Uncharted

I've been playing this game lately. It combines everything that I like in an action video game: puzzle solving, terrain traversing, and stopping a madman and his army of mercenaries in order to save the world. On top of that, the graphics are some of the most incredible I've ever seen. Yes, I confess, I like video games. A few years ago I decided to stop pushing away my geek side, and instead accept it. This game is for Playstation 3. I like playing Wii when I'm playing with other people, but for hard-core gaming, I'm all about the PS3. I also like the PS3 because, if you want, it can be turned into more than just a gaming system. Last Christmas, I pulled out the 60 gig hard drive and replaced it with a 500 gig hd. Since then, I've been working on loading all of my movies onto the PS3 so that with a few clicks of my remote I can be watching the movie of my choice. Oh yeah, and there's the whole ability to play blu-ray movies.

I've been able to play video games lately because I finished school, for now. I've graduated, but eventually I'll go back for my MIS. So, my time has been filled with spazzing out with the little guy, watching movies on weeknights with my wife, and generally feeling more relaxed. I like no school.

Communication

I've been thinking about this lately, and I've decided that communication is a pretty important thing. It seems that pretty regularly I am put in a position (is this vague enough?) where I am basically placed in the position of mind reader because of somebody's lack of communication skills. I get so anxious (and irritated) when whoever I'm with expects me to know what they're thinking, and then gets irritated when I have no idea what we are doing. Maybe this says something about me too. I'm not the type of person that likes surprises or not knowing what my short-term schedule is going to be. It seems like usually when I'm in one of these mind-reading situations, I get the most anxious when I don't know if the person I'm with is expecting to spend 30 minutes on a project or 4 hours. Yo, I might have other stuff to do! I can't tell what you're thinking! So, for all of you in blogotopia, please make sure you are communicating with those around you! I have to clarify, this post is not referring to my wife. In closing, here's a random picture for you visual types.

State of Irritation

Jenny and I have been discussing the State of the Union address this last week. In case you're looking at the title of my post and thinking that I'm about to bash on the address, you're wrong. Let me preface this by saying I'm not an Obama lover or apologist. However, I like to think of myself as somebody that doesn't blindly follow the first thing I hear. One of the things I've been hearing people knock on Obama for is the idea that he's not fiscally conservative. Here's some numbers for you. When Bush took office, the national debt was approximately $5 1/2 trillion. When he left office it was over $10 trillion. Don't talk to me about the current administration's spending. Bush doesn't even know what a budget is. One of the most basic principles of economics is that when the economy is in a recession, it's usually because there is a lack of cash in the market. One of the big ways to put cash into the market is through government spending! This is a principle that I have heard out of Republicans mouths again and again, but when a Democrat says it, Republicans are suddenly against it!
The Republicans talk about government staying out of business and then in the very next sentence they complain about government bailouts. Guess what? It is government staying out of business that allowed for companies to get so big that the economy couldn't afford to let them fail. This type of thinking is the equivalent of almost eating yourself to death and then complaining that you have to exercise and eat right to lose weight.
I am absolutely sick of how during the address the Republicans sat in their seats and pouted like little kids who can't get their way so they don't want to play anymore. You can sit and whine, or you can be part of the solution. It sounded to me like Mr. President already had a plan for all of the things he mentioned on Wednesday. What plans do the Republicans have? I haven't heard one yet.

Pathetic...

That's the word that I would use to describe my blogging habits lately. I've been putting a lot of my thoughts on twitter, simply because it seems to be a more convenient way for me to express what's on my mind at the moment. I'm sitting here thinking about what to say and I have the concept of defining moments in my head. We all have defining moments in our lives that we look back on and we can see how the rest of our life has changed as a result of that moment. I have a different view on this though. Do you ever run into those people where it seems that they interpret every moment in their life as a defining moment? These are the type of people that will react in an extreme way to anything and everything that happens in their life. I wonder if recognizing defining moments can be a defining moment. Have you ever been able to recognize that a significant event was about to happen before it ever happened? I think that those are the times in life when you really learn what it is to be alive. Wow, it's late. That must be why I've turned rambling philosopher all of a sudden. I'd better hit the kill switch before this gets out of control. On an unrelated note, Wii is fun, but PS3 is still best.

Alternative Lifestyle Mannequin?

Jenny and I were looking at messenger bags tonight on zappos.com (which is who this picture belongs to) and we came across this particular bag. Notice anything interesting about the mannequin? Seriously, this mannequin has a boyfriend. I'm sure of it. Look at that pose! Somebody's fabulous! Anyway, that's all I got.

