm sure if I put my mind to it, or didn't mind ordering from someone off of Ebay I could get one relatively easily, but I should be able to walk into a game store and buy a system by now. The fact that I can't doesn't give me a lot of faith in Microsoft. Okay, the system was a big hit, and a lot of people wanted them, maybe you were caught off guard, but you're the richest company in the world! Can't you just make another factory? How about buying an island and making it into X-Box 360-topia with non-stop production until demand is met? It feels like they aren't taking this shortage seriously, and they are riding the wave of "If it's hard to find it must be incredible." That's fine for a few months, but 5-6 months later? You're just being dicks about it.

I wanted one for The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, but I think I'll just play Morrowind again. I never got around to the Tribunal or Bloodmoon expansions, and who knows how many hours of gameplay those two expansions will yield. That should do me just fine with my limited playing time.

Dana Reeves Dies of Lung Cancer at 44

2006-03-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

Dana Reeves

I had a ton of respect for that woman. She stayed with her husband despite his horrible accident, she became a crusader for two causes, and she always had a smile on her face. You might say that a wife is supposed to stay with her husband no matter what, and you'd be right, however that's not always the case in the real world. It can't be easy having to change your entire life around like that. I can't imagine what she had to go through over the past 12 years, only to have it end like this. So now their kids are orphans. Where is the fairness in that? It's stuff like this that makes me question those who say that God has some kind of masterplan for all of us. No he doesn't. If there is a God he's strictly hands off. Maybe we're the reality television of the universe, I don't know. I just know that the line that God has a plan for us is wearing really, really thin.

Rest in Peace Dana.

Bill O'Reilly has lost it. (Again)

2006-03-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

O'Reilly has moved on from Al Franken, and is now at war with Keith Olbermann of MSNBC. Apparently he threatened to have, "Fox Security" go to a callers'house after the caller talked about Olbermann. Olbermann, of course, replied to this story on his show. You can see the video and hear the "Fox Security" threat as it appeared on O'Reilly's website, albeit briefly.

O'Reilly Vs. Olbermann

It's really strange how lefties always seem to use humor as their offense, and righties seem to use strong arm verbal tactics. It's really a strange pattern of behavior that is emerging in political talk circles.

Black.White

2006-03-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

FX has a new show starting on Wednesday, March 8th, called Black.White. It's about two families that swap races. It looks really interesting, and the make up is surprisingly convincing. You can watch the first five minutes of the show on Yahoo.

Black.White Sneak Preview

It should be like Morgan Spurlock's 30 Day's, which I don't think is coming back, but which I enjoyed a lot.

Natalie Portman Rules

2006-03-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

Funniest SNL bit in ages.

Natalie Portman Gangsta Rap

I love it.

MacBook Pro

2006-03-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

I finally got my Macbook, ordered back in January, and I'm very happy with it. Nice wide screen, huge trackpad, and backlit keyboard. It cost a ton and I'm not yet sure if it was worth it over a cheaper, Windows laptop. I'm still getting used to the Mac OS, but most of the operations are similar to how they work in Windows. The one button mouse pretty much bites, however I can't do anything to change it, so I'll learn to live with it. I got Microsoft Office for Mac, so that's all well and good, no learning curve with that stuff.

For some reason I can't get World of Warcraft to install on the machine, I get an error on disk 4. I was really excited to play WoW, and now it looks like I'm out of luck.

It's a school machine, and having any games on it would really be just an excuse not to do schoolwork.

Heaven

2006-03-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about heaven recently. I'd love to really, truly believe that something happens to us after we die, but my brain can't wrap itself around the concept of a 'heaven'. What would heaven be? If hardcore religious people go there, what would they do? They would no longer have to worship and live righteously, so what would heaven be for them? Would they do all the things they didn't do on earth? Would they be upset if secular folk ended up in heaven with them? Would they freak out once they discovered that Darwin was correct about evolution? Would they freak out even more once they met a gay soul?

If my current wife were to pass away, and I remarried...which wife would I spend eternity with in heaven?

Would there be rules? Would it be crowded? Would devotees of all religions end up there?

What would motivate us in heaven? We go through life motivated by one thing or another, without motivation why we would do anything? If heaven is the goal, what is next?

It's all so confusing, and seems so unlikely.

Starbucks and Warcraft

2006-02-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

There is a certain blog that shall remain anonymous that has not added a link to my wonderful blog to their blog. What a bastard.

:P

Arianna Huffington gives it to Ann Coulter

2006-02-22T11:43:00.000-08:00

Huffington and Coulter were both guests on Hannity and Colmes last night, and thankfully Huffington stood up to both Coulter and Hannity when they started going after her about a post Alec Baldwin made on Huffington Post calling Dick Cheney a terrorist. Huffington rightly brought up the insane shit that Coulter has said about liberals over the years, and recently. Colmes was silent, as usual, and Hannity did not take the opportunity to side with Coulter when she said that "democrats have affection for these terrorists."

