Inside Scoop!

For those who like Domino's PIzza, they are test marketing salads now.

We're not talking dinky little side salads, but decent size salads. Grilled Chicked Caesar, Mediterranean Greek and a Garden Salad. And - take it from me - They are absolutely delicious. I have to hand it to Domino's - They have a top notch product up there with the Kickers when it come to good food.

If they are available in your area.. try 'em you won't regret it...

Wow...

I love having connections. I managed to get a sneek peek at a preview showing of "Return of the King" Yesterday.

Not a downloaded version, but a good friend of mine runs a local Movie Theater..

Oh Yeah, seeing what has to be one of the best movies EVER before anyone else is worth it....

Arrgh! Dog Germs!

Gotta love the classics. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"... Can't get any better than that....

Un-frickin-beliveable!

Now I know why Deus Ex was named Game of the Year a few years back by almost every major gaming magazine on the planet.

I just get Deus Ex: GOTY edition, and I have to admit for a first person shooter, It's DAMN cool.

Take the first level alone for instance - You have to infiltrate the remains of a blown up Statue of Liberty. But unlike most FPS games that are out there, you're given choices. Do you take a sniper rifle and pick off the NSF agents from a distance? Or do you take a tranquilizer gun and knock the enemies out? Climb up the side of the building or go up the stairs? Use the shock prod or toss a Gas Grenade to stun the enemy? I love this game. It's all about choice, and letting you play the game the way YOU want to.

Another awesome thing is your actions will have consequences during the game. Do you go and rescue the UNATCO agent or go and interrogate the man that is behind the Statue Occupation? If you rescue the agent first, you get additional info, and extra money at the end of the mission. Go to interrogate the man, and you forfeit the money that you would have got if you rescued the agent first. Cause and effect. Action and Reaction.

And one of the funniest things (so far) is if you go into the ladies bathroom in the UNATCO headquarters. During your final meeting with your boss, he'll tell you to stay out of the Ladies bathrooms! It totally caught me by surprise, but again it immerses you in this world, and you believe that your actions mean something. Sorta like the OLD Wing Commander Series, where if you fail or succeed in a mission will determinw how the game plays out....

Way cool.

The coming of the plague...

Yes, it's the white plague from heaven. Snow.

I've never seen this much "First Snow". EVER. Almost 2 feet of snow in 2 days.

And people don't get the fact, that it'll take an hour to deliver a pizza in the Lewiston/Auburn area.

Unbelieveable.

It Stinks!

In the tradition of the great cartoon "The Critic" ...

1) The so-called "VGA"'s Video Game Awards on Spike TV are really stupid. Don't get me wrong, the concept is fantastic. I think the guys that put all the work into the games that we play deserve some public recognition, but not like this. But they don't announce Nominees, they actually annouced the "Game of the Year" right off the bat! I can understand Spike TV wanting to snag rating with Lil' Kim, Jenna Jameson and other sexy women, but it makes no sense. Why not let the games speak for themselves (so to speak)?

And I honestly think the "nominees" are basically looking to get exposure for more sales. True Crime has been out for exactly one month, and it nabbed the "Action Game of the Year" award. After a month? Makes no sense to me, and even while the TV show is airing you could still vote on the site! WTF?!? Why not close the polls an hour before the show starts?

And how in the hell did "Enter the Matrix" win ANYTHING? Everyone I've talked to that actually PLAYED the game said it wasn't very good.

I'd like to see an actual awards show (with no ballot stuffing like you could with the VGA's) that accurately reflects the good games from the bad ones... But I guess that's why magazines like PC Gamer and EGM are out there so that the truth of the matter is shown. Which games suck and which don't.

Whew.

Here I am again...

1) My cat is weird. I was lying in my bed reading "The Soulforge" by Margaret Weiss - a fantastic look at the Dragonlance character Raistlin Majere, when for some reason, Pria walks on to my chest, plops down right in front of me. Go figure.