Nervous

I had to give a presentation last night in my networking class. I don't really get too nervous or anxious for these types of things, but some people do. I think it's interesting that some people have no problem speaking up or talking in a large group of people, as long as they can stay in their seat. However, the minute you put them up in front of those same people for a presentation, they look like they're going to break down and cry like a baby. Why is that? I remember Jerry Seinfeld doing a bit where he says that in a poll of what people fear the most, public speaking was #1. Death was #2. He then talks about how at a funeral, people would rather be in the casket than up in front speaking. Humans are weird...

Blabbermouth

Do you ever come across those people that just don't know when to keep their mouths shut? I had a conversation tonight that made me think of people I know or have met that just don't know when to keep their mouths shut. I'll preface this by saying that I tend to not get close to people that can't hold their tongue. So, if you think I might be talking about you, it's probably a pretty good bet that I'm not. I don't think anybody but my close friends and family read this blog. Anyway, I think there comes a point in a person's life, or social development, when they need to realize that just because they have an opinion on something or they know something about a certain subject doesn't mean that everybody wants to hear about it! I remember an old saying; "Know what you talk about, don't talk about what you know." Sometimes, even when these blabbermouths are trying to help, they just end up hurting and offending because they don't realize that their opinion isn't wanted. Often these people are conversation killers. They come into a conversation, change the subject, and then dominate the conversation. Yo! The jibberish you're spouting out isn't what we were talking about when you came into the conversation, so butt out! I guess I could add these people to my list of things that must go.

My favorite season

Fall is here again. I love fall, but it's not because the leaves change (although that helps). I love driving around town with the windows open while I wear a light jacket. I love going outside and feeling the crisp air. I like huddling up in my bed at night and hearing the furnace start. Fall doesn't have the scorching hot of summer. I like the snow of winter, but I get tired of it after a while (shoveling is a pain). You don't have to do any shoveling in fall and you're not sick of everything being wet like you are when spring comes around. I just have one question though. Why does this season have two names (fall/autumn)? None of the other seasons have two names. Anybody know?

Time

Time. It just seems to be flying by lately. My mornings start early and as much as I try, they end late. It seems like I always have just enough time to get everything done. If you had the chance, would you increase the amount of time you have? Sometimes I think that I would rather have more time than anything else. What if you could buy free time? How much do you think it would cost? I'm sure the inflation on the cost of time would skyrocket. Maybe it already is. What are the things that we sacrifice in the interest of time? Isn't that, essentially, the price of time? Strange that this is what I think about when I have a little bit of it. It seems like the older I get, the faster it slips through my fingers. What would you do if you had more time?

Can you name the movie? A true classic from back when trilogies weren't about sucking every last dime out of movie-goers.

Prohibition

My bro-in-law was wearing this shirt last night and I thought it was great. I may have to end up buying one for myself. Seriously, this guy is a moron. There are a number of reasons he should love playing for the Jazz, but for some reason doesn't. 1. The Jazz are paying him $12 million dollars to not play defense, not show up in the playoffs, and miss over 1/3 of regular of season games due to "injury". 2. He plays with the best point guard in the NBA, D-Will. 3. He plays in a system where the entire offense runs through him. The guy really just lives in his own little world. He's looking for a big pay raise and a contract extension when he has proven nothing. Dude, shut up and know your role. We'll see you on opening night. Oh, and when you hear all of the boos, it's not because your last name is Boozer, it's because we want to institute Prohibition 2.0.

PS - You can check out the merch at http://www.nomoreboozeinutah.com

Dorkier

It turns out I'm not just a dork. I'm a really big dork. Remember how I started reading one of my textbooks before school started? (If you don't remember, look back a few posts.) Well, it turns out that we're not even going to start using that book until the very end of the semester. Instead, we're going to be reading this book:A lot of what this book teaches, as it seems to me, is how to protect against hackers by learning how to become a hacker. That's all good and fine, but I have now realized that I am an even bigger dork than I thought, for two reasons. 1, I'm really excited about learning skills that I will never be able to utilize unless I want to break the law. 2, Whenever I think about this class or I read this book, I can't stop thinking of Napoleon's thoughts on what girls want in a guy.

Sleepy

I'm feeling really sleepy this morning. I don't want to go to work. I just want to go back to bed and sleep for about another 4 hours. I'm not drinking caffeine anymore, so I can't use that to wake me up. I can't take a nap after work, and it's too long of a day for that to be effective anyway. What's something you do to wake up when you're sleepy in the morning?

