NaBloPoMo Comes To An End

It's been fun making sure that there's a new blog coming out every day for the last month. This is something I thought I would never do, always insisting on quality over quantity but for the most part I think that it was the fact I HAD to post something that day that made me dig deep and come out with whatever I did - good or bad.

Thanks to you for coming by and reading, for returning and reading more, and for clicking on the ads to help support the blog.

I plan to keep posting as many blogs as I can. With the holidays coming up and the fact that more and more time will be spent with my family, where all the good blogs come from, I'll try to put those in the queue to be released every day. This is my personal challenge to see just how far I can go posting at least one blog per day.

How far do YOU think I'll be able to go?

Nintendo And One Person's Thoughts

I love playing video games but will admit, I don't play them often. I have other hobbies that I'm much better at and prefer to spend my time doing those.

But I bought a Wii because I loved Nintendo growing up, I thought the Gamecube was great, the Virtual Console seemed like a great idea, and it seemed like Nintendo was focusing more on fun games than games that "pushed the envelope."

I'm disillusioned though.

I haven't bought many games for the Wii because they all look so boring. I read comments on the Internet saying that the people who grew up with Nintendo (me) have matured and we need more mature games.

I agree to a point. I think that while I would sometimes like to destroy zombies with all the gore possible, I also want a system that has games that Annie could one day play.

I DO NOT THINK it should be one or the other.

And now, after the Wii has been out for years I am getting more and more fed up with the CRAP that they want you to buy to play "games." It doesn't even seem like the games are all that fun anymore. And maybe this is because I'm older and now a "mature" gamer but I have no problem playing classic games. They were fun.

Here's what I think the problems are:

The controller. Yes, bowling is fun. However, sometimes, heck MOST times when I come home I'm tired and just want to lie back, controller in hand and play a game without having to exercise more and make myself even more worn out.

Third party games. It would solve a lot of problems if third party developers would produce games for the Wii, but they don't and I think it's because of the controller. I HONESTLY think that Nintendo pushes the controller pretty heavily instead of saying "yeah go ahead with a Gamecube controller or SNES type controller" and as a result, the developers just don't want to do that.

I can understand why. If I had a great game that would work on the DS but Nintendo insisted on utilizing the touch screen even though I had no intention of using it, I just might scrap the idea (or put some stupid touchscreen capability that just pisses you off like the upgrade selection in Bomberman).

Yes, Shiguro (apologies if I misspelled your name), you got your wife to play video games and enjoy them. What a great achievement. I know how it feels to convince your wife that something you love dearly is awesome. But I think Nintendo went a little far in dumbing it down.

Now, I'm not saying you need hardcore games exclusively, but you need SOME, at least more than you have now. You need to drop the idea that motion is necessary too so that third parties may be more interested.

I read an interesting article here: http://screwattack.com/node/12980 and must say that I don't think it's a matter of everyone saying that Nintendo abandoned us or we abandoned them, but Nintendo instead focused EXCLUSIVELY on "family" games instead of offering more for the ones that want, well, more. I know my daughter would probably love Wii games, but she's one. I'm 25 and still enjoy games like any Mario Brothers game, but I also like Gears of War.

So I Cowboyed Up

Jeez, I hate that saying. As if cowboy signifies anything good. I don't see it. I don't see how you should aspire to be someone like that.



But anyway, here's today's story.


Every year you have to do a PT test for the AF. Before I joined they changed it so you had to run 1.5 miles in a certain time as well as do X push-ups and sit-ups (X depending on your age). They also measured your height, weight, and abdominal circumference.



Fun stuff, right?



It USED to be that you could ride a bike (I've ridden that bike. It's not easy.) or you could run the 1.5 miles. I heard stories of crusty old men walking to the track smoking cigarettes and about to run in black socks and loafers. They'd meander around the track six time and then light another cigarette and the test was done.



But apparently no one was happy with the looks of the Air Force and the phrase Chair Force was tossed around more and more and the AF became something of a joke to the other branches.



Now, I do not think it's a smart idea to rise to any amount of goading in situations like this because it seems to stem from jealousy most of the time. But the AF ROSE to the challenge, demanded more running, harder tests and a mandatory PT program for everyone.



It sucks. I'd understand if my job required me to be physical but it doesn't. I'd understand if I had the strong possibility of being placed in incredibly dangerous situations where you would need to run 1.5 miles to get away from whatever is chasing you. But I'm not. So the whole stay fit to fight is a little beyond me, BUT I do it because it's required for me to keep my job and I need my job. I have a wife and child (soon to be children) to take care of so if they want me to exercise then I will exercise.



However, I can't run. I injured my hip a few years ago and now have to walk to take my test. Three miles timed. I know what you're thinking. Three miles is no big deal, but three miles WILL take it out of you.



I took the test today and passed with flying colors. It was awesome, I feel very proud of myself and here I sit, Diet Mountain Dew in hand in victory over and annual evaluation.



Like the minute where you get released from church and you know this is the longest time before you have to go to church again, I relished this moment.

"I'll Always Have This One Thing"

Have you ever told yourself that? Have you ever done something and sat back and said to yourself that no matter what life throws at you or how much gets taken away fro myou that you will always have this one thing?

And it can be anything, anything in the world, but it's some accomplishement or moment that you want to hold on to forever and ever.

The great thing about growing up is that those moments and achievements start stacking up and after a while, you'll have all sorts of them. Cherish them like gold.

For instance:

No matter what happens, I will always have the first time I held my daughter in my arms and thought to myself "It's all over now," and at the same time "Thank God." I'll always have that uncertain feeling like I might be messing up and feeling each day that I should strive to be a better dad than the day before and have more patience than the day before and spend more time on the floor with her and less on the couch with the TV.

No matter what happens, I'll always have that trip to Nashville where I met up with a bunch of like-minded people and had a blast.

No matter what happens, I'll always have my annie and the day I found out that it was mine.

No matter what happens I will have the fact that I beat Super Mario Brothers 3 last night. I've been trying for years and finally did it.

There are oh so many more moments and achievments, but mentioning the ones I have I now feel very sentimental and have to stop typing before my vision fogs.

Thanks Giving

I'm giving thanks right now and would like to start by thanking YOU for reading this (and clicking the ever-present ads in the top left, heh heh).

I'm thankful for my wife. I am not that bright of a guy, not that thoughtful of a guy and when it comes to being selfish, I just about top all. But I try to be as good as I can and I'm thankful that she has stuck with me thus far and hopefully she's seen an improvement since she makes me want to improve myself in every way.

I'm thankful for my lovely daughter who knows just how to melt my heart. She likes to run up to me sometimes when I'm lying on the couch and I'll pull her up on top of me and she'll lay down with her head on my chest and hug me. Having her that close to me in such a loving way, there's really nothing better.

