R.I.P. Xbox 360

On December 19, 2006 my Xbox 360 froze when I went to play Saints Row. I just turned it off and turned it back on again. It booted up and then made this weird sound that came through the speakers and froze, so I turned it off again and on again. It gave me 3 blinking red lights. Once again I did the same thing over and over and still the same blinking red lights. I panicked and went to the support page on Xbox.com and to my surprise I saw the 3 blinking red lights at the top of the page. It told me to do all of these test and if it still didn't work to call Microsoft. I called and they had me do all of the test again. After a few minutes customer service told me that I was gonna have to send in my machine. I asked how much this will cost me and she told me that it was still under warranty. I was like OK, since when I purchased it the 360 only came with a 90 day warranty. After I sent my machine off I read that Microsoft had just extended everybody's warranty to 1 year and after a quick calculation I realized my machine was about 363 days old. Lucky for me. I hope my machine wasn't jealous of my PS3 or Wii because I don't plan on getting rid of any of them soon. I do hope it gets back to me soon, since for Christmas I got a couple of things for my 360 that just have to sit there.

12/29/06
Update: My Xbox 360 arrived at the repair center 12/28/06 and today I got an email telling me that my deck is on its way with a UPS tracking #. Either they are sending me a new machine or a refurbished box for it to ship that fast. Anyways I will be happy to have it back and it most likely will come with a new 1 year warranty.

1/4/07
Update: Got my 360 a day early and I have no time to play it, but I made time to hook it up and fire it up. I haven't put my custom face plate on yet, so it doesn't seem the same yet, but I hope that changes once I play G.O.W and Saints Row. One thing that I have noticed is that it seems louder than my original one. It could be that I am not used to it again or that I have been playing with the PS3 and Wii that are much quieter. I'm pretty sure I got a refurbished unit, since it has a manufacture date of April 2006, whereas my unit was November 2005. I will keep you up to date.

Christmas lights - THX style

The Audience is Listening!

A Christmas Story (REMIX)

Classic Christmas movie, funny new dialog. Must see....

Xbox 360 vs. PS3

After talking to my buddy Jeremy about the differences between the Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3 he convinced me to post what I had to say. I have to start off by saying that I have had my 360 for over a year and just got my PS3 last week and that both are great systems. For the 360 the game to own is Gears of War, a different take on first/third person shooters. It not about jumping around dodging bullets, it's about cover and tactics. You might just have to play it to know what I mean, because when I first picked it up, I didn't think I would be able to beat it, but now it is one of my top 10 games of all time, really. Well, on the PS3 I don't officially have a game for it, but I have been playing the Motorstorm demo, and like I have said before this game is the most beautiful and fun racing game I have played in a long time. Both systems have wireless controllers, High Definition graphics, and online capability.

Now with all of that out of the way, my main reason for this post is that I wanted to point out the price difference between the systems. Most people are bad mouthing the PS3 for being so expensive at $499 and $599. Yes, this is the most expensive system to date, even $100 more than the top of the line 360. There are two models of the 360 and they sell for $299 and $399. I do have to admit that with all of the criticism that Sony has received prior to the release, I didn't think that people would be that excited about the system. As all of us have seen the loads of people camping in front of Best Buy and how much they have been going on Ebay, but the attitude most people have in their quest to find one, I have to say them seem really excited.

If you really want to compare the system prices we need to compare them apples to apples. First if you look at the PS3 Premium model ($599), it comes with a 60 GB HD, WiFi, memory slots (CF, SD, MS) 4 USB slots, and Blu-Ray. The top of the line Xbox 360($399) comes with a 20 GB HD, 3 USB slots, and a DVD player. Hmm, seems we are missing a few things to compare the two, so to make them comparable, we will need to add to the 360 a HD-DVD player($199), and the WiFi adapter($99). Wait a second, $399 + $199 + $99 = $697. That is $98 more than the top of the line PS3 sells for. Hmm, if you ask me which is a better value if you want HD movies and Wireless capability, then I have name the PS3 a better value. Oh, and don't forget that the HD-DVD player is the size of a Wii, so it will take up some more real estate, so put that $199 towards a Wii.

I need to add one more paragraph, so my Xbox 360 friends don't dump me. Remember when I said that Gears of War is in my top ten, yeah, I am serious and that game alone is more enough of a reason to buy a 360. I also have to say the interface on the 360 is much more attractive and the online play is superb. If the Xbox 360 came out with a version with built in WiFi and a Blu-Ray player, then I would say it would be more comparable, but until that happens (if that happens, since MS in my opionion is against the Blu-Ray just because it is in the competitions console) I will have to say that the PS3 is a better value.

Leave you comments, I would love to hear your thoughts. And if you feel I left something important out, let me know.

Nintendo - GB Micro Commercial

Funny commercial that aired on TV in Canada. It includes a mouse, and the cool new GB Micro. That's what they had to say, but I am shocked this is a Nintendo commercial, too funny.

Costco Scallywag Sloop Pirate Themed Club House

From time to time Costco has had some interesting things for sale on their website. This time they have a pirate themed club house. Looks really cool, and if I was still a kid I would want one, but with the $18,499.99 price tag. I imagine most kids will only be able to dream that they are captain Jack Sparrow. Also, I can't imagine most families having a backyard like the one in the picture, but OK Costco way to sell your product.