Check out the video

Rumsfeld didn't know about Port deal

2006-02-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

So, our Secretary of Freakin' Defense didn't know about the deal to hand over port security to the UAE until this past weekend, despite Scott Mclellan telling reporters that the decision was made "unanimously" by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, of which...guess who is a member? Donald Rumsfeld, who did not participate in the unanimous approval of this deal. Scott Mclellan has the worst job in the world, mouthpiece for a bunch of lying jackasses.

Algebra

2006-02-22T07:01:00.000-08:00

I only scored a 90% on my latest math test. I'm too impatient with math, and I make really simple mistakes. There is no bend in math, if you're off in any step you're done with the problem. That's annoying.

Psychology is going well. I'm about to get started on my midterm paper, 10 pages, yikes. At least I can double space.

I'm already looking ahead to next semester, where I'll be taking some biology classes, and more than likely an advanced math course. This sememster will look like pre-school from this point on.

Iraq Did Have WMD's...uh, sure.

2006-02-22T06:38:00.000-08:00

According to some previously unreleased audio tapes, Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction, and were planning on using them against the United States.
ABC to air special

The problem with these tapes is that we have no way of identifying when they were recorded. Bill O'Reilly asked a former general when the tapes were dated and he answered somewhere between 1992 and 2000. How that proves Iraq was a threat when we attacked after 9/11, I'll never know.

This general went on to say that he believed the Bush White House wasn't pushing these tapes as proof of their initial claims for going to war because the tapes implicate France, Germany, and Russia with providing raw materials to Iraq. He also accuses Russia of sneaking into Iraq to remove the weapons prior to the attack by the United States. So according to the general, Bush doesn't want to alienate three permanent members of the U.N. Security Council by talking about these tapes. Any of this making any sense? We already alienated them by attacking Iraq in the first place.

You better believe that if these tapes were actually the smoking gun they are claiming, that the Bush White House would be all over it, especially with support for the war dropping daily.

Damn, Alito wastes no time

2006-02-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

On his first day on the Supreme Court, they are going to hear a federal case against late-term/partial birth abortions.
Crazy, crazy

Flip Flopper

2006-02-21T06:19:00.001-08:00

So Bush says in his State of the Union address that he's committed to alternative energy sources, but the following day he cuts five million in funds to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Colorado. As a result 32 people were laid off.

Flip

I guess he forgot that he was scheduled to actually speak at the NREL today because suddenly the 5 million is back, and all 32 employees that were laid off are getting their jobs back.
Flop

So he flipped, then he flopped, and then he flipped. I can imagine it's because he didn't want to answer questions about why he would cut the budget the day after making a commitment to new energy sources to the entire country.

No one asked for that

2006-02-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

Gillette recently unveiled a five bladed razor called the "Fusion". I can't imagine a single guy saw the commercial for that thing and said, "Thank God, someone finally made a razor with five blades." Four was overdoing it in my opinion. The three bladed razors were nice, I'll give them that, but now it's just a big dick-swinging contest between Gillette and Schick. What's next? A hands free razor with 11 vibrating blades?
I'm a self professed marketing stooge, yet even I think this thing is ridiculous. Any way you put it, it's not something anyone really needs, or even wants. That being said, it will probably sell like hotcakes.

Migraine

2006-02-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there are worse pains in the world than a migraine headache, and I pray that I never have to endure them. I hadn't had a migraine in a few months, but I am making up for that lost time now. I'm writing this so I'll appreciate *not* having a migraine the next time I read this.

Late to the party

2006-02-06T06:22:00.000-08:00

Last week our computer died, I think it was the motherboard. I had to remove the hard drive, put it in our old system as a slave drive and transfer the data to an external HD. We then decided that we should try a Mac for our new computer, we've both heard nothing but good things about them. We hit up the Mac store and ended up spending a little over a grand, thankfully I had a student discount that saved us a couple hundred. We walked out of there with a Mini Mac, a keyboard, a four port USB hub, a mighty mouse, 3 year applecare, and MS office. Easiest set up ever. Seriously, I was blown away at how everything was recognized as soon as it was plugged in.

I decided to pick up World of Warcraft since I finally have a machine that can run it. The installation and set up took about 40 minutes, and actually getting logged on so I could play took about the same length of time. The three servers I tried first had a queue of over 400 people, and that was only after I found a server that allowed me to create a character. I couldn't figure out why it was telling me that creation of that class/race has been disabled until I visited the official forums. Apparently they've been testing new servers, and they didn't want new people joining in while testing...so why was that server recommended to me?