I'm thankful for the life we've had because without it we would not be where we are and even if we're not a fan of the location or other things, it has shaped us into the people we are and honestly, I'm happy with who we are.

I'm thankful for the future ahead of us. It's a bright one. hope you feel the same.

I'm thankful for Black Friday, not because I'll be shopping but because it has inspired an idea in my head that churches should have service at 4:00 AM as well (it's not like it hasn't been proven that people are willing to wake up that early) that way no one is in front of me in line at any restaurants gossiping over the events at service.

I'm thankful for the miles between people I don't like and myself. Keep your distance, you.

I'm thankful for the delicious meal that my lovely wife made. It was scrumptious and honestly, if I died today I will die knowing that I have eaten one of the best meals I have ever eaten.

I'm thankful for life and all that it's giving us.

I'm thankful that I GOT THE LONG END OF THE WISHBONE! That and the letter I wrote to Santa is SURE to make me get what I want, maybe not this year or next but hopefully sooner or later.

I'm thankful I beat Mario 3, but sad that I need to find a new one to play. Maybe Mario 2...

I'm thankful for you, like I already said, for reading this. I recently found out I have readers in Russia and China, two countries I've always wanted to have folks read my blog from.

I'm thankful to Nicholas for being a good guy and maybe supplying me with our future son's (if it's a boy) name. Depends on if Kim will give the name the go ahead.

I can't get over how thankful I am for my wife. Without her... Well, I wouldn't be much.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and for those who do not celebrate, just because you don't eat turkey and get the day off does not mean you shouldn't take inventory of all the things you're thankful for.

Take care, everyone!

Nintendo DSi

Nintendo will be releasing a new Nintendo DS. One that includes cameras (no clue why they're needed), SD card slot, NO backward compatability and bigger screens.



Reading about it on Wikipedia (which has everything correct on any subject in the world) left me saying I won't buy it. I think I'm done with Nintendo. The isles at Target are divvied up like this: on the Wii wall more than half the wall is accessories, not games. On the 360 wall more than half is games not accessories. I didn't buy a system to keep buying additions and toys and accessories. That's a waste of my money and not a clever way to cover up the fact that the games are boring or frustrating. Yes, the Wii can tell you're moving the wiimote BUT accuracy is WAY off.

The way I look at it, the only way that Nintendo can release this and convince me to even think of buying it is this: With the SD card slot offer every single game boy/gameboy advance game as a downloadable program from the internet (accessed by home computer). If I can pay five bucks for any GB/GBA game and store them on the SD card basically making the DS a portable emulator, then that might be worth it since SO many great game boy games cannot be found anywhere.

This is the only way I'd ever consider it. I don't feel any draw to any current DS games and think their utilization of the touch screen feels forced and it makes gameplay awkward.

Boo.

The Scene

I'm reading Eric Clapton's autobiography right now. Kim says it's boring (she hasn't read it) and that no one knows who Eric Clapton is anyway. The shock on my face must have been visible because she defended her statement.

It got me thinking, though. Do people still know who Clapton is?

Now, all truth be told I'm not a huge Clapton fan, I never bought into the Clapton is God thought but there's no denying he's a living piece of musical history and as a guitarist, I'm interested in that kind of stuff.

I know a lot of people no longer know who Brian Setzer is which really freaks me out.

Anyway, I'm reading the book and it's interesting reading about how he played at clubs and the Beatles would come in and watch, or the Stones, and that there were all these other guitarists who seemed to come up with Clapton. A whole flood of music that seemed to at least be related to each other the way soap opera characters are, where everyone knows everyone in some sort of way.

And it got me thinking about how cool it would be to have musician friends in the very local area that you could jam with and you could feed off of each other's passion and playing, learn new techniques, go to their shows, they would come to your shows, and who knows? Maybe you could all rise together too. It happened in England, it happened in Seattle. There was even a Midwest metal scene not too long ago.

I just think that would be awesome but you would need 1) musician friends and 2) a town that had some sort of place where shows could go on.

You'd also hope to have a population in the town that likes music and I'm pretty sure no one likes music here. Because this place is death.

But still, it would be cool to have a scene, even if it was for other players. I certainly have no expectations of stardom or even getting a band together for any gigs. It would still be something cool for this town to claim and be proud of instead of relying on the athletic achievements of twelve year-olds.

Tyra Banks A Hypocrite?

I'm sitting her right now, I just took a sip of mud water (caffeine free diet coke) and cracked my knuckles feeling the old feeling of myself being on the cusp of a good rant. It won't be backed up with any real data as most rants aren't and it'll probably end up being wrong, narrow-minded, or just piggish, but that's what rants are, right? I'll probably even contradict MYSELF by the end of it, just wait and see.

I'm glad you're here for the ride.

Watching an episode of America's Next Top Model from this most current season I felt kind of sick. Kim loves that show, and it's fun to watch the models (whoo, they're picks of the litter, they are) and their valued opinions on topics that vary WIDELY. On the episode I saw today Jay Alexander, one of the... choreographers - for lack of a better term - told one contestant she was being too "hoochy."

Slutty, sexy, alluring, seductive, enticing, beckoning, etc. etc.

She was all this and too much so.

Pull it back he kept saying and she mentioned that yes, she's very sexual BUT she never considered herself too hoochy.

Later, when being judged Tyra went out of her way to make sure she knew that high modeling is NOT "hoochy" but "jeans and a tee shirt."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Tyra. Let me think here for a second. You've got me all out of breath.

Didn't YOU become a household name in America by posing in your underwear? I don't even think I paid attention to her in a swimsuit (since swimsuits are less sexual to me than underwear since you wear swimsuits deliberately for wide audiences to see but underwear for significantly smaller audiences (maybe)) but always in her underwear.

Maybe I don't pay enough attention to high fashion. I know I don't. One of the judges asked a girl who her favorite photographer was and I was reaching for an answer myself. Even if I widen the spectrum to, oh, just about everything, I can't nail down ANY photographer's name (no offense to photographers) so I'm obviously not part of this "high fashion" world she speaks of, BUT I did look at the Victoria's Secret catalogs as a kid and I know why Tyra Banks' name is known to me (even before TV execs went nuts and gave her the reins to just about everything). It was because she was almost naked. It was because she was all the sexy words I posted earlier.

She was "hoochy."

What I think this is, is that she knows it and she's trying to outgrow that, like a band who is known for one song that will try their hardest to drop it from the set list only to have the crowd chant it as they leave the stage, demanding an encore.

It won't go away. Ever.