[more info]

Next Gen Gaming

What do we have here, but all three of the "Next Gen Gaming" rigs. From left we have the Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and the very hard to find Playstation 3. I got the 360 last year a few weeks after it was released by ordering it on Samsclub website. My Wii was obtained by standing in line for 17 hours in front of Best Buy on November 19. Lastly the Playstation 3 was the hardest one to get. Originally I had planned to camp out in front of Best Buy for 1 night to get one, but then I heard 3 days before it was to come out that people were already camping out in front of Best Buy. I decided to test my luck and order one online. Well, that was a horible night, I woke up ever couple of hours to try my luck, but then my best chance came when Costco had it on their website, but the site crashed. Then a couple weeks later I was told by a Radio Shack employee that they were supposed to have PS3 systems on Black Friday, so my brother and I woke up at 3am and waited in his truck while playing DS for 3 hours. At about 5:45 one of the employees asked us what we were here for and we said the PS3 and he quickly said that they didn't get any. We hung around and came in to hear the same thing from the guys inside. I was very disapointed. Then my brother called me the other day said that his buddy from Compusa called and said that he got 3 PS3 and asked if he wanted 1. I asked how many could we get, since my other brother wanted 1 and one of my friends were thinking about it. He called back and said 1 and after looking at the playstation site for a bit, I decided that I wanted it. My brother came by and grabbed my keys and credit card and a hour later he showed up with my 20GB PS3. He said that everyone was getting very excited when the employee brought it out on the floor and that he ran to the truck to get out of there before he got jumped. I laughed.

After playing all three systems. I have to say if you are a true gamer, the only solution is to own all three systems, because each one has a good side to it. Overall I really like the 360 with the Xbox Live and the control and Gears of War, but the Wii has awesome controls with the wii-mote and Wii Sports and Zelda, but the PS3 has the greatest feature with the HDMI cable, 1 cable for your audio and video.

Fortune Cookie

I got this fortune with my meal today at Twin, wonder what it is trying to say. Those of you that know me, probably will get a chuckle with this one. Have a great day....

Wii

Target and Circuit City stores have Wii's in stock today. Also Circuit City is holding a sweepstakes to win a Wii, for 24 days they are giving 1 away, so get over to the contest for your chance to win one of the coolest Nintendo systems ever.

[Sweepstakes]

Nintendo Superfan

I saw this video yesterday and I laughed since I stood in line for 17 hours for my Wii, but this man is insane. BTW Bob, you made me laugh when you sent this to me saying "I didn't know they interviewed you while you were waiting for the Wii..... Funny Bob, real funny.... This guy is seriously on crack.

Nintendo Wii Anyone

Experience a new way to play. Wii from Nintendo.

One more reason to buy a Mac

After Apple released a program called Boot Camp, which allowed anyone with an Intel based Mac to install Windows, but to use Windows one had to restart every time. Shortly thereafter a program called Parallels sort of did the same thing, but better yet, it allowed the same Intel based Macs to install Windows (any flavor including 3.1), MS-DOS, Linux, or OS/2 and you do not have to re-boot. Kind of like what Virtual PC tried to do back in the day, but a whole lot better. My buddy Matt showed it up and running first and it looked great, then some other friends needed to use IE (feel sorry for them) and they were thinking about buying a cheap PC laptop, so I suggested we try this out. I downloaded the free 15 day trial on my MacBook and installed a version of Windows XP Home that I had to test it out. It was a fairly simple install, and there I was using XP in a browser, or with a click of a simple keystroke, I could go full screen. Like the quote on the box says, it's kind of like having two computers, the best of both worlds. So, if you are looking to get a new computer, I highly recommend a Mac and then if you really need a Windows machine, look no further than Parallels Desktop for Mac.

[more info]

Apple MacBook Pro - Core 2 Duo

Apple today updated both the 15 and 17 inch MacBook Pro with Intel's latest Core 2 Duo processors. The 15 inch starts at $1999 with a 2.16 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HD and the 17 inch has a 2.33 GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB HD and both can be upgraded, of course, with a 200 GB HD and up to 3 GB of RAM. Now it is only a matter of time before the MacBook gets the same processor upgrade.

Jeremy - Impressive. Most impressive. It is your destiny to buy one of these, now release your anger, only hatred can destroy your Dell.

How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers

A company called Direct Marketing Association (aka DMA) compiles a list of people who do not want junk mail. You can send them your name, address, phone number and up to 3 other spellings of your name that companies use to send you magazine and other junk offers.

[Stop the Junk]

Thanks Tribe

Urban Ninja II - Urban Ninja 2

Ninjas are so cool.

Urban Ninja

-updated link

What more do I have to say.

Chad Vader-Episode 4

Chad Vader-Episode 3

Chad Vader Episode 2

South Park Season 10

The wait is over for one of the best shows on TV, South Park continues its second half of the 10th season with the first episode diving head first into the World of Warcraft. Do you remember the Leroy Jenkins video from last year, well, that is the game the show is dogging on and they did a fine job making fun of the people who play this game. Make sure you check it out this week.