Dork

You know you're a dork when your books arrive in the mail a few days before school even starts and you open them up and start reading. It's ridiculous! Jenny and I were hanging out last night after we put the little guy down and I started reading the textbook for my Information Security class. I loved econ when I was studying it, but I never opened the book before the semester (sometimes not during either.) I think my computer problem may be worse than I thought.

A must see

A little over a year ago, Jenny bought me "Planet Earth" for my birthday (shown below).

I had checked it out before she bought it for me and decided that Blu-ray rather than DVD was the way to go. For those of you who haven't seen this series, it is incredible. The Blu-ray version doesn't have the special features like the DVD does, but I don't care because the picture is amazing. Jenny and I have been re-watching it the last few weeks after the little guy goes to bed. I was going to blog about how insanely scary the Great White shark is or how fascinating an octopus can be, but when I got on Amazon to find a picture, I stumbled upon this:

Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?! There's more?! I'm sure this will make it into our library someday, somehow. If you haven't seen any "Planet Earth", come for a visit sometime and have your mind blown.

I just saw this on Boog's blog. Go Nate! http://www.standard.net/live/news/180671

Mac v. Windows

I've been getting excited the last few weeks (or months) for Apple's new OS (that's operating system for those of you who don't get super excited about computers.) At the same time, Microsoft is getting set to release it's new OS, Windows 7. It's gotten me thinking and I think this period in computer development has shown a really good example of the difference between Apple and Microsoft. About two or three years ago, Apple released Leopard. Around that same time, Microsoft released Windows Vista. The difference between these two? Leopard is absolutely amazing and it only cost about $150. Vista? Well, it was wicked crappy and cost about $300. So, almost as soon as Vista was released, Windows starting working furiously to develop Windows 7 to cover up their mistake. Apple started working on Snow Leopard, even though there were no complaints about Leopard. So, now you have Windows about to release Windows 7 (which will probably cost a few hundred dollars to upgrade) and Apple is about to release Snow Leopard (which will cost about $30 to upgrade.) I'm not a Windows hater, they have their place, but does Microsoft really wonder why so many people are jumping ship and moving to Apple? I'll get off my soapbox now.

Retro

Jenny was cleaning out some old files today and happened to come across this little gem. This sure does bring back the memories. I have no idea where most of the people in this picture are today.

Old times

I was chatting with an old friend on the phone last night and it was interesting how things worked out. We haven't seen each other for a few months and those times when we do see each other are few and far between. We don't talk as much as we used to either. When we talked last night though, we got on a particular subject and it was interesting for me to realize that both of our opinions had changed regarding this particular topic and they had both changed the same way. It's funny because growing up (and now) people always commented on how different we were, but we were always able to connect and have good conversations and also get each other laughing. Maybe that's why we've stayed such good friends, even though we don't see or talk to each other much anymore.

Wednesday blues, and something really cool

I know everybody gets the Monday morning blues, but how about the Wednesday morning blues? I don't get the Monday blues too bad because Mondays at work are usually the most fun. There's always a lot to do on Monday mornings. Where I struggle is on Monday mornings. By then, most of the work for the week is out of the way and things are starting to slow down. Also, I have the thought in my head that I've already gone to work two days, but I still have three more to go. Anybody else get this? However, I must say that I am really starting to enjoy Wednesdays after I get off work.

The second part is something that I discovered as I was going to write this post. I get excited about movies fairly often (Harry Potter, GI Joe, etc), but I don't see documentaries very in the theater very often. I think though that if you are much of a music fan, you have to check this out. http://www.itmightgetloud.com

I held out for a while, but she got me in the end.

Well, I was pretty happy that I was able to get my car in the garage before it started to rain Wednesday night. It seems that Mother Nature was determined to ruin my clean car. As I was driving to work yesterday morning it rained just enough to somewhat dirty my car. Then, last night, it kicked up plenty of dust to cover the entire car. Now it is supposed to rain today, and I'm sure it will be a nice muddy rain. Mother Nature, why do you despise my clean car?

Summer rain

I headed out today to mow the lawn after work. I know what you're thinking. Seriously, who mows their lawn on a Wednesday? Listen, I've been busy! Anyway, I finished with the lawn and thought that I would do a little extra and pull some weeds out of our front flower bed. I'm kind of a slacker when it comes to weeding, so that was a big deal for me. Well, I was less than five minutes into the weeding when the massive downpour hit. So, despite my best intentions, very little weeding got done. At least I was able to get my car in the garage before any raindrops fell. On the bright side, I got to stand on my porch and watch a sweet cloud burst that reminded me of the typhoon season in Taiwan. When I was a kid I hated rainy days, but in the summer I always liked getting caught in a summer cloud burst. Now I just enjoy sitting and watching the rain fall, no matter what time of year.