That's what I think is happening anyway. Maybe over time her attitude toward that kind of modeling has changed (she certainly has the right to change her mind) but standing there and telling a girl not to do something SHE DID and that made her so much money, paving her way to a household name, several TV shows, and basically anything she wants, that's a little messed up. I know if I was that girl I'd probably question her motives. If all I had to do was pose seductively for X years to get all this STUFF, well, shouldn't it be up to me whether or not I should do it? Is the opinion of those stuffy people in "high fashion" going to have any say as to what I'm going to do with my money?

I mean, there's posing in your underwear and there's posing in Hustler. There IS a difference and honestly, I don't see too much difference between VS and whatever the heck is a good example of high fashion. Most of the time high fashion is confusing and boring (you read it here first folks: chicks crying NEVER makes for good pictures, I don't care how "artfully" it's done) so don't feel bad about stripping down so long as your morals are in check.

And I am all about YOU choosing what YOUR morals are. Do whatever you feel comfortable with.

But Tyra, shame on you, for flaunting everything taking your clothes off gave you and telling some chick she shouldn't do the same. "Do as I say, not as I do," is a HORRIBLE motto for life.

How Cute

I just looked at the ads in the top left (where you click to make me money, even without buying anything) and there's an ad for Blu Ray players. This is hilarious to me since I do NOT like Sony or Blu Ray and even wrote a blog (I'm assuming this is where they got the "relevant term") about my distaste for them.

So it looks like the whole "relevant term" thing is very loosely bound. Perhaps it should expand its search to the whole sentence. Maybe they are going on how often I wrote "blu ray" in that blog?

I wonder...

Please, indulge me for a second.

Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments. Depends undergarments.

OK, check back soon to see if the ads change to, you guessed it: Depends Undergarments. I don't know about you but I think this is going to be very interesting.

But seriously folks, I don't know who out there is clicking on the ads, but thank you. I have almost 20.00 in the bucket as of right now, 80 away from getting a check and I already have something I want to spend it on, so kudos to me and my constant wanting of stuff, eh?

Keep up the good work with the clicks! I'll keep posting my drivel.

Well, I'll keep posting it regardless of if you keep clicking the ads, but if you do keep clicking the ads I'll keep posting but with a smile on my face.

Depends Undergarments.

My Brother and I

We are 16 months apart in age. That's pretty close. I think that the closeness in age might have been one reason why we didn't get along very well and Kim and he sister are separated by YEARS and because of that it seems like they have nothing in common. Anything Kim played with that was cool was no longer cool when he sister got to be the appropriate age to play with it.

So when Kim found out she was pregnant with our second child I did the math and you're looking at almost a two year difference. This is pretty good, I think. Two years older means Annie can watch out for her little brother or sister and help out with the new baby. I'm not saying she's going to be a babysitter or anything, but I am going to be able to TALK to a two-year old about why you should or should not behave this way or that way and HOPEFULLY she won't be too jealous of the attention the baby is getting and listen to what we have to say.

Am I worried? Worried isn't really the word for it. I am very much enlightened to the fact that we can't do THIS one on our own. With our first, I stayed at the hospital with Kim. We were there for about a week and I would leave to get myself some food and to check on the cats. Then I'd come back to the hospital. Yes, I had to sleep on a very uncomfortable couch in a tiny room (once the baby had been delivered) but it wasn't that bad and the nurses were watching Annie when Kim and I were napping or whatever.

It wasn't hard at all.

But NOW I'll have to sleep at home so I can be with Annie, leaving Kim all alone at the hospital, someone will have to keep Annie busy while I'm in the delivery room, etc etc.

It's going to be very overwhelming.

But I'm OK. I'll be OK. I'm getting pretty excited about this happening and will post often about this new development in my life.

FORE!

Being in the AF I always think of golf. I'm very torn on learning how to play. For one thing, I could spend that money on guitar equipment, something I'm already decent at and very passionate about. Do I really want to cut into potential guitar time for golf? And then there's the matter of daylight. Because it's entirely dependent on time and weather, I'll be away from home when I could be playing with Kim or Annie. Not like playing guitar where I can wait until Annie's asleep and Kim is watching *shudder* the Gilmore Girls to go off by myself and practice.

And the MONEY! Clubs, balls, tees, accessories, shoes, clothes, membership fees AND money to play a game, rent a cart, jeez. That's the kind of sport where all your money just disappears before you even think about playing.

Ah, but it would be cool to play golf and connect with my father in law like that. We don't have too much in common and it might be kind of nice to say "Your dad and I are going to play golf today, honey. Have fun with Annie."

And then there's the fact you're playing GOLF, the epitome of a classy adult sport.

Today I drove around a golf cart for HOURS selling sodas, water, beer, candy, etc. etc. for a Christmas party fundraiser and came out just as torn about the situation. Right now I'm thinking I have enough hobbies as it is and I need to lose a few of them to concentrate on the others to make any sortof progress on them.

I don't need another hobby.

And the biggest thing standing in the way of me playing golf is that a lot of tool bags play golf and it rulestheir lives like nothing I've ever seen. Well, maybe like guitars and me. Exactly like guitars and me. But I don't think I'm such a huge ass, right? Just a sarcastic one, eh?

Hmmmm.

A Little Bit Of Realization

You may remember my blog about how happy I am that Blu Ray sales are going down. I'm happy the sales are going down and I'm happy that the people who bought blu ray players when they had a CHOICE are paying so much money for crappy movies.

But I mentioned in that blog that I may look back through my archives and see if I could find any blogs I had written about the debate a long time ago when it mattered (and no one listened to me then either).

That was what I was doing this morning. I realized I had some spare time before I had to throw on the old uniform and go to work so I started going back in time and realized that I complained a LOT back then.

You may be sitting back thinking "But Russ, you complain a lot now," and that's true. You are right about that. I'm very... vocal about my misery because I'm a firm believer that most misery is self-induced and that it is a CHOICE to live out your life in misery. It's true unless you join the military and then they can send you to somplace you don't like and no matter how you may try to fight and wriggle and squirm your way out of the sorry excuse for a town you are LOCKED in until a certain amount of time is up. So my theory is when you're in misery do something about it. Unless you're in the military or for some other reason forced to endure it and then complain. Loudly.

Because they say the squeaky wheel gets the grease right? But they say the squeaky rat gets squished. Solution? Don't be a rat. Instead of blindly complaining do your best to WARN, not complain. Complaining would be like saying "man this unnamed place sure is a suck on my morale," but warning is like this: "You there, stranger, do not come to WARNER ROBINS, GA. It is less pleasant than a sea of whale vomit that you are caught adrift in the middle of with no hope of being rescued (ever) so you are forced to try to survive in this horrible sea by fishing through the vomit for whatever horrible creatures swim beneath only to eat them raw and contribute eben more to that growing sea of intestinal rejection. Do not come here!"