Super Mario Bros. 2 & Legend of Zelda NES (1986)

This is an old commercial from Japan advertising Super Mario Brothers 2 and The legend of Zelda for the NES from 1986. You have got to love the Japanese, along with MXC on SpikeTV, they give us some great material. Enjoy.

NES Super Mario Bros. minus world

Did you know about the minus world in Super Mario Brothers.

Nintendo Wii 11.19.2006

Nintendo announce their plans to release the Wii today. It will be available 11.19.2006 for $249.99 and will be packaged with Wii Sports along with the revolutionary Wii remote that is wireless and has gyro effects to control your games. The Wii will also play Gamecube games and will have something they call the Virtual Console which will allow you to download classic games from the NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and Turbo Graphics from $5 to $10 from their free online solution call Nintendo WiFi, the same that Nintendo DS players have been using for the past year. Get ready for a console battle this Christmas, PS3 is supposed to be out around the same time and of course the Xbox 360 has been available since last November. Place your orders now!

It's Showtime

That was the theme of today's Apple press conference. Apple released a slew of iPods, updated iTunes, and started selling full length movies. The Shuffle was completely redesigned with an aluminum casing and with 1 GB for $79. The Nano saw the most changes, first in the form factor, now it comes in an aluminum casing like the old Mini and in multiple colors. Starting off at $149 the Nano is 2GB and only available in silver, next you have the 4GB version available in silver, green, blue, and pink for $199 and lastly the 8GB version available in only black. The full size iPod comes in the white or black 30GB $249 and 80GB for $349. Apples music player iTunes was updated to version 7 and now has a friendlier way of finding your movies, music, and podcasts. Also it now offers CD cover pictures for your tracks when you encode your music, which is something that most people I know complained about. Today marks the start of feature length movies being available on iTunes. The movies currently are only available from Disney and range from $9.99 to $14.99. I don't really want to say what I think about buying a movie for my computer/iPod and another for my DVD player. Also, what happens to your movie collection when your hard drive bites the dust. Well, Apple is all set for the holiday season, let me know if you pick up any of the new iPods and make sure you download iTunes, but the most interesting thing was a device that is currently being called iTV, it is a device that hooks up to your TV via HDMI, Component, or Composite and will receive your videos being sent from your wireless Mac/PC iTunes similar to what the airport express and will be available in Q1 of 2007.

Chelsea's Atown Rap

My first YouTube post, enjoy and thanks to Carey for the video.

24" Apple iMac

Apple released a 24 inch (1920 x 1080) iMac today, it starts at $1999, comes with a 2.13 GHz processor, 4MB Shared L2 Cache, 1 GB ram, 250 GB HD, SuperDrive. It can be upgraded with a 2.33 GHz processor, 500 GB HD, and up to 3 GB of ram. I am thinking with that 24" HD screen, maybe we will see movies in the iTunes Store soon. If your in the market for an iMac, place your order quickly.

[more info]

Saints Row

If you have an Xbox 360 then you need to buy the new game Saints Row from THQ. If you liked playing GTA then this is the game for you. It may be a complete copy, but it has much better graphics, sound, and overall quality. I have to admit that it is quite the addictive game that just might keep you up late. My buddy Bob said that he played it the other night until 4 in the morning. You could download the demo for free from the Xbox Marketplace only available through the 360. I don't know what else to say, but to go and buy it now, and maybe I might see you online and we could play each other and cause some havoc in Stillwater.

[Buy now]

Canadia (the lost post)

Hello -- please forgive me for any grammatical errors, pure sporadic nonsense, or the extreme tardiness because I wrote this over the past 3 weeks and did not feel like fixing it. (pure laziness on my part and the craziest 3 weeks of my life) Just sit right back, grab something tasty and a cold beverage of your choice and enjoy.

The following events take place between August 2 and August 9, 2006. Previously on.....wait that is another show...

I am surprised we are here in Canada after yesterday. I don't know where to start, my brother and sister in law not having a passport or their birth certificates, getting on the wrong plane in Seattle, my brother loosing one of his bags, not knowing how to get a hold of our car rental, to waiting for ever for our car to be ready. When we arrived at Sacramento the lady at the check in asked my brother for ID and all he had was his driver's license, she asked for a passport and told him that he will be taking his chances on getting back in the States without a passport. He didn't seem to concern and figured that my other brother could overnight those documents. We then proceeded on to Seattle and arrived ahead of schedule, my brother had some form notarized to help him when we came back. Then he said he was going to go and get some food. Well then they say now boarding flight 2825 and my brother is nowhere to be found. Then my brother shows up with everything under the sun and we all have something different to eat. I grab my food and go and check in and the lady says that we are only waiting for your family. In Seattle they have you walk down on the Tarmac and of course there were two planes, but I didn't see the 2nd one, I just followed the other people in front of me. Next thing we are sitting on the plane and some guy comes in and says your sitting in my seat. Then another one comes in and says you are sitting in my seat, and says we are going to Portland right, and then we are like OH Crap. Then we get off the plane and headed for our plane as they are preparing to close the hatch. We arrived in Edmonton and go through customs and they tell my brother that we may or may not get through customs with those forms he has. We grab our luggage and my brother is one of his bags he gave to someone as we walked onto the Tarmac in Seattle. We decided that it was put on the plane to Portland and had to fill out some paperwork. Then we walked outside to find our car rental place Dollar and walked around looking for it. Finally we found a phone and called for someone to come and pick us up. Then at the car rental place we found out that we did not have an expedition like what we were expecting, but a Dodge Durango. We sat for over an hour, since it was in the middle of an oil change. Finally we took off to our rental in Edmonton that we got off of vrbo.com.