2) Ah... DVD's. I love the those littel disks that bring me so much entertainment. Enough entretainment to buy the first 3 seasons of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" from one of my friends. Well at least the First season so far. And I'll say one thing - if you are a Star Trek fan - and I'm not talking about the casual viewing like once even week or so, but a FAN - these sets are awesome. Commercial free, un-cut, subtitled (which is cool), and the first season set includes the "Star Trek The Next Generation Companion CD" It's a complete script library with episode summaries - ubercool.

3) I was reading Electronic Gaming Monthly's review of "Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike", and I came across an interesting quote. They basically said that LucasArts remastered some of the Original Trilogy footage for the game, and it's the closet thing to a DVD version of the Original Trilogy... until next fall. Do they know something that the public doesn't know? If so, tell us! I even searched the Star Wars website for info on this absolute gem of a news bit. Nothing. Now I'm real curious. (10 minutes later) Yeeeeeee Haaaaaaaa! September 2004, Episodes 4 5 and 6 on DVD. Awesome. Truly awesome. But I can't believe some of the shit I've seen on the "posting boards" about people hating Episode I and II. I just have this to say. You paid money to go see the movie, so basically you're saying "I support this movie and the people that made it". All I hear is people saying "I knew before I went to see the movies, I knew they were gonna suck". But you went anyway. It's sorta like the whole "Tycoon" explosion of video games. If the game sucks, but you still buy it, the programmers and publishers are going to continue put out CRAP for video games. Same for movies. If you go to a movie, and you think it's CRAP, then don't support that filmmaker again - it's that simple. Don't whine bitch and moan about. Oh.. sorry (stepping off of a virutal soapbox)

As Promised

I'm back with a little more detail than my previous post.

Ok here's what I think are the breakdown of the characters and their Biblical counterparts

Neo - Jesus (duh!)
Morpheus - John the Baptist (especially during the first movie and during his speech in Zion during the second movie)
The Architect/The Oracle - God (The Architect - Creating the World/The Oracle - benevolent deity over the world)
Bane/Agent Smith/Cypher - The Devil
Trinity - The Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)

The Nebuchadnezzar (I have dreamed a dream, but now that dream has gone from me - From the Book of Daniel), The Logos (Logos can also be used to denote Everything that radically transcends every human word and thought: the Absolute Meaning), and Zion (Monument; raised up; sepulchel). Neo's coming back to life (the resurrection), Neo bringing Trinity back to life (Christ bringing Lazarus back to life), and of course the notion of Free Will.

And those are just in Matrix Reloaded.

For the stuff in Revolutions, you've got the fall of a city (similar to Sodom and Gommorah), Neo returning back to what created him (Jesus' ascension to the Father), the possession of Bane by Agent Smith (like the possesion of the madman by the spirit Legion...) which incidentally takes it's name because "we are many" just like Agent Smith's duplicates in the Matrix. I haven't found anything referencing Peter's betrayal of Jesus, unless you count the Commander Lock's constant "I don't believe that Neo's the One" spiel. But I can't remember if he comes around in the end... I'll have to go see the movie again.

So basically here's my thought on the Matrix Trilogy. I really liked it. I think a lot of the fans from the first movie will be greatly disappointed in the outcome of the trilogy, but if you look at it from a philosophical standpoint, the movie ends in the ONLY way it could end. Neo had to go back to his creator, and peace has triumphed over Zion. It has a lot of action, and a great plot that makes you think about choice, action, cause and effect, and consequences.

The Matrix Re- Re- Loaded

I just got in from the first first showing of "Matrix Revolutions" Ok. And in my new style of blogging, here's what I think of it.

1) Absolutely incredible. The SFX alone are worth it. And the stories loose ends are ALL dealt with and wrapped up, with a a few new loose thread created.

2) The ending is NOT your typical hollywood ending. I won't mention plot details here, but what you think is going to happen, doesn't happen.. and what you think won't happen does. I know it sounds confusing, but believe me it does.