That's a warning.

Anyway, Going back through it all I realized that I was very angry. Incredibly angry. I was also depressed quite a bit and still very vocal.

So I'm pleased to say I've calmed down quite a bit. I've chilled out, I've mellowed. I'm a more happy guy, less angry, and less prone to fits of depression. Sure they still hit every now and then but they come and go much faster now and will probably go by even faster in the future.

So you may sit there and say I still complain quite a bit or I'm a very bitter person and you may be right, but if you just go back to my Myspace page (if you're my "friend") you'll see I have progressed significantly in these last couple years. I'm practically the happiest guy in the whole freaking world compared to what I was.

Yippee!

It's So COLD!

Well, I wouldn’t say it’s really COLD, but it is most definitely cooler than it was on Friday and it made me think of Georgia and how the weather is absolutely ridiculous. In the south it’s hot one day it’s cold another and my FINGERS can’t take it! I can’t type with any of the same sort of speed OR accuracy and I’m slowing down a ton in an effort to increase accuracy and I’m still messing up all over the place and maybe if I sit here and type for long enough I’ll end up warming up my fingers somehow. Maybe by getting some more blood flowing through them.

See, here’s the problem. With weather this crazy you get thermostats that do not get changed until a specific day on the calendar or X many people complain about the temperature.

The problem with X many people complaining about the temperature is that the next day when it gets changed, the temperature OUTSIDE will change to make it uncomfortable inside AGAIN.

You know why?

Because God hates this region. I don’t know why, I mean, he’s got a TON of blind followers who are always exiting their churches and getting in line in front of me at wherever I am going (doesn’t matter where, they will always be in front of me) and are always putting up billboards about god being amazing and encouraging you to go to church and all that stuff, so why he hates this region is beyond me.

Maybe there are too many faithful.

Come on people! Aren’t you cold and uncomfortable? Man up and turn him down for a while in an effort to stabilize the temperature! I don’t CARE if it’s hot or cold but switching between both on a daily basis?!

F That. This place sucks.

But Seriously, Folks...

Things that are popular always intrigue me. Or, I should say, WHY they are popular always intrigues me. Often I’m left wondering why.

Take the nightgowns that hip teenage GUYS wear outside. Shirts that are big enough that people will remark to their wives while driving that the end of the world is upon us because a billboard has sprouted feet and began walking. Shirts big enough that there have been waivers that need to be signed before buying them because 15% of people who buy them walk against the wind and actually get scooped up by their shirt (effectively it should now be called a “sail”) and whisked away to god knows where.

Pants around the knees confuse me too.

And leaving the labels and tags on ball caps.

Thugs wearing Nascar jackets. Is this supposed to be ironic? Or are these people really racing fans?

Women are an even more confusing species. Half jackets? Saying written across your butt but you don’t like guys looking? Ug boots and shorts?

Man, I must be getting old.

Grey’s Anatomy is NOT a good show and yet it’s popular! Same with Desperate Housewives. Why on earth are people watching these shows?

And finally, which is more popular, Snickers or Milky Ways? I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking Snickers.

You’re right. The one thing that’s popular and makes sense in the whole freaking world. Someone left a bag full of Snickers AND Milky Ways and it was a half and half mix and all the Snickers are gone now.

So that’s one thing so far that is popular and makes sense.

The Homosexual Agenda

This is something that blows my mind: On the day when we made great strides in a civil rights movement by electing the first black president, we took another's civil rights away.

Gay people can't get married in California anymore.

What gives? Well, if you watch the news you'll see a bunch of people say the same thing: that the minority voters that would not have voted had the presidential race been between white guy #1 and white guy #2 actually voted against gay marriage. Apparently it pisses people off.

So, I'm here today to talk to you, just one blog out of the reported 70,000,000 blogs out there that easily gets skipped over and for all intensive purposes would be failing if it wasn't for my constantly running brain triggering my constantly running mouth or demanding a bigger audience and therefore making my fingers constantly typing, to tell you, my reader what this is.

It's insane.

To tell someone you are not allowed to be married automatically makes them worse than you, a deficient person, if they are indeed a person at all. You are subjecting them to humiliation that we are constantly regretting forcing on people in the PAST and yet we refuse to learn our lesson.

Slaves and racism. Constantly we talk about it, skirt around it, mention it, whisper about it, make jokes about it, pretend it isn't there and then hear from ten sources that it is. It's there. It's RIGHT there right in front of your FACE and YES, we regret it. I didn't even DO any of it and I feel bad!

So you'll understand if I say I have a bad feeling about what's going on right now.

I have this philosophy in life, and it's an easy one to understand (I hope). I believe that before you do anything you should think to yourself "Self, is this something that can come back and bite me in the ass?" If the answer is yes, the best course of action may be to not do it. Unless you like bad results to completely avoidable situations.

So you say to someone that they can't get married. You think it's wrong for some reason. Perhaps you think marriage is the holy bond it's reported to be. Perhaps you think that by two guys or girls getting married, somehow YOUR marriage will be tarnished. Maybe you think that the happenings of two completely unknown people WILL HAVE ANY SORT OF EFFECT ON YOUR LIFE!

If this is the case, you're wrong. How can marriage be a holy bond when so many (straight) people get divorced? How can you think that someone, ANYONE would look at you and your husband or wife (of the opposite sex) and say to themselves or their significant other "sure they're married but that doesn't really mean anything,"?

Anyway, you say to these people (because they're people too) that they can't get married and then they rise to power or at least to an equal level (because NO ONE is equal if they don't share the same rights) and I swear, you're going to be paying for this for the rest of your life! Your KIDS are going to feel the shame YOU are bringing down on them all because you didn't have a mature adult mind to realise that just about anything someone else does IS NO BUSINESS OF YOURS!

So if you think you have a voice and a right to impose your fucking will on someone else, you are WRONG and you are DANGEROUSLY wrong. And you're a dick to boot.

The fact the government even thinks you should have a SAY in this leads me to have even less faith in it than I did on November 3rd.

So in summary, if your intolerance of complete strangers' ways of life bugs you, and you voiced it in a voting booth because SOMEHOW it made you feel better you should do the world a huge favor and sew your mouth shut and cut off your hands (you may need some help for the second one) so you can't talk, can't type, can't VOTE and can't spew your poison everywhere that you are right now.

The fact that this even HAPPENED makes me know that this can't be the best country in the world. If it were the greatest country in the world, I wouldn't be writing THIS blog, I'd be writing about how something AWESOME happened today and how great I feel living in the greatest country in the world NOT gagging at the thought that I am now lumped in a country with a state that I very well may be from (who's to know?) that is more concerned with the leg room of the produce that it will eventually EAT than the basic civil rights of its residents.