I ended up joining a Role Playing server since the queue on it was only about 80, with a 5-10 minute wait. I don't care if you have to stay in character on those servers since I'll most likely be solo questing. I'm not all about the grind or getting uber-stuff, I like seeing the lands, creatures, and other characters. I'd be happy to just travel around looking at stuff, seeing where I can go. Anyway, I made an Undead Priest since I like zombies. I only played for about 45 minutes since I wanted to spend some time with the wife. If I like the game I'll install it on my Macbook once it gets here so I can play it while she uses the desktop.

State of the Union

2006-02-01T06:37:00.000-08:00

I just picked a paragraph at random from last night's State of the Union address.

"Abroad, our Nation is committed to an historic, long-term goal – we seek the end of tyranny in our world.(Holy shit is that going to be expensive!) Some dismiss that goal as misguided idealism (Half the population based on your approval ratings). In reality, the future security of America depends on it(Actually it probably depends on making sure companies like Ford don't lay off 30,000 people. Our poverty rate is already near 13% of the population). On September 11th, 2001, we found that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state seven thousand miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country(They killed over 3,000 Americans in less than 3 hours, it's going to take your administration about 5 years to match that number over in Iraq). Dictatorships shelter terrorists, feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destruction(Like North Korea? Where all of our efforts are focused?). Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terror(Democratically elected HAMAS!). Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer, and so we will act boldly in freedom’s cause(John Wayne would be proud Georgie boy)."

Lisa Ling Is Pretty Cool

2006-02-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

My wife was watching an episode of Oprah last night. Oprah was talking to investigative reporters. She mentioned Lisa Ling, and I immediately recognized the name as the girl that was on The View. I had to watch to see this cute little asian girl as an 'investigative' reporter.

She's done some pretty hardcore stuff. From her Bio:
For Channel One, Ling hunted down cocaine processing labs in the Colombian jungle, conducted interviews with members of a notorious guerrilla group in Colombia, was flanked by 12 bodyguards while reporting on the civil war in Algeria, covered the refugee crisis in Albania and shared tea with the Dalai Lama. In 1996, she participated in a joint investigation with Time magazine into a Russian company accused of smuggling nuclear weapons. She was the first American television reporter to ever interview the company’s owner. All told, she reported from more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, Algeria, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, India and Iran, and produced eight documentaries for PBS, several of which won awards.

The piece she was on Oprah for concerned the street gang MS-13, which is quickly becoming the 21st Centuries version of the Mafia...only not as nice. They have chapters all over the world, and they are the fastest growing gang in the U.S.A. They recruit children as young as age 8.

Lisa Ling went to a prison in El Salvador where the MS-13 gang pretty much rules everything. Apparently, there was a plan to kidnap Ling and her crew when they entered the prison. They went back to the prison a few days later and the guy she was interviewing told her that if they didn't want her to leave, she wouldn't leave. Simple fact.

Now I don't know if she was really in danger of being kidnapped, but the fact that she went into the prison knowing that was a possibility is pretty brave. I don't think that if she was held hostage she would escape without some form of sexual assualt. The special is airing on February 12th on The National Geographic Channel. I don't get that channel, but you might want to check it out if you do.

I'm a cheeseball

2006-01-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day, I decided to look for something unique to get the wife. I already did the star thing, and now I've gone ahead and done the personalized romance novel thing.

Romance By You!

I chose the treasure island book. I know it's corny as hell, but I guarantee she won't be expecting it.

We're also going to a restaraunt that she was talking about yesterday when she was reading Phoenix Magazine. She should be surprised.

FUBAR

2006-01-31T07:40:00.000-08:00

I completely botched an assignment due date for my psychology class, as a result I lost 30 freakin' points. I turned in the assignment the morning *after* the day it was supposed to be turned in, so even though I worked my ass of on it, I get nada.

I'm trying not to let this get me down too much. There's still a lot of class left, and I can still get 94% if I do all the work. It's just that I thought I was doing really well, and boom I messed up big time. I'll chuck this one up as a learning experience, and make sure I don't repeat the mistake.

Pictures of the house

2006-01-30T12:27:00.000-08:00

My wife was kind enough to send me some photos of our house with the new paint on it, as well as one showing the one side I have left to do. You can see the old colors and the new colors.

Update-School

2006-01-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

Quick update.

My psychology class is a lot more work than I thought it would be. I'm writing at least 4 pages a week to be graded. So far, I'm perfect with 45 out of 45 possible points.

I'm enjoying the math class. The online lessons are cool with the interactive sections. I'm also carrying a perfect score in that class.

Starting my third week I'm feeling pretty good. I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg for school, and this is probably the easiest semester I'll ever have...but for right now, it's challenging enough.

HD Envy

2006-01-30T07:50:00.000-08:00

I really don't want an X-Box 360 at the moment. I've got games galore to play at the moment, and no time to play them. Trying to find game time in between work, school, and painting the house is pretty futile at the moment.