3) If you don't like HEAVY religious overtones in your movies, then this movie is NOT for you. There are more Christ/resurrection/redemption/belief/ascention references than most REAL religious movies. But if you are a scholar of the bible or a Christian, they did a fantastic job of alluding to the Bible and the life of Jesus Christ.

4) As for plot details, I'll give it until at least Monday before I post anything about the movie's details.

Even More General Stuff...

1) "Asps! Very dangerous... You go first!" I LOVE my Indiana Jones DVD set. I love the 4th disk with the 3 1/2 HOUR documentary on the making of the three films, but the only thing that would have made it better would be a directors commentary on each DVD. Alas, they didn't include one (but wouldn't it have been awesome?).

2) Damn you Blizzard Software!!! No longer am I able to breeze through Diablo II: Lord of Destruction with my Assassin! I just installed the 1.10 patch, and I like the changes to some of the features. But they did ramp up the difficulty a bit (at least that's how it seems)

3) South Park rocks. I just saw the lastest episode where Cartman forms a Christian Rock Band. Way funny. Now the ironic thing is I consider myself a Christian, but unlike a most Christians I know, I understand the meaning of Satire and Comedy.

4) Domino's is field testing a new product within the next month in the Maine Stores. Salads. Which would be fantastic (because I'd eat salads everyday), but we have a hard enoguh time with the products that we have, and our store is WAY too small.

5) An I finally realized why I like BOTH the Sci-Fi Mini-series and the Theatrical Release of Frank Herbert's Dune. I like the theatrical release because Patrick Stewart does a fantastic job playing Gurney Halleck, and I like Sci-Fi's truer interpretation of the book.

General Stuff....

1) McDonald's is stupid. You spend two bucks on a Super Size fry and you are guaranteed a $1.00 Best Buy Buck. Why not just take the 2 bucks you spent on the fries and spend it at Best Buy?

2) I hate my boss. Not in a mean nasty way, but in a "He-got-me-hooked-on-CSI" way. I didn't even think of watching it until a few months ago, and now I can't get enough of either show.

3) I purchased DivX Pro 5.1 and I finally figured out why I was getting crappy frame rates. My encoding settings were too high, so I set one of my settting to "Fastest" and Voila! Better frame rates. I'll have to wait until I get a new copmuter before I use the more advanced settings with DivX.

4) Been going crazy Buying DVD's recently. What did I buy? I'm glad you asked. I got Matrix Reloaded, The Last Starfighter, Memento, Dogma, Austin Powers (the first one), Dune (the Theatrical release), Apollo 13 (with a nice documentary and a uber-cool feature length commentary by Jim and Marylyn Lovell), and after searching for about 6 months, I finally got A.I. Artificial Intellegence - Widescreen. Took me long enough.

5) I'm NEVER lending software to Matt again. Matt Clark's my best frined Chuck's brother (you got that? I'm not repeating it :) Now, Matt if your reading this, you owe me 20 bucks and I'll tell you why. You're a great guy, and a good friend, but you owe me a copy of Diablo II. There is a PIT on the play disc that make installing it IMPOSSIBLE! I haven't touched it since I got it from you, so you're responsible for replacing it. :)

6) The place is intentionally left blank.

7) I'm playing through Quake II, and I'll have to admit, I'm really enjoying it. It's not the most flashy game out there, but it runs sweet on my PC.

8) See entry 6

9) I can't think of anything else to say... so until next time... Good fight, Good night!

I have found a great capture program, and it's name is...

Wow.. Dr. Divx. I've been doing video capture for a few years now, and it's always been a mish-mash of different programs to get a capture done.

I used VirtualDub (which is an awesome open-source AVI capture and brute force editing utility), but setting the program up can be difficult.

Enter Dr. DivX. It's as simple as selecting the live capture button, the frame rate, and the sound rate, selecting an amount of capture time (EXTREMELY Helpful when capturing off of DVD or Video), and clicking encode!