MUWAHAHAHAHA!

During the format war between HDDVD and Blu-Ray, I was the one on the side of the HDDVD. It had all the perks as far as I was concerned. Cheaper discs, the fact that the same facotiries that make DVDs can make HDDVD (Blu Ray, not so much) etc. etc. I've written a couple of blogs on it in the past that I might try to dig up today and post (I won't consider it Nablopomo material since it's archived) for your situational awareness.

When Blue Ray won I was shocked. They basically won because ONE movie house moved over to Blu Ray for whatever reason and almost every other movie house that had an HDDVD contract also had a stipulation in said contract that said something along the line of "if X movie house moves to Blue Ray we reserve the rights to follow." This was probably because of the format wars of the past like Beta Vs. VHS, VHS Vs, Laser Disc, etc. when companies see a decline in sales because consumers aren't entirely idiots and they refuse to throw as much money as they normally would into a format that might be extinct in a matter of weeks. So once X moved, so did everyone else leaving HDDVD, and the tons of folks who bought the players because they're cheaper and the discs because they were cheaper and who thought it would win because it was cheaper completely out to dry.

Thanks, movie houses.

But now, Blu Ray sales are going down. Sales of players are going down as well as movies.

The reason? They say it's because DVDs are widely considered "good enough" that you can justify keeping the format around.

It's like this: VHS to DVD was a huge change in quality. If you watch a movie twenty times on a video, the color gets washed, sound gets fuzzy, the tape basically disintegrates. But if you watch a DVD 20 times, assuming you take care of the disc and don't play Frisbee with it when it isn't being played, it will look the same as the first time you played it.

Also, there's the cost. Blu Ray players are still wicked expensive, as are the discs. What would normally be a five dollar disc at Wal-Mart is now 30-40.00 thanks to Blu Ray. It could be some awful, horrible movie from the 80s that you just want to own because it's so bad, a fun purchase that you can no longer justify the purchase of because at 40.00, I had better get more than just some crappy movie. I had better get two GOOD movies.

Also, there's the fact that times are tough right now, there's no doubt about that. Times are tough and many people are getting by with their non HD TV that isn't huge ad mounted on the wall. They don't have amazing sound systems and they aren't willing to spend a ton on this stuff. Yet, at least.

Ah, and then there's the collectors. Like me. I have over 300 movies that I've collected (this is not counting TV shows) and I was always of the mind that if DVD went away, so would my collecting ability. When you can build a good collection with the average price per disc being something like 10.00, it's not bad. It's encouraging. You can get a ton of good movies for not that much money and your collection will grow very quickly. At 30.00 or hell even 20.00 it gets a lot harder and besides, I already own that movie on DVD! I refuse to buy any of those movies again. If DVD goes away, my Netflix account will get a much stronger workout.

Anyway, Blu Ray is on the decline and my smile is ascending. Funny how that works out.

A Dad's Required Shopping List For The Soon-To-Be Dad

OK, so you're thinking about having a child or you're already getting ready to have a child. Here are some tips and advice a dad has for you.

Of course you don't have to take this advice if you're set on being completely wrong and torturing yourself as your kid grows up.

1) You need Mylicon. It's a gas relief liquid that is safe to use on babies. I'm telling you right now, babies, they're gassy. They need this stuff. If they don't get it, they'll get gassy in the night, wake up because they are uncomfortable, realized they have pooped and that they're hungry and that it's about time you got up to ease all of their aches. Buy it. Buy lots of it.

2) Teething tablets. Have you ever been hurting and some douche didn't give you what you needed to make you feel better? Say your stomach was really hurting and some ass had a bottle of Pepto and they would not give you any. "No way man, I'm saving it for when I hurt." You don't want to be that guy, right? No way. Your kid will hurt when they teethe. Ease the pain.

3) Baby Tylenol. OK, this is the third drug I'm recommending and I don't want you to think this is a blog about keeping your kid drugged up because honestly, that's not what I recommend, but sometimes your kid is in extreme pain or has a fever that won't come down and you do not want to NEED this and not have it. Best to have it and not need it. Especially when your kid gets their first shots. This will be the first time your kid will ever experience REAL pain, pain they have NEVER experienced before and you'll want to do anything to ease the pain.

4) Swaddle sacks. Babies like being wrapped up tight and restricted in movement (that's how they've been for about nine months by now) and when they sleep and they are NOT in a swaddle they flail their arms (can't be helped), wake themselves up, and honestly, they're uncomfortable. When you go to Target or Wal-Mart or wherever you are going to buy them, don't go cheap. The cheap ones a) do not keep the baby warm and b) they don't last long at all. You need to buy the ones that have a ton of velcro on it (that looks super durable). You'll use them for every nap, and every bed time. They are GOLD when you have a newborn.

5) BUY SOCKS. This isn't so much a newborn thing, but when your kid starts wearing shoes (and socks hopefully) they will lose their socks. You will lose their socks. Their socks will hardly ever match (if you're anal about this, buy all of your socks in one color) and you will always be looking for that one freaking sock that disappeared.

6) While we're on feet: Don't buy expensive baby shoes. 30-40.00 for a pair of shoes is way too expensive and they WILL outgrow them with a quickness that will blow your mind. When you do buy shoes though, make sure the backs of the shoes are tough and stiff. My god, they need to be. If you can bend them without any real effort, just put them back and find a pair you can't.

7) PJs. I don't know what genius decided it was smart to sell PJs with two shirts and only one pair of pants. Watch out for this trick.

8) More than one set of bedding. For obvious reasons.

9) You need to buy a GREAT BIG BOX of chill pills. It's stressful raising a kid, sure, but it's one experience after another that you will not be able to experience again (at least with this particular child) so enjoy it. When you get past whatever phase your kid's in you're going to wish you had RELAXED more and enjoyed it as much as possible.

What Will The Future Bring?

As much as I don't like cross pollination, I didn't really think this blog belonged on 5th Fret as it's more about me than guitars.

They say the average blog lasts three months and then either dies or goes away, either way you never hear from the author again. I think this could be for a variety of reasons like something coming up in life to take your attention away from your blog, you becoming so bored with your own life you decide to stop posting as a way to stop the suffering of your readers, you aren't inspired to write because your readers and in the "few" category, you're putting unrealistic standards on your shoulders like demanding yourself to blog every day (you don't have to or you can do what the Nablopomo cheaters do and just post a picture as a blog), etc. etc.

For whatever reason blogs don't last that long and I could see that happening. I am almost out of that window. Just a few more days. But honestly, do you think I'm going anywhere? I have been posting blogs on MySpace for a very long time (since about 2005) and I don't really see an end in sight. There's something I like very much about blogging. Perhaps it's the chance that my stuff is actually being read.