We stayed at the house for 2 days and went to the West Edmonton Mall, which had an indoor water park, amusement park, hockey ice rink, and 12-plex movie theaters with an Imax screen. We just drove to Safeway to buy food and cooked it at the house. The place had 3 bedrooms and slept 10 people, 2 washrooms (Canadian bathroom), and high speed Internet with wireless, DVD and cable TV. The airlines called us and said that they found the bag and told us that it would be in around 9pm on Thursday, but of course there was some kind of delay, so called and waked us up Friday morning around 6:30 to tell us that it wouldn't be to the house between 9 and 10, but that was not guaranteed. Matt decided that it would be best to have it shipped to Quill Lake, our final destination for my mom's town's 100-year anniversary and my mom’s side of the family reunion.

We took off to Quill Lake and stopped by Costco real quick and got some gas. We had over 450 miles to travel before we made it to our final destination. The speed limit was 100 KPH which is about 62 MPH for most of the trip, but we kept our Durango pegged between 130 and 140 KPH most of the way. We were able to cover more ground this way and we made a few pit stops along the way. Remember we had 3 adults and 2 kids under 10. One stop to mention was for lunch at a place called Taco Time in Lloydminster, I have never heard of it before, but now I see on their website that they are opening all over the place. I got this huge beef burrito, which was just delicious. They had mexi-fires, which were basically tator tots that were tasty too and the salsa they served with the meal was awesome. We made one final stop about 30 miles out at a gas station and paid $1.04/liter for gas, which was about $3.93/per gallon and we thought we were getting ripped off at the pumps. We arrived shortly after 4pm, which meant we drove an 8-hour drive in about 6 1/2 hours. Our Canadian family was amazed with our time across the country. That night we just had a BBQ at my moms place and enjoyed our time with the family, some of which we haven't seen in years, like a couple of my cousins I haven't seen in over 25 years. My moms place is really nice and it is one of the biggest homes in town. We had 11-15 people sleeping in beds each night and then 2 campers out side sleeping the rest for the next 2 nights. My mom had a campfire set up in the backyard and we quickly got that going and sat and drank beer until about 2am.

Most of us were up by 8am Saturday and were about to go for our breakfast that we paid for in our registration packet on Friday, but cancelled those plans when we were told that the line for it was over 1 hour long. We gathered most of the food in the fridge and began to make breakfast for 10 of us and my aunt and uncles did a fine job with breakfast. Next on the agenda was a parade that came right by the house, so we walked out to the corner and watched over 80 different floats go by. My mom had her hubby's 1952 Dodge in the parade for her bed and breakfast she runs in town. After that was over we came back in and hung out until supper (in Canada lunch = dinner, dinner = supper). We went to the fair grounds for our supper and got in this huge line and at the end were a plate of the general’s chicken. We weren't that thrilled, but how do you feed 2000 people other than out sourcing it to some kind of business. It was that bad of meal, and after that we went home for a bit, because the party didn't start until 9. They had 2 different events going on, one for the younger crowd with a man called Williams that is a one man band that sings cover songs, he records all of the back ground music, drums, keyboards, etc and then plays it back from his computer and sings and plays guitar. I had seen him 3 years ago when I went to my moms for Christmas and I was excited to see him again. Let me tell you one thing, Canadians love beer, if you have ever seen the movie Strange Brew, then you will know what I am talking about. Eh! Everyone was having a good time, and I never saw any fights or confrontations. I never even saw any RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the whole time I was in town. I heard later that their was 1 guy patrolling the bar area, but I never saw him. We headed home before midnight and lit up our camp fire and talked till 2am again and heard the funniest story fun one of my cousins that is just wouldn't be easy to type or even legal, since it involves lots of body movements to see the real excitement, but all I am going to say is that it one of the top 3 things I did, heard or saw.

On Sunday we got up at 8am again and attempted to get our breakfast again and this time we were successful. We just had the standard pancakes and sausage, but I love the sausage up there. I don't know why, but it is just delicious. From there we home for a couple of hours and then came back to town to see the car show and walked around for a bit, then we had to go over to the fairgrounds to play softball. The town set up a softball tournament with the 12 teams made up of family members. We started off pretty good and won that first game 9-2 and then had an hour to have dinner (lunch) and game 2 was a little more difficult. We were behind 0-8 and then it came back to us and started in the 3rd inning and went up 9-8. Then they tied it up at 9 and we ended that game 10-9. We didn't have any time to rest and were quickly rushed into game 3. We fell apart quickly, and after the first inning it was like 0-6. I was talking the umpire and he said that he usually played with this team, but he was waiting to have shoulder surgery and that only 1 or 2 people from the team were family and that the rest of team were players that played together every weekend. They were making double plays and catching everything and they had a couple of players that hit the ball out of the park every time. I think that final was 0-10 after all was said and done. We walked off the field with tails between our legs, but I think we all had fun. Only 2 out of the 13 of us that played have even stepped on a field in a couple of years.