It's a free 15 day trial and it's 50 bucks to purchase (Including the DivX Pro 5.1 codec). I'll be buying this on Monday.

My Mind has been absorbed...

By a game.

A very good game called "Uplink". It's hollywood style hacking come to your PC.

Check it out at http://www.introversion.co.uk/uplink/

Download the demo, play "hacker", and then get the game. It's really cool, and It sucked up 6 hours of my day.

Money is good!

It was so worth it. 600+ Dollars on my check. My Adelphia is paid off, my IOT at work is paid off, my rent is paid, and I got a new printer, new workclothes, and food for my cupboards. With 50 bucks to spare :)

And next week, my manager goes on vacaction AGAIN, so I'll be getting a load of hours next week as well.

We had near record breaking lunch sales on Sunday. And that's with the Patriots loss in football.

And one of co-worker's son had Super Mario 64, so I borrowed it form them, and am now up to 92 out of 120 stars :)

Phew!

Well It's been another long week at Domino's. I put in 60 hours last week (that's as much as I work in 2 weeks).

I can't believe how popular the Philly Cheese Steak pizza is over there, and I can't believe it'll be therr until November 2nd, and then it'll be GONE. Yes, Gone. Finito. To be no more. Is that a stupid way to market a product or what?

I could understand bringing it back next year during the beginning of footbal season (it woudl increase sales), but they aren't going to. What a great way to piss off new customers too... bring them in with a new pizza that tastes great, and ththen tell them that we are discontinuing it. Don't TPTB understand that's going to kill our sales? Oh well, I don't make the decisions, I just make the pizzas ....

In other news, I got myself and N64, but I'm still looking for Super Mario 64 to play. :/

My friends Heather and Chuck are safely moved into their new apartment, and Charlie (their son) is in the first grade.

And I also picked up a few comic books. Not action type comics like Superman or X-Men. I'm talking comics that make you laugh. I've talked about pvponline.com before here, and Scott Kurtz now publishes a comic book through Image Comics, and it is hilarious.

It is finished...

After months of searching, one hard drive crash, and some luck, I finally have a complete Weird Al's MP3 Collection.

Now the majority of the MP3's are mine. Only about 20 are those that I didn't have on CD already.

People don't know the rules of the road...

And to prove it, walk across any crosswalk in the Lewiston/Auburn area, and if your not careful (even though you legally have the right of way), you'll get hit.

I almost got hit by a f**king driver while in the crosswalk, crossing with the traffic light. I've been in at least 20 near hits over the last 3 years. I'm tired of stupid-ass drivers that don't even know the basics of the rules of the road. And HOW IN THE HELL do they pass their driving tests, if they can't even obey COMMON driving rules?

Now I'll be the first to admit than when I was driving (about 5 years ago), I wasn't the greatest driver. I've had my share of accidents. But I've always STOPPED for pedestrians in the crosswalks.

Get a clue Maine! And get your eyes checked as well.

JetLinks

Tired of having an ungodly amount of Favorites in your IE favorites menu?

Don't like the feeble way that you can manage your bookmarks?

Try Jetlinks. It's a free program over at Download.com, and it make grabbing URL's, and sorting them a breeze.

I'm Free! I'm Free!

It's official! I have my apartment back!

Well, my friend Chuck has finally found an apartment for him and his fiancee. He'll be moving in the next few weeks, and I'll have my apartment to myself again.

Not that this is a slam on Chuck. In fact he's my best friend - of almost 20 years. He's my brother in all but blood, and I'm proud of him. He is a putz, but his intentions are almost always good. He's been a great roommate.

But I have my apartment back!

Well Aren't We Special?

Hi all.

We (meaning the Domino's I work at) got inspected by he corporate guys for our Image 2000 certification. Image 2000 is the new standard at which all Domino's must look like - OR ELSE! :)

The lady that inspected was so impressed with our store (which we have been cleaning for the last 5 days) that the VP of Corporate Domino's (the guy second in command from Mr. David Brandon (our CEO)), is coming to take a look at our store! Jitters and nervousness abound lately :)

God I Hate Windows

I hate it with a passion.