Anyway, my guitar blog, located at http://5th-fret.blogspot.com/ is still trucking along as well. When I started I knew I wanted contributing writers to help out with the blog load with a goal in mind of one new article a day and while we aren't there YET, I hope to be one day soon. The blog count is still over 20 in about 1.5 months so that isn't TOO infrequent I guess. Not frequent enough, but not too bad. I just don't want people coming and seeing the same article they saw last time on top and then think that the blog is dead and never come back. But I digress. I knew I wanted more authors to help me out but at the same time I felt guilty going into it. What if this blog does only last three months, if that? What if I end up wasting the other authors' time and energy by not keeping the pace?

Well, like I said, 1.5 months down and we're still going. I'm finding ways to keep the blogs coming mainly from listening to a guitar podcast (six string bliss) and letting it inspire some ideas. I think that's been the problem with my lack of new material. I think what I needed was to talk to someone about guitars that I don't know (or listen to them talk) an use it as a springboard for my own ideas. A blog coming up soon will give them all sorts of credit too because I find their podcast not only incredibly entertaining but invaluable to my own article writing.

WARNING!!! TANGENT: I like to call them articles instead of blogs on 5th Fret mainly because I really do strive for a level of professionalism and am treating it as my own personal magazine.

Anyhoo, I hope 5th Fret sticks around for a LONG time. I also hope this blog sticks around as well. I'm sure this blog will, but I just hope 5th Fret does. I really like it and I'm putting a lot of work into it, more and more everyday (a great escape from the fact I live in a crappy town doing a job I'm not too fond of while thinking every day I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do but not knowing what that something is) and frankly, I love it.

I hope you visit both blogs to see what they're about and if you like them, recommend them to your friends and subscribe to them (if you use a Google reader I can know when someone new subscribes though it won't tell me who or where they are so your confidentiality is secure save for the fact you are one more hashmark on my vanity wall).

Thanks for reading and sticking with me. I appreciate it!

Doug Scrubs

I was getting Annie ready for bed when the idea for this blog hit me and I wrote down the idea ("Doug Scrubs") on a piece of paper and told Kim I have a new blog idea. She saw the paper and couldn't figure out what it was.

What it is, is this: I had been watching a few episodes of 3rd Rock From The Sun and was thinking about how they end the episodes with a "what did we learn" kind of moment on their roof and how this was kind of like the greatest show ever.

I speak of course, of Doug. Well, it might not be the greatest show ever but it was pretty cool. It was entertaining and funny in a very tangent-ey way but taught morals in a way that didn't make you gag, like, say, McGee & Me. It was a great show for kids.

And if I may break off for just a moment: Nickelodeon NEEDS to release Doug on DVD in season form. I'd buy them in a heartbeat for my daughter (and for my wife and myself's nostalgia attacks).

Then ABC got a hold of the show and ruined it.

So I was thinking how TRFTS is like Doug but then it hit me that while similar, there was another show that was even more like Doug.

I speak, of course, of Scrubs. Morals, tangents, funny stuff, it's all there.

And oddly enough ABC is getting a hold of this one too........

I hope it goes better than Doug did!

Annie's Found A New Friend

Usually I let my wife post blogs about how cute Annie is, but I had to do it this time. Annie is adorable.

She is absolutely terrified of vacuum cleaners though. Well, she's terrified of MOST vacuums. For some reason she's not scared of OUR vacuum, maybe because she sees it all the time, but any other vacuum, even one at daycare that she does see every day scares the hell right out of her. There have been many times that I've gone in to pick up Annie from daycare and see the janitor looking very guilty as he's running the vacuum because Annie is flipping out, red face, tears streaming. I feel bad for the guy, I really do. I feel bad for Annie too. Little girls are supposed to be scared of weird things I guess, but I never thought it would be a vacuum that got her.

Now, at home she apparently thinks it's her friend that she can play with and who am I to say no?

November's Trying to Stop Me!

By now you know about the challenge to write a new blog for every day of the month in November, right? We're almost to the halfway point and it has occurred to me that whatever genius decided that November would be the National Blog Month wasn't really a genius at all, but a person who has no life, no hope and probably no friends or family.

Now, I know that probably sounds harsh. And hypocritical. After all, I'm here typing right? But hear me out: It's NOVEMBER, one of the most awesome months of the year to go OUTSIDE and observe the fireworks displays of changing leaves, to play with your kids at the park, to lay under blankets with your significant others and watch movies, read books, lay by the fire or, you know, other stuff (statistics show most babies are conceived during the months of November and December).

You have Thanksgiving, you have shopping the day after, you have relatives coming in, long lost friends, Christmas cards that need to go out, a mother-in-law to fret about presents to plan, clothes to buy for the changing seasons, etc etc.

WHO HAS TIME TO BLOG WITH ALL THIS GOING ON?!

But oh ho ho, you haven't gotten ME pegged in a corner. Not by a long shot! I'm very... verbose shall we say, and there is such a thing as scheduling a blog to be published in the future so if you're having a particularly chatty day with lots of inspiration you can end up with a buffer of blogs in case you forget, get too stressed out, pass out, have emergencies or any other thing. Life can go on as normal even if it is not and everyone on the internet will still think you are living deficient.

I don't know whether to be happy about this or doubtful in my own humanity...

Anyway, this is my last blog for this day, to be canned for a future publishing date. This is the third, and I'm pretty happy about that because I'm pretty sure I'll have more to write about tomorrow and IT will be pushed to the back of the line to help insure that all of the blogs that go out will go out in an orderly fashion to avoid any possible confusion.

Also, thanks to the people who are coming to the blog, and who are clicking on the ad in the top right. According to the Google money counter I've made almost two whole dollars in a day. Now, scoff if you will, but that is two imaginary (imaginary until I get the check and it clears) dollars that I did not have yesterday.

Be sure to click often to help out. Every penny will go into an old military ammo box I have that is reserved for musical equipment. It's kind of like a handout except all you're handing out is a small movement of muscles under your index finger to click on an ad.

Ah, this blog is nice and long wouldn't you say? Something to help you pass the time enjoyably I hope. I say this because my wife is one of the people that November seems to be beating. Every night she sits down and says she has no idea what to write about and that she has homework to do and all that stuff. But she pulls it off every night. Good job, sweetie! Keep it up! Only * cough * cough * cough* more days to go.

Take care, everyone!

Suddenly I'm Proud

Going through Boot Camp for the AF, I was never really proud of myself. It's tough to be proud of something that so many people have done before you (and will do after you). I always thought that the pride you'd feel about being a part of the AF or the military in general comes after some great deed you did, when people come up to you and thank you for saving their lives or when you get some hard-to-achieve medal pinned to your chest. You know, when you become a hero.