We went home and cleaned up and prepared supper, which my mom made a Mexican feast. She cooked up some beef, friend taco shells, quesadilla and I made some enchiladas. I think we fed close to 20 people that night and there weren’t much left. Later that night we went back to the fairgrounds for a fireworks extravaganza. We were told that the guy who arranged it knew some people, you know the rest of that, and got this light show for $5000. We were impressed that it lasted almost a half hour and we probably parking within 50 yards from where they were being shot off. We got home about 10:30 and started up the campfire again. My mom interrupted our conversation with a "Look there" we all looked up and saw the northern lights. It was quite the finish to the weekend of celebration. Matt, Jenn, and I went driving out of town to try to take some better photos, but we pretty much unsuccessful. I got one picture that you can see a little. We didn't have much ice left for our drinks, so we put everything we had left in my uncles cooler and went to bed about 1:30am.

We got up Monday and lots of the family started to leave after breakfast and my uncle noticed his cooler missing. We heard from one of our cousins that lots of the kids were partying down the street at someone’s house with a hot tub. At this place our youngest cousin slipped and fell on a broken beer bottle, apparently the kids were sitting in the hot tub and throwing their bottles out when they were done. We decided to go over to this place to see if we could find our cooler and someone saw it in back of our cousins car that told us about this party. We asked him about it and said that our youngest cousins friend put it in back of his truck when he fell on the bottle and they rushed him to the hospital, which was 20 miles away. We were all concerned and then found out that they transported him to a bigger hospital in Saskatoon, about 2 hours away. Around noon we headed out to my moms hubby's farm. It had been 3 years prior that I had been out there and I wasn't driving and the place was covered in snow. Why am I telling you all of this, well I got lost, not bad, I just missed the turn. After I arrived my brother came out and gave me crap and said that he drove out to see if he could see me, but gave up. The kids rode a pony and my niece was being attacked by horse flies. One got her real good and drew blood, it was funny because she ran inside the house and looked out the window in terror. We hung out with my mom and cliff and she fed us grilled cheese and fruit for dinner. We took off around 5 back to town to have supper with the family in town. My uncles had brought lots of fish with them and we had quite the feast. My aunt Bernie made this tarter sauce that was just delicious and all of the fish was great. I am telling you it felt like I put on 10 lbs while I was up there, we were always eating these huge meals. That night we gathered around the campfire just like what we did every night.

Now it was Tuesday and we started to realize how quickly our time away was coming to a close. We had a good breakfast and then headed out to my uncle's friends place that used to be do taxidermy. He had lots of elk that he got when elk meat was big, but now has almost disappeared in Canada. He said that the Koreans buy the antlers for the felt and that Americans come up and hunts his prized elk for game. We went out and petted one of his tamed elk that they fed when she was a baby. One of males actually came up to me (behind a fence of course) and sniffed my hand and let me touch above his nose. I was told that was not normal and that males do not come up to anyone, maybe he just saw the fire in my eyes and was attracted to me. It was pretty cool, but petting the beast left a mark, it was kind of reminded me when I got flat top hair cuts when I was a kid and then sticking my hand through my hair and I would have little pieces of hair and oil on my hand. On our way back to the house we were called and told that my mom's step-son-in-law Brian needed Matt’s and my help. Brian picked us up and took us to the fairgrounds and we picked up the fencing used all weekend and drove it to Weinards, which was 20 miles away. We drove like 45 MPH and it took forever to get there, but Brian is funny to be around. On our way home we had this semi truck pass us and Brian looked over and said I sure hope that is not what I think it is, then with a huge shot of the nastiest smell I have ever smelt in my life he said yep it sure is. It was a truck that went from farm to farm and picked up dead livestock and then drove them to some place to be made into glue or what not. We slowed down to 35 MPH to let him get ahead of us. WOW it was nasty. For our reward Brian invited us down to his place for a few beers and talked for a while. That night we were all alone with my mom and we cooked up the steaks we bought in Edmonton and had a good supper. We got to bed a little after midnight since we had to get on the road early to get back to Edmonton for our flight that left at 6pm.