I got hit with a nasty virus a few days ago. "No problem", I said to myself. "I'll just have to reinstall Windows ME."

Hehe.. little did I know. I ended up have to FDISK my C: Drive. For those of you who don't know what FDISK is, it's an old utility that allow you to delete, create and fomrat partitions on your hard drives.

So I move all my important stuff from my C: drive to my 80GB hard drive. Plenty of room and it's safe... or so I thought.

Turns out that when you re-install Windows from the Dell disk, it AUTOMATICALLY formats ALL Hard Drive that are detected on the computer. You guessed it. My 80GB drive was wiped as well. So basically ALL my MP3's are gone (the majority of them ripped from my personal CD collection, roughly 200 CD's) tons of pictures, all my video capture, and 10 hours of Audio capture from some audio tapes that I'm converting into CD's and MP3 files.

Some of the stuff was irreplacible, and some very very hard to find.

But I learned my lesson. Chalk it up to experience and PRAY that I don't make the same mistake twice....

Damn Windows....

Are we that backwater?

Seriously, though. I live in Maine. We have cable internet, running water, electricity - hell we even got the biggest Wal-Mart in the Northeast!

But I looked into Vonage (www.vonage.com), a broadband telephone company. The way it works is like this :

You take your Braodband internet connection (either DSL or Cable Modem), plug in into a router and connect a Cisco ATA port onto it. Then plug in any standard telephone, and... Voila! Instant telephone! It works like a regular telephone (including a local number), and it's a flat fee of 39.99 a month.

Sounds grat, don't it?

IT'S UNAVAILABLE IN MAINE! Grrr....

This service would solve all my communication problems. I can't get a regular phone line, and although a pre-paid cell phone might work, I don't like cellphones in general (although I might have to go that route). I hope that Vonage gets with the program and makes it available in Maine. I know I'd be the first to sign up in my town.

But at what price?

Ahhh... A/C.

I don't think I could have gotten through the month of July this year without my trusty new 5000 BTU A/C Unit.

But then I got my electric bill. Considering it's been running non-stop for abuot a month, my electic bill went from $30 to $60.

At least it's only for a couple months out of the year. My Electricity bill is pretty managable, so I think a couple months of a double IS worth the price of air conditioning :)

At least it wasn't Rated Arrr...

OK ok, it was a bad pun. But Arrr, ye matey, Pirates was a helluva flick, and I dare ye to speak nay of it!

But seriously, Johnny Depp (who I normally don't think of as a good actor), pulled out an awesome job as Jack Sparrow..... sorry Captain Jack Sparrow. The only downside is that after watch both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers It's going to take a lot for Orlando Bloom to shed his elven image.

And My Brand New DVD player went on the fritz today. Went to put in a DVD this afternoon to wathc, and the damn thing wouldn't turn on. Good thing I kept the receipt, so I went to Wally World and exchanged it. But the plus side was I found out that it does in fact play VCD 2.0 disks. Even though it doesn't state it on the box. Which is uber cool, because I can actually start converting some of my Divx files over to VCD and I can watch them on my TV instead of having to watch them on the computer.

Hair Begone

Well. It's official. I shaved my head.

I was trying to grow it out to donate for "Wigs for Kids", a non-profit organization that makes human hair wigs for kids going through chemotherapy. But after my hair hit the bottom of my neck, it just didn't want to grow any longer. And they require a hair length of at least 12 to 14 inches long. So basically, I'm unable to donate. Which sucks, because I think it's a fanastic idea and a great charity to give to.

The League...

... of Extraordinary Gentlemen was absolutely incredible. An awesome movie with great SFX, a really good (although completely implausible) plot, and some fantastic actors.