And being part of such a great military it is tough to shine in comparison to the other fine members so I was never really proud of myself. Especially about being a flier. Less than two percent of the enlisted AF actually fly and I'm in the percentage but it isn't really something I've been proud of. There is a LOT of stuff that comes with being a flier that I do not like, but have to put up with. Just like any other job, I guess. We aircrew were taught from the very beginning that we're the best, the absolute best because we're the guys that the guys on the ground call when they need help. Maybe so, I thought, but that doesn't make me the best, it just means it is my butt in the seat and it could really be anyone's butt in the seat. It doesn't have to be me. I was not actively sought out to be what I am and to do what I do.

So going through the military like I'm doing, I never once said I'm proud of myself because honestly, I'm not. I'm not even proud of myself now, even as I write this blog.

But I am proud to be aircrew. Not obscenely proud or anything, I'm not shoving it in anyone's face thinking I'm better than them (I'm not). I'm just proud to be part of this little organization.

It came from going to the air museum. Let's get it right out in the open: I find planes incredibly boring. I don't care what model this is, or how far that one can fly, or what loads that one can carry, I really don't. It's just not interesting to me. But seeing the sea of flying jackets they have on display there really hit home for some reason. They were all worn, cracked with age and abuse, painted and faded from the years, sewn up with patches and equipped with all sorts of pins. Morale is what I was looking at. It made me wonder if there is any current guidance on the leather jacket.

I think (I say this of course, before finding out if there IS any guidance) that to get rid of the capability to do this to your jacket, to make it yours to show your pride in whatever you're doing or have done is a horrible thing. That is the AF to me. My entire belief in the AF is summed up in a couple of jackets and it's all right there and nowhere else. I don't look at the blues and feel the same way, nor the flight suit. I don't look at well manicured bases and think about how great it is to be able to say I'm a part of this, no matter how long I'm going to be a part of it. Everything good about the AF is right there, in the worn, faded, painted jackets from an era not too long ago.

Driving At Night

The other night I had to go out to get dinner. Usually my routine includes not going out after I get home from work. I think there are tons that will agree that when you get home from work, all you want to do is relax. I get out of my uniform, put on the General (the leader in the pajama pants regime) and play with my daughter until it's time to feed her, bathe her and then put her down for bed. Then I relax, watch some TV, maybe get on the Internet and then it's bed time. But the other night, I ventured out to get dinner.

The temperature was 73 degrees (Fahrenheit thank god) and the night was clear. It was great. I drove with my window down, enjoying the night air. It wasn't that long ago that I would hang out exclusively at night during summer vacations and then sleep through the day in preparation for the next night's events (which included little more than guitar playing and hours of talking with friends outside in the cooler-than-daytime Mississippi air) and I was enjoying it.

On the way to Wendy's there was apparently an accident and the blue flashing lights of the cop cars lit up the dark rural road that I was on and it was beautiful. It really got me in the mood for Christmas.

By the way, I don't think anyone was injured, or if they were they had already been taken away because it was just cop cars, no ambulances.

Then, sitting in the line at the drive through, right next to the neon light advertising Wendy's willingness to stay open late for everyone to be able to enjoy their delicious food at all times, I was pretty happy. The hum from the neon, the blue from the cop cars, the smell of the delicious food, the darkness of the night and the air blowing in the car, it all combined to make for a pretty great little trip out.

Changes

I was getting frustrated by the squeeze of the previous blog template. There was too much negative space and not enough positive space and it was irking the heck out of me. Here were my words, all cramped together and yeah, it made for a very column-like look but at a cost that I didn't agree with.



This template is one that is still colorful, though not nearly as cool as far as the colors go. But the words are no longer cramped.



Do you like it? Do you find it easy to read or is the informative column with the subscription a hindrance to easy reading of the actual blog? Let me know in the comment section!



I'm still in the deciding stage about this, and changes might come again and possibly again and again. I'm trying to be satisfied and if they just offered a stretch version of my old template I'd be happy.



Anyway, my point here is to not be alarmed.



Also, I know these "under construction" posts are kind of a cop out (much like photo only blogs) for the November challenge, so I may come again today to post something but if not, I copped out and you can just deal with it (but please come back!).;-)

Where I Am Currently

My wife and I talk about our blogs sometimes, about what we aim to achieve and who we are trying to entertain. Kim runs a mom blog and blogs about nothing but being a mom and I think it’s working out pretty well for her. If I limited myself to one topic for every blog I could only imagine how quickly I would run out of quality blogs. Especially with this challenge of putting out a new blog every day in November. Of course, with Kim raising Annie, every day is an adventure of some sort and there is never a shortage of fresh material.

So if you haven’t guessed, I’ve moved all of my guitar-oriented blogs to http://5th-fret.blogspot.com/ and I think it’s going well. The site hits are running at about even but I’m putting forth an effort to get it out there more. I don’t really know what I aim to achieve with it. I’m not looking for sponsors because it’s a free blog to run. There’s no need of money. There IS a need of time. There just isn’t enough time in the day to work, play with Annie, spend time with Kim, and focus enough energy to both 5th Fret and this blog.

So what do I hope will come from 5th Fret. I have no clue. I’m just doing it for fun. I’m playing, I guess. I have always wanted to write for a living, especially for a guitar publication, but the more I read them the less I want that. It seems so… not guitar related. I guess I could start my own, but the costs would be pretty high and honestly, it would be much more easily accomplished on the net. So I suppose that 5th Fret is my magazine and maybe it will grow. Maybe one day guitar companies will send me or my contributing writers stuff to review (I’d be up for thatJ).

And what about this blog? What do I aim to achieve with this? Nothing more than to entertain you, the reader, and to rant and rave in my own space. I appreciate you reading this and wanted to let you know what the stats are right now. I’m a pretty practical person and numbers impress me and I wanted to thank you by showing you exactly what you’ve done. This blog has been visited over 1,000 times from various cities and countries in the world, some that are a real shock to me. Thank you so much for visiting and reading. I hope you keep coming back for more and enjoy it.

Just for visual reference, here’s a picture of where the last 500 visitors have logged in from. If you don’t think I appreciate this, you’re wrong. I appreciate it very much. You've made a ham very happy.

Sell Out

Yesterday I decided to see what this Adsense business was all about and submitted an application to have ads put on my page (where I choose and with the size, font, colors, etc. all of my choosing) and I’m awaiting an acceptance or rejection email. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, definitely something to further help inspire a better blog, more regular postings*, and even more of me asking you to tell friends about the blog if you think they’ll be entertained by it.