That being said, I still enjoy games when I get a chance, and a few times a week on my lunch hour I'll walk over to EB Games across the street and check out what's on display. They've got a 360 running on some super high-defintion screen and the games look amazing. I have a high definition television at home and my games on the PS2 don't look anywhere near that good. Instead of shelling out upwards of $500 for an X-Box 360, I decided to buy some component cables for my antiquated PS2. I hooked them up and ran progressive scan and the few games I have that support the feature. Thankfully Resident Evil 4 supports it and it looks awesome. Dragon Quest VIII, while it doesn't support PS, looks great as well. I hear that GT4 runs at 1080i (although a bastardized version from what I hear, using some tricks to achieve it), so I'll probably go pick that up used. It's not as nice as the picture the 360 puts out, but it's about 5x better than my old s-video image. It has soothed the savage beast craving higher definition gaming, at least for the time being.

2006-01-27T07:12:00.001-08:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

My pet peeves about me.

2006-01-27T06:34:00.000-08:00

I have some pet peeves directed at others, but I also have some pet peeves about my own behaviour. To be perfectly fair, I will list a few.

1. I'm a sucker for marketing tricks. If I get sent a free sample of something in the mail, I feel glad that they sent it to me. If I get a free flashlight when I purchase a razor, I'm pretty stoked. I know that it's not the company being generous to me, and it's just a marketing ploy, but I fall for it repeatedly. I think it goes back to my childhood when I asked for specific cereals based on the toy inside.

2. I'm an impulse buyer. New game that I want? Got to have it. New phone? Pocket PC? Whatever? I have to have it. I talk myself into the purchase like it's going to change my life, and in retrospect none of the purchases have had that affect. I've tried to put a time limit on things before I buy them, but I'll pass the time while waiting by reading reviews, impressions, and articles about the product I'm trying to hold off buying. Not a smart move, as they just fuel the fire. I'm better now, since I have a shared bank account, and I'm a little older, but it still happens more than I would like.

3. I procrastinate. I actually wanted to post this yesterday, but I waited until today. This is probably the biggest pet peeve I direct towards myself. I hold off on making calls, sending mail, placing orders, and just about everything else. There's always something I'd rather be doing, and a lot of times I do that thing instead. I've gotten better at this as well, but I've still got a ways to go before I consider it scratched from this list.

I'm sure there are more, but I don't want to wade that deeply into the pool of self-loathing today. I have several documents to work on for school, and a couple of meetings at work.

The Best Show on Television

2006-01-26T10:16:00.000-08:00

Battlestar Galactica

This show has it all, great stories, great acting, and superb special effects. The Cylons can look like humans now (See above photo...yummy Cylon), and they've used that fact to their advantage in a couple of ways. First is the most obvious, using the human looking Cylons to cause suspicion and distrust amongst the main characters. There have been a few surprise reveals of who is a Cylon, and each one has been relevent to the show. It's not overdone. The second advantage to having human looking Cylons is that the budget of the show isn't all wasted on CGI Cylons walking around (although there is the occasional "Toaster" and they look pretty realistic), instead the budget can go towards some kick ass space battles.

There's a lot of drama on the show. A continuing "Is he or isn't he crazy?" storyline concerning a man who accidentally engineered the almost complete destruction of the human race. A Cylon-Human hybrid baby in the boiler of a Cylon that is loved by two men, both of whom were nearly executed for killing an interrogator who used rape as an information gathering technique. Power struggles, drug addiction, death, and the ultimate quest to find Earth.

Seriously, if you haven't seen the show, go out and get the mini-series first, then season 1, and season 2.1. They are airing season 2.2 right now on the Sci-Fi channel.

The producers put up an episode commentary every week, so you can watch the show again while listening to the podcast on your MP3 player. It's a sweet gig, and this show actually gets better with multiple viewings.

Seriously, the Middle East is fucked up.

2006-01-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

It's official, terrorists have been elected to power in a democratic election.
Hamas wins

Now, if you thought the peace process in the Middle East was a lost cause before, it's pretty much gone full speed in the opposite direction. How long until there is all out war in the Middle East?

Satisfaction, Stephen King, and I will be painting forever!

2006-01-25T06:26:00.000-08:00

Painting and me.

I took the day off from work yesterday to continue painting the house. After 8 solid hours of painting, I still have an entire side to do. I had some seriously unrealistic expectations going into this project. I didn't count on the fact that the wood on our house is so dry from the Arizona sun, that it would be soaking up the paint like a sponge. It's taking a lot more paint than I anticipated, but thankfully we purchased more than we thought we would need. Another problem I encountered was the totally uselessness of the paint sprayer I purchased. The thing is a piece of junk. It spits, it sputters, and doesn't make the job any faster. I gave up on that thing after day 1. With my new, more realistic expectations, I expect to be finished in two more weekends. One weekend to get the first coat on the entire house, and the second to put the second coat on and do any touch up work.

