Sweet DVD Bliss :)

Well I finally bought a DVD Burner for my computer. It was either that or a new Monitor. But I couldn't pass a burner for $77 up at all. And It's cool watching movies on the PC.

MAME is awesome. I've got a ton of old-school videogames just BEGGING to be played.

Random Thoughts

Just saw a preview for ABC Family's "Brave New Girl" Produced by Brittany Spears. Now i personally don't acare about Birttany Spears. or any other Teeny-Bopper type sound out there. And to prove my point that most musicians aren't very original, listen to the music that's being sung during the preview. It's one of the world most beloved arias from the opera "Carmen"! And they set english words to it. Bizet is probably rolling in his grave. I hear so much sampling of older artists in "current" music, you'd think that singers and songwrtierrs can't come up with their own words, music and lyrics anymore.

Another Brittany Item... Anyone who is a South Park fan, HAS to watch the episode, "AWESOME-O". Butters catches Cartman on videotape - dressed up like Brittany Spears and making out with a Justin Timberlake cut out ;) Wicked funny.

And my boss found a nice AudioCassette set for me. "Dune: Butlerian Jihad" 22 Hours, unabridged. It takes place 10,000 years before the events of Dune, and it lays the foundations of the events in Dune. You see where House Harkkonen and House Artredis become mortal rivals, The founding of Bene Gesserit, and other events. Can't wait to start listening to it.

Return of the Return of the King

Ahhh. Return of the King. Luckily it's still playing in the local theaters. I saw it again today with my friend Chuck, and I'm seeing it AGAIN tomorrow with my friend Heather.

My Mage has actually survived 3 gaming sessions - a record for me - AND I gaind a level ;) AD&D is cool. I'm actually doing good in our campaign for once.

Well I COULD have told them that!

Sigh.

I love my Adelphia. But sometimes I just don't understand how crazy some people are.

Here's what happened. Over the weekend I got a flyer with the new "Advantage paks" that Adelphia is offering. Right now I'm paying 100 bucks for Classic Cable (2-70), Digital Basic (100-170 + Music Channels) and my Powerlink (Can't live without that). I figured thta for 100 bucks I should be getting SOMETHING more. So I call up and ask them about it, and they said for another 6 bucks I can get a premium channel like HBO or Showtime. So I chose Cinemax (which has 7-8 channels). They hooked me up (which was cool, because I ended up watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that night on Cinemax West)

Ok Fast forward to the next day. It's around 4 in the afternoon, and I said to Myself "Self, it's time to watch X-Play". X-Play is a show about videogames that's on TechTV. So I turn it to TechTV, and it says NOT AUTHORIZED. Now I found that strange for a second, but I thought maybe it was a signal issue. So I waited for a mnute. Then two. Then five. That's when I figured there must be something wrong. So I give Adelphia a call and tell them that my Digital Basic is out, BUT it didn't happen until AFTER I got my Cinemax Package. You'd think it was a computer glitch. "NO no it can't be a glitch" they said (well they said something along those lines, but that's not a direct quote) "We'll sent a tech out on Monday to see what the problem is." I Kept telling them that my box was fine 2 days ago, and I don't think they need to send a tech out to check the box. They sent one anyways.

Ok - Today - about 30 minutes ago.

The tech gets here, and looks at the problem. What does he say? "It's a code problem". When they turned on my MAX Package, they must have switched off my Digital Basic. Which is what I told them in the first place.

Go figure. I still love Adelphia. But i think they need to train their customer service reps a bit better when it comes to running the computer systems.

And on a side note. GSN (Formerly Game Show Network - I guess it sounds more "hip") is airing Celebrity Mole Hawaii - I wish they would air the first 2 seasons of The Mole first though. And SCI-FI is going to start "Stargate - Atlantis" Which looks really cool.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog

I'm back in Maine.

I had a great vacation, but it was too short. It did finally clear up - it was sunny and warm for 10 days, and I'll take that any day. I ended up buying at least 20 books, 8 DVD's, and some clothes. I had a helluva time getting them back to Maine, but I managed fine.

And I am so glad that "Return of the King" got it's dues at the Oscar's. It's about time that the Academy realized that a story can be carried by Elves, Hobbits, and Dwarves. I think John-Rhys Davies said it best - The Lord of the Rings has opened up cinematic possibilities that couldn't be fathomed 4 years ago. Kudos to Peter Jackson and the crew for bringing us one of the most memorable epics to life. I honestly believe that Movies in General will have a lot to live up to, now that the Trilogy is complete. Even if it didn't win Best Picture, I think that it will be untouched for quite a while.

Now I understand that Return of the King - Extended Version will be released in July. What a great birthday present that will be.

Live from Sunny... well mostly cloudy.. well cloudy Daytona Beach!

Unreal. I got here on Monday and it was simply gorgeous out! Lotsa sunshine and warm temps and it was the start of a great vacation.... until.... (dum dum dum) It rained on tuesday. And it rained. And guess what, It rained some more!

Wednesday was about the same, and I stayed in. Thursday was ok, but cold and today was no better. I'm hoping for some nice weather this weekend, but I doesn't look it.

But, I'm not letting it get my spirits down. I did go shopping, and finalyl bought The Two Towers on DVD (the nice extended 4-disk set) I also bought one of my favorite musicals on DVD - Hello Dolly with Barbara Striesand and Walter Matthau.

Bought a few books as well. It seems every time I go on vacation, I end up buying at least 6-8 books to haul back to Maine with me. I did pick up The War of the Souls Trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (dragonLance Novels) 2 in Paperback and I got a deal on the 3rd volume in hardback. And I picked up a copy of "The Return of the King" soundtrack as well.

I'll probably end up buying some more stuff before I leave, but I'll make do with what I have for now. I've got plenty of stuff to do, and lotsa free time to do it in :)

And now back to your regularly scheduled insanity....

Vacation's On! Well sorta

Figures. It just figures.

It snowed like a foot of snow today, and I have to get to Manchester early tomorrow morning. It's almost March! What's the deal with all this frickin' snow?

And my friend in Florida is unable to pick me up at Jacksonville airport. After 3 weeks of making sure he'd be there, and working it out that he'd have the time off, his frickin' work TOLD him that he had to work Monday morning. IF it had been me, I'd tell them to screw themselves and went anyways. Oh well, I don't blame him though. I need to let off some steam here :) But I told him not to go out of his way for me. I can take care of myself while I'm in Daytona. I'll have to take a cab from JAX to the Greyhound terminal in Jacksonville, and then take the Greyhound to Daytona. Although it'll be a pain in the ass, I don't have a problem with it. Although Billy will owe me $45 (25 for the cab and 20 for the bus). And he has assured me that there won't be any problems getting me back up to JAX for my flight back.

But I did get a cool MP3/CD player, and it's got quite the battery life as well. And I gave Phil a couple of games for taking the time to drive me to Manchester Airport.

I just hope my vacation goes better once I'm in Daytona ;) I think it will, and I'll do some posting while I'm down there.