Wednesday we were all up by 7:30 and we finished packing and went to town to have breakfast. We were kind of nervous since the restaurant is only ran by 1 person, she was cooking breakfast for us, filling peoples coffee and collecting the money. We said our good byes and hit the road. We had 450 miles to drive again. We made a few more pit stops on the way back a slowed to 100 - 130 KPH. Of course we stopped at Taco Time again and I had a chicken burrito this time. We watched Benchwarmers for the 3 or 4th time and we arrived in Edmonton around 3pm. We filled up the gas of the rental and dropped it off at the airport. We made it through security with ease, well I did, my brother talked to them for a lot longer than I did. Now we had 2 hours to sit and wait, I kind of find it funny now, I saw this room across the way that was designated a smoking room and then I saw this guy come out of it I can't stand smokers. Next we board our flight and I have the window seat and all of the sudden that guy I saw come out of the smoking room comes walking towards me and sits next to me, first thing he sticks like cigarettes. Next he gets comfortable and sprawls out like he owns the airlines. He was kind of big and scary too, so I didn't say anything. It pretty much was the worst flight I have ever been on, but half way through he got up and went the restroom and I was like yippee and then on his way back he found 2 seats in the middle of the plane not occupied and sat down. I was thrilled and pretended that I owned the airlines with my legs fully extended. Of course good things don't last forever. After about 20 minutes of what I call the part of the trip he was asked to move back to his assigned seat. I have no freaking idea why this was, but lets just say I gave those flight attendance a disgusted look at the end of the flight, I didn't say anything, because we just landed in Seattle and we still had another flight to catch and I had to work Thursday. I didn't want to make the evening news if you know what I am talking about. Kind of like Gaylord Focker in Meet the Parents if you can't picture what I am talking about. We had a hour and half between flights and we ate dinner and of course our flight was delayed and we didn't take off until after 9. I was happy because the view we had was out of the world. We flew up over the clouds to see a full moon with Mt Rainer poking up through sea of clouds, I tried to take a photo, but who would have guessed it, my battery died. I asked for my brothers, but no luck his camera takes really bad night shots and nothing turned out. We got into sac about 11:30 and that is about all there is to say about that.

Hope you had a blast.

Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager (episode 1)

Funny

Best Flash Animation of 2006

Might be early in the year to call it the best of 2006, but it just might be. Thanks to my buddy Jeremy for sending me this video, you need to check it out to see how cool it is.

[view]

Sith Abandon Ship

If you are a fan of the Sith, then look no further than this shirt. Oddica has some interesting shirts for sale and right now they have some specials going on. First offer is 2 shirts for $32(regularly $20) or 3 shirts for $14 ea. and if you type the coupon code "uncrate" you get $5.00 off or coupon code "tell" you get $7.00 off for telling your friends about Oddica. If you want one, buy it now, because once they're gone, they're gone and you will have to wait for the reprint which is a little different from what I have seen.

[Oddica]

My trip to Canadia

Coming Soon!!!!!

Great White North

I am off to Canadia today, I will be back in a week. I will try to get something special for all of my readers, but I can't guarentee a model wearing a Canada Flag bikini. Sorry.......

Darth Vader being a smartass

This is hilarious. Empire was the best Star Wars movie ever.

キーボードマリオクラッシャー(I have no clue what this means)

Oh man, I am still drying my eyes after this one. So funny..... You have to see it to believe it.

The Hoff

You owe me big time The Hoff for making you a popular dude by dressing up like yours truly last Halloween.

Jobs

Don't tell me this video posting thing is going to get old real fast, sorry for the explosion of post today, but I had to show you a video with two of my favorite subjects. Mac and Star Wars....

Streblo

You need to watch this video because it's hilarious and pure genius.... That is all I am going to say.

Taco Town

Like I posted before, this past season of SNL had some amazing skits. Here is a commercial they made called Taco Town. Not a whole lot I have to say about this one, just sit back and enjoy.

Update: just using new skills of posting video directly to my site, hope you are not disapointed.

Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse

Finally Apple released a wireless version of the Mighty Mouse. All of the same features of the original are hear minus the cord, now has laser tracking. It is powered by 1 or 2 AA batteries and connects with Bluetooth. Ever since the mighty mouse came out, people in the Mac world have been waiting for a wireless version. The cost is $70 and is available now, sorry window users, looks like this version is Mac only for now.

[more info]

Cloning Clyde

I know that many of my readers don't have a Xbox 360, but here is a game that is kind of easy, but fun and challenging at the same time. The game is called Cloning Clyde and it is available via Xbox Live. The game is like 25 MB and can be downloaded in a matter of minutes and cost 800 points, roughly $10.00. The graphics and design are just flat out amazing, I wish more developers would stop for a moment with all of their madness in making big expensive games and make more games like this with creativity being the key ingredient. If you are interested for more info, then head over to xbox.com.

[more info]

Are you afraid of pickles?

Well, this lady is apparently afraid of pickles. This video is funny and at the same time a waste of TV air time if you ask me. I can't believe anyone watches this (stuff). I have never known anyone that has been deathly afraid of any vegetable, so you have to see the video to know what I am talking about. (Those are cucumbers being dropped off at a pickle factory)

[View]

BMW M3 goes airborne video

I am sorry for the short lived 360 deal below, so for your trouble enjoy this horrific car crash where a BMW M3 looses control and then goes airborne during a race that was televised on the Speed Channel. My question is why was that jump there in the first place. Maybe it was intended for the General Lee.

[View]

Xbox 360 for $349.95

If you have been waiting for the Xbox 360 to drop in price here is your chance. Dell is offering a platinum package(20GB HD, wireless controller) Xbox 360 for $359.95 after an instant $40.00 off and then copy and paste this code to get an additional $10.00 off, C99$273GQ1L4W8 to make it $349.95. Regularly this set would put you back $399, so if you want to step up with to latest and greatest game system, go to and get one while that price last.

[Deal]

Update: 6/30/06 1:14PM

Wow, that was quick, hope you got a chance to buy one while it lasted.