Stephen King released a new book yesterday. Cell: A Novel. It's an end of the world style horror novel. I can't wait to read it. I love reading King's works, even the ones that stray from his traditional style, such as The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and The Dark Tower Series. The Stand is one of the best books ever written, and in my opinion can be placed alongside any of the classics. King's more recent stuff hasn't been as good as what he put out when he was younger, but considering the accident that nearly killed him, I'll take what I can get. It's not 3 novels a year anymore, more like 1 every three years. I'll miss the days when there are no more King novels to wait anxiously for, no more new material for me to read in a day or two, completely transfixed.

"F U Buddy"
I was driving to work this morning and this guy was riding my ass. The road I take in has stop signs every two blocks, so stopping and going, I'm feeling like this guy is going to plow into me. Eventually he tries to pass me for some reason. I was behind a truck, and we were both going faster than the posted speed limit. Anyway, his first attempt was unsuccesful because of oncoming traffic. His second attempt to pass me was successful, now he was stuck behind the truck. The guy, driving some kind of Ford, isn't stopping completely at the stop signs, more like breezing through.

I was a little annoyed that the guy felt the need to pass me. So was it wrong of me to be completely satisfied when, by the time we got to the freeway on-ramp, I was directly behind him? Was it a bit much for me to be completely overjoyed when I passed him on the freeway, going at a very reasonable speed? If it is, then I'm guilty...I may have even pumped my fist, I don't remember exactly. I hope he's blogging about how his impatience got him nowhere fast this morning, but I doubt it.

General stuff

2006-01-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

- There are currently two laws being passed around Arizona concerning cell phones and driving. The first one would prohibit anyone from talking on a cell phone while driving, the second one targets anyone under the age of 18.

I don't think it's realistic to expect people to stay off their cell phones in their cars. Some people can't drive without talking to someone. My wife, for example, has to be talking to someone on her drive home from work. Me, her friend, her great aunt Matilda, it doesn't really matter.

I don't think it's too much to ask that people use hands free sets in their car, and that kids don't text message each other in traffic. At least have your hands available and free from distraction.

- I've lost five pounds since the beginning of the year.

- I'm going to buy a Jeep.

- My wife calls me to vent about a situation, and then calls her friends for advice on the same situation...should that bother me?

- We're thinking about getting a home equity line of credit. We want to consolidate our debts into one monthly payment, and at the same time update some of the ancient appliances we have in our kitchen.

- This weekend will consist of painting the rest of the house. I have "The Shining" on audiobook to hopefully keep me entertained as I paint.

Kids today got it easy

2006-01-19T16:25:00.000-08:00

My first week of being back at school has given me new insight into the benefits of technology as it regards to education. My online math book has video presentations, flash cards, sample tests, and an interactive index...for each chapter!

Back in my day when I first went to college, I actually had to write everything down, pay attention in class, and physically hold a book that I wanted to read.

Kids today, man they got it easy with all this technology.

Bomb Al-Jazeera!

2006-01-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

Why do we allow Al-Jazeera to be the mouthpiece for terrorists? They wouldn't be able to get their message of hate and violence out to the masses without it. A homemade video from Osama would have to be handed off from person to person in order for it to be viewed and have any influence...it would never reach even a fraction of the audience it gets from being on Al-Jazeera.

We should be up in their face, and demanding that they stop furthering the terrorist agenda by pumping their message into the homes of potential suicide bombers and radicals. When someone takes an innocent hostage, where do they drop the tape? Al-Jazeera. When a terrorist group commits an act of violence, where do they send the tape claiming responsibility? Al-Jazeera. When Osama wants to rally the troops where does he send the tape? Al-Jazeera.

I'm not saying the staff of AJ is a bunch of terrorist sympathizers, but they are helping their cause by airing their footage. I think it would be a devastating blow to these terrorist groups to have their messages shelved and only passed on by word of mouth.

Today = Edumacation

2006-01-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

Today I'm officially a student once again. I hated being a student the first time around, so I'm hoping I've matured enough to just merely dislike being a student.

Like I mentioned previously I'm taking two courses; Math and Psychology. Should be easy enough right? We will see.

My mother-in-law will be here soon, and my wife just informed me that the m-i-l has hurt her back, and is sort of in pain. I'm trying to be a good guy and offer up my half of our Sleep Number bed. It should be better for her back than our futon, which is lumpy and lies atop an old frame. I'm pretty sure she won't take the offer, which means that I'll need to find some other way to keep her comfortable while she's here. I don't want her suffering through sleepless nights because her back is bothering her. I'll try to insist that she take the bed, but she's awfully stubborn. I've tried to pay for a restaraunt bills in the past , and she about loses her mind. She's a very generous person, but I believe she suffers from a martyr complex. I'll verify that once I ace my psychology class.