In other news. I just had my 30th birthday yesterday. My best friend Chuck got me a 25 dollar gift certificate to Waldenooks/Borders. And considering how much I read, it's worth it. And the guys that I play D&D and Werewolf with all chipped in and got me a new DVD player. And it's a really awesome DVD player too. Loads of new software and a couple new DVD's made for a fantastic Birthday. Thanks to all!

I Hate Windows 9x
Went down to a new used bookshop (is that a contradiction in terms?) today and they were having problem with their computer.

I offered to help fix it for them, and 6+ hours late I had no luck upgrading them from Windows 98 to Windows ME. I kept crashing during installation, and it pisses me off! I hate not being able to finish something I start, especially when it comes to computers.

So I'll head back over there tomorrow and try to figure out what happened and try again.

And I'd like to thank them for the "Lord of the Rings" Tapes. and the three game that they game me for payment.

He's Back....

And damn if Terminator 3 didn't completely fricken rock!

I when and saw a midnight showing last night, and the movie is just as good a T2 was. Awesome SFX, good storyline with an awesome pseudo-twist ending.

Ahhhhhhhh....

Air conditioning. I finally got a decent A/C unit from Wally World for $100. And it's actually doing a great job.

Finally. It great, it's cool, and it'll last a few years.... I'm happy :)

Weird Al Rules!

Oh my god, Al's new Poodle Hat album is way too funny. His parody of "Complicated" is SO worth listening to, I was laughing on the floor.

Wicked funny, and worth picking up to listen to.

I finally got it!

Woot!

I just installed a 80GB hard drive on my system. Two 40 gig partitions - plenty of space to capture movies and plenty of room for my pics, mp3's, movies and games.

I must say I thought it was going to be a huge undertaking, but I had it installed, partitioned and formatted in under an hour.

So now I'm off to install some games and try to do some cool video capture now.

Quote of the post - "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Arthur C. Clarke

The Matrix... Re-something or other

Ok. I finally saw Matrix Reloaded.

What it was and what it could have been... It's not a bad movie, but I don't think it's a great movie either.

I think as a first part to the "bigger picture" picture, it stands up pretty well. But if I had never seen the original Movie, I wouldn't have liked it.

A few things about it irked me:

1) The pacing....was... a.. little bit.. offduringthe... whole... thing...
2) What was with the "Elfquest/Wolfrider-esque" rave/bonding scene? It really didn't forward the plot at all (unless you consider the fact the were celebrating life in general).
3) Way too much exposition in the movie. Almost everything had to be explained to you.
4) You really don't need to watch the movie a second time. Unlike the first movie, where you learned the plot along with Neo, things were explained to you (see No 3), so the only reason to see the movie a second time is to watch the fight scenes (and the gorgeous girl in the restaurant scene)

But on the plus side

1) Almost ever fight scene rocked.. Even the one with the multiple cloned Elrond's...err.... Mr. Smith's :)
2) The movie had a lot of quasi-religious undertones (but then again so did the first movie), that I thought was pretty cool.
3) Seeing the world through "Neo-vision" was really cool.
4) Lawrence Fishburne say "It is our destiny" - I could almost here Darth Vader's breathing in the background.
5) The 2 guys in white. nuff said

So was it good? Yes and no. Considering it's really the first part of a larger movie (like a big episode of Fox's "24"), I can't really judge it until the second movie is released.

Quote of the day - "French is the best language to swear in. It's like wiping your ass with silk.." - Merovingian from Matrix Reloaded

And Finally...

Ok My manager's back from vacation, and our 2 weeks of torture is finally over :)

I have tomorrow off, and I'm ready to just relax... after cleaning, doing laundry, doing dishes and basically recovering from the last 2 weeks.

But the plus side is a HUGE check that will let me pay off my laptop, pay my rent, my Adelipha bill, and have about 100 bucks leftover... I'm a happy clam...

Today's Quote - "The world is filled with willling people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them." - Robert Frost

Whew! Again

After 60 hours of work my week's done... Plus side - Big check. Minus side - Dog Tired.

ox Whew!