I had to promise not to click on my own ads since there’s a possibility that I’ll get a bit of money per click, so I’ll have to restrain myself but if you happen to see any of the ads that look interesting and want to click on them for further information go right ahead. Anything at all.;-)

They also say that the ads are going to be relevant to the blog, that they’ll somehow find common threads and pick things that are related to the blog and besides obvious candidates like Scene It I’m incredibly anxious to see just what THEY think is a relevant ad to my constantly off topic blog. I think yesterday morning when I threw the gadget in, there was an ad for a bed. Maybe they know something I don’t and are seeing what my readers want and not necessarily what I’m writing about?

Anyway, I’m excited for this to happen, just to see what WILL happen. I have no illusions that this could be a way to make a ton of money or anything like that, I’m just curious what will happen in general.

Anyhoo, this is day seven of November, the seventh entry for the National Blog Month and I think I’m doing pretty well with it so far.

YAY!

Edit: I see I now have an ad about MRI dye lawsuits on my page. Very interesting stuff....

Scene It And How They Are Killing Themselves

Scene It is a fun game for movie buffs. I think it's set up to be easy to play for anyone, not just movie buffs but there's a serious problem with the brand:

Their apparent need to make more and more game boards.

Whereas you buy the original Scene It and once you work through it all, you can get the sequel edition that's just more cords and a DVD, they have different versions that are complete games. If you have one board, you have them all regardless of its color and collection of game tokens.

I would be inclined to get some of these if they were offered just as DVDs because Scene It is the one game my wife can be sure I'll play and often we play for control of the Netflix queue, but I refuse to buy entirely new games. Imagine how they'll stack up in the closet! It's a waste.

The latest travesty is the Seinfeld Scene It, which I wouldn't mind playing at all (I actually wouldn't mind sending it to my in-law's house so when we get there we can play it (they're huge into Seinfeld)) except I don't want to have to buy an entire new board.

Surely someone there is thinking that by offering these in complete sets only they are turning their backs on fans who have already bought a board and won't be tempted to another?

Ah! My Aching Hip!

I hurt my left hip a long time ago. Now every time I run I get to experience some pretty mind blowing pain AND it just gets worse after I stop, always making for a very not restful night of sleep and a frustrated day after.

Remedy? I stopped running. But the problem with the military is that they really WANT me to run and I won't do it (and my doctor agrees) and this has gone on for so long now that I am in the process of finding out if a permanent profile is the way for me to go. With one piece of paper I'll never have to run again. Sounds pretty amazing for my hip.

But of course they need documents, X-rays, MRIs, stuff like that so I was sent today to get an angiogram. I take off my jeans to put on the gown, then lie down on an X-ray table only to have to cute young thing assisting the doctor help me get down to the, uh, naked truth. No worries though, I was covered with a towel.

But as I lay there with my towel covering my shame, it had to be moved by the doctor to wipe it with iodine, inject it with anesthetic, and inject it with dye (it being my hip). This required the towel to be moved. Quite a bit to the right.

I was pretty uncomfortable lying there, not because I was basically naked with two people looking at me, but because the cute young thing was the first chick to see my package since my wife and I started dating. It certainly didn't help that by now the coldness of the hospital, the iodine and the tubes and needles coming out of the general are would make for a very unimpressive sight.

*sigh*

But after all that was over, they gave me a wheelchair and a ride to get an MRI. I love MRIs. They're the perfect place to nap. I like them quite a bit. Actually, after my first MRI (done to my head so I was fully in the tube) I contemplated replacing my bed with a homemade MRI tube with a mattress inside it. Imagine how little space that would take up!

And now I'm home. I can't walk all that great, but I'm here and glad the process has been started.

Hopefully I won't have to repeat it.

And hopefully that chick won't write about today's events in her diary while laughing.

Tucson

Well, it looks like I may be going to Tucson for X-Mas. How awesome is that? I had originally thought I was going but then some stuff happened that would have forced me to not be able to go and NOW it looks like I'm not only able to go, but I'll be going for a while.

Oh there will be guitar stores that will be visited.

I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, honestly. Tucson is one of my favorite places not just because of the guitar stores (though they do have some mighty fine guitar stores and it always bumms me out that I don't come home with a guitar case as a checked bag), but because I love my in-laws, love them very much and I love spending time with them. I also have friends there that are awesome to hang out with.

And there's Mexicoke there! WHOO!

AND I have a couple more blog ideas for the next few days so I won't be sitting down and just spewing out onto the keyboard in hopes that words will be spelled out. No, there should be some pretty entertaining rants in the very near future.

A Little Bit Of Doubt

I woke up and said to myself Jeez, what am I going to write about? I THINK I know what I'm going to write about tomorrow, but as for today, since work is going to take up most of the day and I don't blog about that, I'm just sitting here typing.

OK, I have something. I enjoy the Simpsons commentary. I enjoy it quite a bit. They seem like really good guys and Matt Groening is always good for a laugh. It was because of the Simpsons that I enjoy commentaries. However, Family Guy commentary just makes me not want to even watch the show. They seem like such... Well... Assholes. Smug assholes. It bums me out because I think Family Guy is hilarious but I think from now on I won't be listening to the commentaries for entertainment.

Pure Frustration

A little about my past and the difficulty that Middle Georgia has to deal with to compete with my past:

When I was living in New Zealand there were a ton of huge parks. We're talking a solid 2 miles SQUARE at least. It was ridiculous. And inside was a ton of assorted field, tennis courts, and playgrounds. Mostly though, it was a ton of space used for kite flying or Frisbee tossing or picnics.

That was what we went out looking for today but we couldn't find one.

So here's what I'm thinking: every county should create a huge central park for community use. We need it. It would definitely help out with neighborly acts.

What I'm saying is this place sucks but there's still hope for it.

But right now it definitely sucks.

So, The End Of The World Is Here...

In middle Georgia today it was as if everyone was having their home bug bombed and they had to get out and about and honestly, what do you do in that situation? You shop, or drive around, go out to eat, and basically take up space.

A ton of space was being taken up today. It was as if the world was going to end so everyone was trying to get rid of their money before they died.

It was like it was about noon on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). Most of the sales had already happened and now everyone was just meandering around. Personally, my goal on Black Friday is to be home by 10:00 AM. None of this stay out all day crap. The day is long and when it starts at 3:00 in the morning it's even longer.

Anyway, it was nuts the amount of cars and people out today, all with this crazy gleam in their eye that left both Kim and me wondering exactly what we're missing about today? What is it about 1Nov2008 that has everyone acting like madmen?

It was nuts, there's not other word for it.

And in other news, today is the first day of some crazy challenge of posting a blog every day. I know this is probably easy for the stay at home parents or those that lack jobs, but it might be a bit of a challenge for me. I think I'm up to it though. And if I make it all the way to the end, I'll get a useless picture to post on my page letting everyone know just how often I'm posting on the computer.:-)