My friend Sarah is sick, "Hi Sarah!" She's one of those people that I have felt an instant bond with. Maybe it's because we share some experiences from back in Ohio. She started at the restaurant I worked at just as I was leaving. We know a lot of the same people, however she likes more of them than I do. Anyhow, she's a cool girl, and I hope she feels better.

I'm off to go teach a class. Yay work. :)

Moan-Day

2006-01-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

I spent the majority of the weekend painting my house. Painting isn't exactly hard work, but it is tedious. We got approximately 1/3 of the house finished. My goal is to have it completed by the time mom-in-law gets here on the 27th.

I love my DVR with HDMI. I never worry about missing a show now. I watched my "Dancing with the Stars" on saturday night. I hate that Master P is on the show, and I hate even more that he isn't getting voted off. Who are these idiots that enjoy watching a train wreck every week? The same people that keep on voting the shitty singers through on American Idol? I enjoy DWTS because it's interesting to see celebrities compete and be judged, even voted off. It's such an atypical situation for these people, b-list, c-list, or d-list who are usually kings of their little worlds. Master P is just dragging down the show by not caring, not putting in the effort, and having a negative attitude.

I'm of the mindset that if you're going to do something, then do it, and enjoy it. This guy is acting like he's been sentenced to community service on DWTS.

Yeah, I watch Dancing with the Stars.

Fred Phelps Phriday!

2006-01-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Me, here at The Bloggest Loser, is proud to present the very first edition of "Fred Phelps Phriday!"

Edition 1: God interviews Fred

God: "Hello Fred"

Fred: "Are you MY God, or are you one of them other fake gods?"

God: "I am God of all, the one true God, The God of Moses, The God of Abraham, and The Father of Jesus Christ."

Fred: "Those are some mighty fine credentials, but let me ask you a question. Are you the god of Matthew Sheppard as well?"

God: "But of course I am"

Fred: "AHA! You're a phony! The one true God hates fags, I know."

God: "I dislike that word fag, and I assure you that I am God, and that I certainly do not hate anyone, let alone Matthew Sheppard. He is a fine boy."

Fred: "Fags go to hell. Fags burn. Fags are a plague upon the world, and ummm Fags are gay."

God: "Hell? Burning? Plague? What books are you reading? I never said any of that stuff, even in my angriest moments...which I admit were a little over the top, but still."

Fred: "I read it in the REAL Bible, not whatever fag loving bible you contributed to. You're probably a fag yourself, and I'd appreciate your address so I can send my family out to picket in front of your fag house."

God: "I live in heaven, but alas, you will not be picketing in heaven any time in the near or eternal future."

Fred: "You got fags in your so-called heaven? Fag lovers? Fake christians?"

God: "I have good people here, kind people, their sexual orientation is not a factor in deciding whether or not they are admitted."

Fred: "That is not heaven. That is hell. You are the devil."

God: "Me, you are annoying. But regardless, I have someone here who would like to speak to you."

Fred: "Begone! Leave me alone. Let me go about my business devil!"

God: "Hold on...Matthew, come here. I've got Fred Phelps on the line! Just a second Fred."

God: "Still there Fred?"

Fred: mumbles something about god hating bread, or lead, or something similiar sounding.

Matthew: "Fred? Fred Phelps?"

Fred: "Who is this?"

Matthew: "Matthew Sheppard, you know the fag who is supposed to be in hell? I just wanted to let you know that heaven rules, and I'm still gay. But anyway I just wanted to let you know that all us fags up in heaven, well, we hear things, sometimes see things. Like we heard about that folder up on your computer, the one labeled 'Pictures of puppies and kittens'...you know that one?"

Fred: "Wha, who, wha? That's research, and that's private! Begone fag devil of fake god in the phony heaven called hell!"

Matthew: "Okay, okay, whatever, well I have to get to a brunch with Nostradamus, St. Peter, and Richard Pryor, but I just wanted you to know that I'm not in hell, and also tell you that I feel sorry for you. Bye Fred."

God: "Fred, are you still there? Nice kid, huh? Really smart, making a name for himself up here."

Fred: "It's research. Just research."

God: "Come on Fred, you're talking to God, not one of your brainwashed clan. I know everything you think, every dream you dream, and every secret desire you have...and I gotta tell you some of them are pretty high up on the disturbing scale. This coming from a guy who's been in the mind of everyone who has ever lived on the planet. Just think about that one for a second."

Fred: "God hates Fred Phelps, doesn't he?"

God: "Pretty much. Just kidding! You are going to hell though, can't be helped. You really are a turd Fred."

Fred: "But you made me! Whatever I am it's because of you!"

God: "There's this thing called free will, and I don't mean that movie you keep in the safe, "Freeing Big Willy", I mean the ability to create your own path in life. Your path is a path of hate and ignorance, and despite every option given to you to change, you've proceeded to stay on the path and force others to join you."