Well It took me 4 hours and a lot pushing, pounding and screwing... No NOT sex. I finally put up my entertainment center. You people have such twisted minds! I know have my Cable Box, DVD player and VCR squared away in one unit, with plenty of room left over in case I want to buy a XBOX or PS2. And finding "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno" on DVd for 6 bucks a piece ain't to shabby either.

As for work... I'm about dead on my feet. Thursday is my day off, and I'm not MOVING. I'm staying home to clean and rest, before my torture begins for next week.

Thank God for PvpOnline

Geez, if if were for pvponline.com, I'd have no Idea what's going on in the world. Thanks to Scott Kurtz and his love for anything movies, I finally found out that my wish has been granted...

The only thing I want for Christmas now is the COMPLETE Indiana Jones Trilogy Widescreen on DVD. I have been waiting for this for years. I'll be able to finally put to rest my 3 nearly worn-out tapes to rest and enjoy the movies the way they should be enjoyed.

Now the only thing to wait for is Star Wars, Empire and Jedi on DVD. Hurry up Lucas!

It Gets Better Every Time....

No not sex... well ok sex too, but I'm talking X2.

Yeah I 'm a fanboy. I love anything and everything Sci-Fi/Fantasy and X-Men is NO exception.

I love the hints at other mutants (i.e. The Beast, Gambit, Jubilee), And the soon-to-be manifestation of Phoenix (I love the ending with the silouette of the Pheonix under the water). Nightcrawler is now my favortie mutant (I loved the rescue of Rogue), and I like the interplay between all the characters. The fact that they have made a movie that takes 13+ characters and still makes all of the interesting amazes me.

OK then. Finally, my cat Pria Underfoot (yeah she has a last name), got spayed. No more going in heat, no more meowing in pain every other month. She's doing fine, even though she's still walking funny and not being very socialable. But then again if some removed my pipeworks, I'd be pretty unsocial for a while too.

Ben finally got his cast on his right foot. Oh yeah, Ben is a great friend of mine that had to have his ankle fused so he can walk on it again with out any pain. We went down to Dartmouth Medical center in Lebanon, New Hampshire (a HUGE complex), and they put his cast on his leg. Now he can leave his apartment, which he couldn't do before. In a month, he'll have his walking cast on, and a month or so after that, he'll be up and walking/running.

Oh and X-Wing: Allaince for the PC rules.

Ok to anyone who reads this and wants to order Pizza from ANYWHERE...

1. Know your damn address and phone number BEFORE you order.

2. Know WHAT you want to order BEFORE you place your damn order.

3. If you have coupon, don't ask if we have specials. Chances are the coupon is the better f-ing deal.

4. Tip the driver REGARDLESS if it was a free order or not.

5. Don't swear at us or think we are completely stupid. We don't appreciate it.

6. Don't try to scam pizzas out of us. Complain if it's legitamite, not because you're still hungry and to broke from buying smokes and booze.

7. And finally. Treat us nice, and we'll treat you nice. Plain and simple.

Why am I posting this? I'm a Domino's Pizza employee who is tired of people that think we are stupid. We're probably smarter than you are, so stop being idiots, get an I.Q. and start acting like normal people.

Phoenix Rising

No this isn't about Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (but when I get my hands on it, you can be sure I'll post something on it).

This is about X2, and I must say that it is an awesome sequel. Go see it. Come back and continue reading. Well? Go on - I'm patient.

Back? I loved the fact that Jean Grey showed hints of the Pheonix manifesting itself. The SFX were awesome, and the story was great. A MUST own on DVD when it comes out.

In other news, the great Widescreen/Full-screen debate rages on. My friend Phil is adamant about watching a movie fullscreen. Now if you have a small TV, I can understand that widescreen won't look good (it's too small), but if you have a DVD player, you owe it to yourself to get a movie widescreen. First, you get the movie as it was originally intended when you watch it wide-screen. And second, the black bars are on top and bottom, but if you get a Widecreen TV and your DVD player supports it (most nowadyds do), the picture will fill that whole screen. POOF! No more black bars. You might have to put up with them now, but later on you won't have to worry about it.