Southpark

Have you ever wanted to see a certain episode of Southpark, but you just don't see it coming up on your channel guide, don't own the seasons 1-7 DVD, or the episode you wish to see is on a season that's not on DVD yet. Well, fear not, here is a site that you can view every episode of Southpark for free including the controversial Trapped in the Closet episode that Tom Cruise despised so much that it doesn't air on Comedy Central anymore. Check it out before it gets shut down, now that I have posted it here.:)

[Enjoy]

Ever want to be a film producer?

This director Tao Ruspoli is looking for a few thousand investors to help him produce a movie called Fix. His goal is $250,000 and anyone can donate, even a $1.00 donation will get you an associate producer credit on the film. It is an interesting concept, and with the popularity of the internet these days, anything seems possible.

[More info]

Nacho Libre

Jared Hess does it again with a surprisingly good feeling funny movie starring Jack Black, Nacho Libre. You may recognize that director's name; at least you should since he was the mastermind behind Napoleon Dynamite. I was told by one person that it wasn't worth more than the price of a matinee admission, and then I was told by another that it was really funny. I was hesitant but determined to make my own opinion and finally, after a week and a half, I saw Nacho Libre tonight. It was almost the perfect movie for "why to see movies" in the first place, which is to be entertained and to escape reality. It had an excellent balance of humor and action that just left me feeling good and satisfied. I really have to recommend that you see this movie and then let me know what you think.


Update: 7/1/06 10:05AM

Minor grammer corrections, thanks Jeremy.

Superman Returns

I am looking forward to the new Superman Returns, which opens Wednesday June 28. Bryan Singer, who did the first two X-Men movies, directs this DC Comic's Superhero epic. X-Men The Last Stand sure missed Bryan, in my opinion it was the worst movie for the series, which tells me that Singer just knows how to do comic book movies. You should really check out the previews in HD if you have a chance. I remember liking the original Superman movies when I was a kid, but now I think they are horrible and I can't wait for a new adaptation with modern day special effects. I will update this post to let you know if it worth all of the hype.

[Superman Returns High Definition Trailers]

Jer, sorry I've been slacking.

Update: 6/28/06 9:40PM

Oh it was worth all of the hype and then some. It was one of the most amazing Superhero movies I have ever seen. At first when I heard the budget was over $250 million I was shocked, but I have to say that the special effects were amazing. There was not a single ounce that I did not like. Please go see it soon, because Pirates of the Caribbean comes out next weekend.

Theo, Version 3.2

Another year, another birthday, but does it really matter. I may have had a hard time waking up this morning, but I don't think it is an age thing, just a mental thing. None of us want to get any older, but we don't really have a choice, so we should stand tall and accept it and enjoy every day we have. If you would like to make a donation to my foundation, please don't hesitate to send me some money.

DS Lite

Well, I was wrong when I said that the DS Lite wouldn't come out until fall, it was released today. Hope you have a chance to pick one up, because it is so small and good looking. The screen is so bright compared to the original DS. Plus don't forget to get some of the great games the DS has to offer: The New Super Mario Brothers, Brain Age, and Mario Kart DS.

I just couldn't wait to tell you

I don't even have it in my hands, but I am so excited, that I had to share it with all of you. Here is a picture of my laptop that is currently being built and will ship soon. After all of my posts about Macs in the past, I finally found one that I just couldn't pass up. Ladies and Gentleman, I give the MacBook in black. Yeah, I think that I said the $150 premium to get a black one wasn't worth it, but after holding a white Macbook in my hands a few nights ago, I just couldn't wait to order one, and why not get it in black. The good people over at Colorwarepc are charging $550 to have a MacBook Pro painted in any of the 23 colors they have to choose from.

.

Update: Expected to arrive June 6

Update 2: Arrived a day early, oh man am I ever excited

Robot Chicken + Star Wars = Delicious Combo

What do you get when you mix Star Wars with the funny toy figure stop motion on Robot Chicken. I know I have mentioned in the past how much I like this show, but here is another hilarious short they made involving a phone call between Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine right after the destruction of the first Death Star.

[Enjoy]

Apple New York Store

Have you seen this, crazy if you ask me, Apple store in New York City to open tonight at 6pm EST. The store is mainly underground and will be open 24/7/365. In honor of the grand opening they are giving away a MacBook every hour for the first 24 hours and the first 2500 people in get a free shirt. I imagine that line is at least that by now. I always knew that Steve Jobs liked cubes, but is this too much, you be the judge. If I ever make it out that way, I will definitely have to stop by and if you make it out that way let me know what it is like.

[View]

Audi Streets of Tomorrow Event

I can't believe I didn't tell you about this the other day. On Sunday May 14, 2006 I went to Mountain View, CA for an Audi event that was out of this world. I went with my sister and her boyfriend along with his parents.

I really didn't know what to expect, since my previous experience for one of these events was GM one I went to a couple of years ago where they fed you a sack lunch and lots of water since it was like 90 degrees and we got to drive lots of different cars, but of course the prize cars the H2 and Corvette had 2 hours long lines, you guessed that right, I never got to drive those two. I do have to say this Audi event was nothing like the GM event.