Fred: "I know you are not my god, you're a phony! God! God! Help rid me of this demon! Your faithful servant Fred Phelps neeeeeeds youuuuuu!"

REAL GOD: "I am here Fred my loyal and righteous son. I will save you."

Fred: "Thank you Lord, thank you, thank you. I knew I was being tested by a false deity"

REAL GOD: "And for your faith you will be rewarded with 79 virgins, free cable for all eternity, and a big silly cowboy hat."

Fred: "Lord? I don't understand"

REAL GOD/God: "I'm just messing with you Fred. It's still just me. I was doing that voice thing I do sometimes. You've been Punk'd."

Fred: Dies.

THE END

School

2006-01-13T07:55:00.000-08:00

I just got all my instructions for my two classes, both of which will be entirely online. It's a little intimidating. There are lots of links for both the classes.

My "Intro to Psychology" teacher seems to be a bit of a hippy. He likes to relax by taking his laptop outside and listening to Phish and Dave Matthews. He neglected to write that he enjoys toking on bit of the 'Kind', but I'm assuming that's one of those "You-Understood" type omissions.

I had to buy two textbooks, totalling approximately $130. I never quite understood the incredible cost of college textbooks.

In other news, I'll be painting my house this weekend. I purchased a Little Giant ladder, and a paint sprayer to make the job go as quickly as possible. My mother-in-law is visiting in a couple of weeks and I want to get the job done before she gets out here.

I used to paint houses for a living, so I'm comfortable doing the job myself. I got a few audiobooks to listen to, and it appears that the weather won't be too hot or too cold to be outside comfortably.

Update

2006-01-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

I've worked out three times this week, I cheated one day on my diet and had a chik-fil-a sandwich with fries, and I forgot to take my vitamins twice.

I'm feeling a little sore from my time with the free weights, I'll have to make sure that I'm not overdoing it.

No change in my weight, which is a little disappointing, but I'll keep at it.

Don't feed the bears.

2006-01-03T06:46:00.000-08:00

I heard about the movie "Grizzly Man" on Friday, and started to read about it. It's a documentary put together from home videos of a guy named Timothy Treadwell. He was an asipiring actor, drug addict, and weirdo who one day decided to go hang out with brown bears in an Alaskan nature preserve.

This guy would walk right up to bears and sing to them. He would call himself thier "protector", despite the fact that the bears lived in a wilderness preserve. He became a pseudo-celebrity as a result, appearing on Discovery, and on David Letterman's show. Real nature experts told him that they disapproved of what he was doing, acclimating bears to humans. He wanted to show the world that bears weren't crazy wild animals, but soulful creatures of magestic beauty.

After 13 summers of hanging out with bears, he and his girlfriend were eaten by a bear. The audio of the attack was captured by the couples video camera.

The two bears that ate them were shot and killed, the only two bears to ever be killed by humans in that particular nature preserve. A guy spends his life calling himself the protector, but in death actually kills the creatures that he was so-called protecting with his idiocy.

Since reading all this I've been having bad dreams about getting eaten by a bear, or a mountain lion. I think this story brought up some fears about dying, and my subconcious is trying to deal with them. The guy should have been eaten by a bear his first summer not his 13th, and what kept him from that particular death is a mystery that we'll never have the answer to.

I personally think he was just a crazy fucker who didn't really understand bears and the fact that they are predators. Maybe with his death he'll do some good in helping people understand that you can't put human emotions and feelings on wild animals. Just because they don't kill you right away, doesn't mean that they won't kill you 12 years later.

Hello friend

Ugh

2005-12-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

I've been sick all week, and I can't seem to shake it. It doesn't help that I live in a perpetual smog cloud in the Valley of the Sun.

I went to "Zoo Lights" last night, which is about the only thing you can do in Phoenix that's even remotely Christmas-like. They cover the zoo in Christmas lights, play holiday music, and overcharge you for everything.

I won't say it was a totally miserable experience, since I got to see a Donkey, but all the powers were aligning to make it suck. First of all there is the parking situation. 3/4 of the population of Phoenix drives a big ass truck/SUV, and of those people only half are bright enough to park them properly. When you try to find parking you begin to notice 'half-spots', or the spots left over when all these dickheads pull into a parking spot over the divider line between the spaces. It's incredible that people just leave their vehicles like that, the nerve is off the charts. I'd like to hear an interview with one of these clowns regarding why they do that.
Another factor with the big truck/SUV population of this area is that you can't see past "Anything" because there is always the tail end of three trucks sticking out in front of you. These parking lots weren't designed to have two feet of maneuverability removed because the trucks don't fit into the spaces, the result is chaos.

The zoo people were kind enough not to have anyone directing traffic. Thanks zoo people. Love you too.