On Death and Dying.

A friend died recently. I didn't know her that well, I used to work with her back when I was with Burger King. I went to her wake, and I'm surprised that I held together.

I haven't been to a funeral/wake since both my Dad and my church Pastor died within a week of each other. It was hard, and the circumstances of her death were unfortunate.

I know she's in a better place, but still... death isn't fun. she was taken before her time, and she'll be sorely missed.

T-minus 28 hours and counting. I am so psyched for the X-Men sequel.

Now i'm wondering - with The Hulk, Spiderman 2 (sometime with the next 2 years), Matrix Reloaded (which was conceived as a comic book) and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.. Is the movie market becoming saturated with Comic Book Movies too quickly?

My take on this is this - As long as the sequels are not just cheesy knock-offs trying to make a buck off mass-advertising and promotional tie-ins (like Batman and it's no-so-great sequels) - and they make a good story that people care about, then more power to them. But I just hope and pray that they DON'T follow in Batman's footsteps (wingprints?), and that they make great movies... not just schlock too make money.

Ok... On the left of the screen are links to MobyGames (a great videogame database that I'm proud to have a hand in) and grid.org. I urge everyone who reads this to go to grid.org, download the client and help find a cure for cancer or smallpox. It works whenever your computer goes idle contains no spyware (although a select few ads are on screen while the screensaver is running). And if you want, search for TeamMobyGames and join up with us. This is especially good if you have a DSL/Cable modem connection (i.e. your service is always connected). Help make a difference.

Mawwiage... and Wove... Twue Love... Ok enough of the bad "Princess Bride" references.

One of my best friends, Bill Munn, just recently got married. Poor Shmuck (just kidding buddy). But it gets me to thinking about the people that I know and how much things change over the years. Take for instance my friend Chuck. He just turned 35 (a belated Happy Birthdy to you buddy), and is engaged to be married. Now this is the guy that I ALWAYS saw as perperutally single. But, thankfully, his fiancee Heather is great along with Charlie (my best bud). And we are all good friends.

Change is weird, but good.

Quote of the day - "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Ok then.. it's time for my first rant. But it's a psuedo-retrospective rant.

I understand that blogger.com is now owned by google.com, which is pretty cool. But when I tried to create this blog last night (well.. early this morning), it took 4 tries to get it up and running? And trying to get my Settings correct... well forget that as well.

But I digress. Now that I'm actually up and running, I'm happy.

X-Men 2 releases in 3 days! I can't wait. Working for Domino's Pizza, I have "connections" to the floks that run the local theatre. I'm going to see in on Thursday night. Can't wait. Throw in the fact that the uber-cool Matrix Reloaded, T3, The Hulk, and LXG are releasing with the next couple months... It's gonna be an awesome summer.

Well. Here it is, my first venture into bearing the majority of my soul to the internet to be recorded for all eternity.

My name's Christopher Martin. I'm 29, single, living in Auburn, Maine (yes - we have electricity and indoor plumbing, and get this - BROADBAND!).

A little about myself - I'm a major geek and damn proud of it. I love technology, computers - anything that is beyond my comprehension to understand how the stuff works. As long as it's cool, I'm into it. I love movies, music, gaming, FPS's, cartoons, kids programs (considering my best friend has a kid who's 5 - Blues Clues is a local fave), and basically anything that's fun. I hope to post at least once a week. I'll eventually introduce you to my friends (but not my family, well sorta - more on that later), my co-workers, my cat, and my life.

So what is Blogging for me? An exercise in futility (I can't even record in my personal-personal journal more than once a week)? A microscope into my soul (probably not, I hated biology)? Or perhaps a introspective look into the psyche of a nice guy? Well, I guess you'll have to judge for yourself.