First off it is an Audi, and were treated with a lot of respect. We started of the day driving the brand new not available Audi Q7 on surface streets, no closed track here. It was so smooth and the features it had were amazing. Then we came back to a closed track event and got to ride shotgun in a S4 with a professional driver, let me just tell you we were driving like 60 mph in a small parking lot, no wonder why they didn't give us the keys.

Next, we went back inside to check out the food they were offering and to get some water. Oh man, Audi had it going on, they had this catering company out of the Bay Area and they were serving up some of the best catered food ever from sushi to fresh crab to local cheeses. Lets just say we stayed inside for a while. Next we got on a shuttle to go to another parking lot that was made into a test course and we were giving a choice of 3 cars to drive. I drove an A8, A6, and the Q7 again. Talk about a classy car, Audi is amazing.

After all of the driving we came back to get a free caricature from he artist that was there, as we waited for him to get off his brake, we hit the fine foods again. If you can't already tell, I recommend you hitting one of these events since there is only a few left, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami, and Dallas. Also, Audi sold me, and if you were there they would have sold you too.

[Audi]

New Super Mario Brothers

Like I said in March, I can't wait for the New Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo DS, it has finally arrived and I had a chance to play it. All I have to say, if you love the old school original Super Mario Brothers for the NES, then you will have love this game and if you don't already own a Nintendo DS, this is the game that will make you buy one. Just remember the DS Lite will come out June 11 for $129 and it looks amazing. If you get a chance to play the NSMB's, let me know what you think.

[Buy]

[Videos]

MacBook

Today Apple introduced the MacBook finally which replaces the iBook. Starting at $1099 the base model comes in white with a 1.83 GHz processor, 512 MB ram, 13.3 inch screen, eye sight built in and top end model comes in white or black with a 2.0 GHz processor and is priced at $1299 and $1499. If you want one in black you will have pay a premium being that the only way to get a black MacBook is paying the $1499 price.

[View]

Napoleon Dynamite-Like the Best Special Edition Ever!

Get ready for a special edition DVD of Napoleon Dynamite, exactly what it's title promises, this two disc release will have tons of extras, MTV specials, out takes, commentary by both Jared Hess and Jon Heder, SNL skits, and a cool 3-D cover. You know you want to buy it, GOSH. Available May 16.

[Buy]

Star Wars Original Trilogy finally on DVD

Who shot first Han or Greedo, many new Star Wars fans don't know this, since all they know about the original Star Wars Trilogy is what they saw on the Remastered Special Edition versions. Well, Star Wars fans rejoice, the original unedited editions will be coming out on DVD September 12 for us to purchase one more copy before they release it on Blu-Ray in a few years.

[Read]

Get a Mac ads

My opinion of Macs has changed dramatically over the past few years for reasons I can't explain, but probably just because how cool Macs look and how dependable they are. Check out the new commercials for Macs and let me know what you think. My next computer will be a MacBook Pro. How about you?

[View]

Zombies, are you prepared!

Would you survive a zombie attack? Take this quiz to find out if you would be ready for a zombie attack. I did it perfectly, so you don't have to worry about me, I just hope the same for you. Below you will find my results, I wish you good luck.

[QUIZ]

Would you survive a zombie attack? You Did perfect! You made every move correctly.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Coolest Honda commercial

This has to be one of the best and coolest Honda commercial I have ever seen. The load time was a little slow for me, so be patient and enjoy. Thanks Bob for showing me this.

[View]

17-inch MacBook Pro

Apple released a 17-inch version of the MacBook Pro today with a 2.16 Ghz Intel chip, 1 GB ram, 120 GB HDD, firewire 800, 3 USB 2.0 ports, with wiFi and Bluetooth ($2799). Don't forget that you can install Windows XP on a second partition so you can have the best of both worlds with Bootcamp from Apple.

[Buy Now]

Saturday Night Live

I don't know if you have been watching this Saturday Night Live this season, but after watching these skits, I am pretty confident that you will add it to you TiVo season pass. I know that SNL hasn't been that great in the past few years, reason being why I really haven't been keeping up with it, but this pass summer they hired a few new writers and hosts. It sure shows you how good a show can be with good writers.

This first video is for Mike & Toni's Chandelier Galaxy, my favorite part is when Scarlett Johansson says Look at this one, look at that one, look at this one, look at that one. Enough said go and check it out.

[View]

The second one is a rap video with Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg obviously having to much fun singing about a The Chronicles of Narnia and a bakers dozen. Check it out.






[View]

The last video is called Laser Cat's, which, apparently was filmed by Andy Samberg and Bill Hader on their own time and then brought it to Loren Michaels. Funny goofy stuff I tell you.






[View]

Brokeback to the Future

Never knew how mmm... (let's say) interesting Back to the Future was before this moment. Somebody took scenes from the Back to the Future movies and mixed it with Brokeback Mountain music, so in a sense it's Back to the Future with a Brokeback twist. Funny stuff....

[View]

Just when you thought flying was safe again.....

Who, what, where, when did this come from. Snakes on a Plane will hit the theatres some time this year. If anyone sees a preview of this film; let me know. All I have for you is a website, other than that, I don't have a clue about anything other than we are going to have the obvious things here snakes and planes.... Enjoy

[view]

Is Hollywood this desperate?

Update - Samual L. Jackson is the star, and here is a [preview].

Is Samual L. Jackson this desperate?