Anyway, once we finally found a parking spot, we walked into the zoo and we were greeted by the sounds of the season. Not Christmas carols, but coughing, wheezing, sneezing kids. Lots and lots of them. It was a mess, people walking every which way, cutting in front of other people with no regard for anyone else. People taking flash pictures of the animals right next to the sign that says "Please don't take flash pictures of the animals".

I swear that moving into a cave far far from other people is looking better every single day. People as individuals may be great and wonderful, but people as a whole? Suck ass.

Be on the lookout

2005-12-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

Attention Men of Phoenix.

Be on the lookout for the following girls. Should you see them, approach with caution. They are notoriously drunk and their actions can not be predicted. They were last seen breaking hearts and drinking shots at Furio in Scottsdale. Rumor has it that they will be bringing their unique style of mayhem and madness to E4 and all of it's various cheesy theme rooms.

Sarah "La Petit Mort" Murray

Janet "Lonely JEW on Christmas" White

These women should be considered armed and dangerous with curves. They are rumored to be looking to paint the town red and the balls blue. Consider yourselves warned.

Statement from Mark Sugarhorn, the latest victim
"First I asked if I could buy them a drink, and they said yes. The next thing I know I'm in some back alley with no money, puke on my shirt, and a phone number written on a napkin that says '1-800-you-suck" love J and S. And for some reason my backside hurts."

The victim

I love Camels

2005-12-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

Smoking...how I love you, how I hate you. I'm a non-smoker now, at least a 95% non-smoker. I have had a couple of nights of weakness, usually with this sultry redhead who I occasionally hang out with. It's a good excuse to get my smoke on.

Since my surgery back at the end of August, I've only smoked on three occasions, and they were very pleasant times indeed. The nice thing about not smoking for a while is that you get a killer buzz off of that first cigarette...it's like getting stoned except it only lasts for about 60 seconds, and you don't get the munchies.

Not smoking has had the unfortunate side effect of making my belly bigger. Lungs = happy, belly = unhappy.

I weigh 204 pounds as of this writing. I start my program tomorrow...I figure I'll get a jump on all those other New Year's resolutionists by starting before the new year. Tomorrow I'll be running on the treadmill. I'll let you know how that works out for me. I'm anticipating 10 minutes before I'm a) exhausted, or b) bored and want to stop.

I will go for half an hour though, I don't care if I'm tired, bored, or wishing I was dead.

Fun fact: I actually dozed off running on my treadmill once. My foot went through the wall and my wife thought I was dead. Good times.

Christmas

2005-12-22T08:23:00.000-08:00

Boy, I'm in a miserable mood this holiday season. I'm usually all about Christmas, but this year I'm just coasting. Christmas in Arizona still seems so un-Christmas-like to me. It's 77 degrees right now, so obviously there's no chance of a white Christmas...ever, out here. For me, snow is a big part of the season. I guess that's from growing up in Ohio and having it always snow in December.

I won't be seeing my family this year, which is unfortunate. I do miss them. Maybe next year.

Gameplan

2005-12-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

I'm registered for two classes. Psychology 101 and idiot mathematics. I was unable to test into a higher mathematics class since I haven't actually had occasion to subtract one fraction from another or divide decimal points in about 10 years. I hate math.
Both classes are online courses, so I'm going to need to be really motivated. I've never taken an online class before, but my job is to *teach* classes online, so I think I'll be okay.

I've also prepared an arsenal of 'get-fit' supplies. I've got my calorie tracking program on my Sidekick, I've got about 1000 pounds of free weights in my garage, along with our treadmill for cardio.

At the moment I'm researching different workouts on the Men's Health website. It's pretty amazing how many different routines there are. If you only have 10 minutes a day, 20 minutes a day, two days a week, gain weight, lose weight, and so on.

Once I decide what workout I'll most likely be able to stick to, I'll start trying to figure out what my diet will consist of in this upcoming year.

Today being the day it all begins.

2005-12-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

I've created several blogs, each one about nothing in particular. They failed to keep me interested. I don't think I'm the kind of guy who can just post random thoughts on a daily basis, or tell exciting stories about things that happen in my life. I don't like discussing politics, and I don't have tig ol' bitties and a webcam.

This means that if I want to have a blog...which I do want to have for some reason, that I need a reason to keep posting. I need a theme blog. If I chronicle my journey towards a particular goal, I think it will work. It might not, but it's worth a shot.

So, I'm only going to tell a few people about this blog. It's going to tell the story of me, the current me, unhappy at work, physically unfit, and lacking motivation, changing into a happy, fit, goal orientated guy. At least that is the plan.

With this first post I take on the following challenges for the upcoming year:

1. Go back to school, and maintain at least a 3.00 GPA.
2. Obtain a 'six pack' of the ab variety, and some 'guns' of the bicep variety by this time next year.
3. Enter and race in the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Half-Marathon in early 2007.
4. Find a job that I like
5. Make a baby.

These are the goals.