The Blog: Laments From La Mancha

Tonight (or rather last night depending on the time you read this), we decided to have a New Year’s Eve-Eve party.

Last year we had a New Year’s Eve party and had a total blast. We did some food, some board games, and then watched CNN to bring in the new years. We wrapped it up by making fun of all the songs I’ve screwed up the lyrics on (oh come on, you know you’ve done it too – Eric Peter’s Toilet Seat instead of Torrid Sea, Shawn Mullin’s Sabarro’s on Fairfax instead of a bar on Fairfax – the list goes on and on).

However this year Michelle and I made plans to enjoy New Years Eve alone since we spent our anniversary sick. Yet we had such a blast with our friends, we didn’t want to miss out on a chance to hang out and enjoy some quality fellowship. So what to do?

Then we hit on the idea of having a New Years Eve-Eve party. So a few emails and phone calls and in about an hour or two we managed to pull everyone together and agree on a plan of attack.

We gathered at around 5:30 and enjoyed some Marco’s Pizza and random beverages and crack a few jokes (most of them at my expense, but there was a great one about the little Smokey). We had some discussion about what to do next and narrowed it down to Wii, board games or a movie. Steph quickly decided that Wii was the thing (this was about 6:15).

Bowling turned out to be our first challenge of the evening. The surprising thing is, I suck at Wii bowling as much as I suck at real bowling. It doesn’t matter that I knock down 9 pins all the time, I can’t seem to close the deal to save my life, thankfully, I didn’t have the lowest score of the evening though, that honor went to Bobby. We bowled two games each

Jon – 186
Michelle – 170 (you totally suck!)
Stephanie – 159
Jon – 156
Michelle -153
Stephanie – 149 (you see a pattern here?)
Bob – 145 (best score ever, even higher than my real life score – yes I am that bad)
Debbie – 139
Bobby – 129
Debbie – 123
Bob – 116
Bobby – 84

A good time was had by all. However I think the most fun came from creating the Mii avatars that we used for the game. Each spouse got to create an avatar for their significant other. Jon & Debbie went cute and Bobby & Steph went nasty. Bobby ended up looking like a balding gray haired “Who” from The Grinch, while Steph was a total Eastern Block super star complete with unibrow and the denial of using male growth hormones. I was in tears.

From there we decided to bust out Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. While Bobby, Jon & Steph were all part of a virtual Wii Bowling league, we were all on the same footing here in this game.

It was awesome. The Wii experience is tough to describe until you’ve had it, but you’re thinking, come on it’s a video game, yeah video games. But until you’ve ran your little Mii through the 100m hurdles or totally poked your wife in Fencing, you just can’t understand how much fun it is. It transcends age groups, and is really accessible to anyone (though some games weren’t left handed friendly). We swam, we ran, we long jumped, triple long jumped, hammer tossed (which we had to watch a YouTube video to get the hang of it. Dang dude, you totally have to whip your hand around to get that thing going) and a slew of others.

Before you know it, as Bobby took Jon in a game of Ping Pong we hit midnight. Yes, that’s right, midnight.

It goes without saying that everyone will be sore in the morning, but we certainly had a great time. I’m thinking that we need to have Wii nights to go with game nights. Well, happy New Years Eve everyone!

Tonight (or rather last night depending on the time you read this), we decided to have a New Year’s Eve-Eve party.

Last year we had a New Year’s Eve party and had a total blast. We did some food, some board games, and then watched CNN to bring in the new years. We wrapped it up by making fun of all the songs I’ve screwed up the lyrics on (oh come on, you know you’ve done it too – Eric Peter’s Toilet Seat instead of Torrid Sea, Shawn Mullin’s Sabarro’s on Fairfax instead of a bar on Fairfax – the list goes on and on).

However this year Michelle and I made plans to enjoy New Years Eve alone since we spent our anniversary sick. Yet we had such a blast with our friends, we didn’t want to miss out on a chance to hang out and enjoy some quality fellowship. So what to do?

Then we hit on the idea of having a New Years Eve-Eve party. So a few emails and phone calls and in about an hour or two we managed to pull everyone together and agree on a plan of attack.

We gathered at around 5:30 and enjoyed some Marco’s Pizza and random beverages and crack a few jokes (most of them at my expense, but there was a great one about the little Smokey). We had some discussion about what to do next and narrowed it down to Wii, board games or a movie. Steph quickly decided that Wii was the thing (this was about 6:15).

Bowling turned out to be our first challenge of the evening. The surprising thing is, I suck at Wii bowling as much as I suck at real bowling. It doesn’t matter that I knock down 9 pins all the time, I can’t seem to close the deal to save my life, thankfully, I didn’t have the lowest score of the evening though, that honor went to Bobby. We bowled two games each

Jon – 186 (Four strikes in a row)
Michelle – 170 (you totally suck!)
Stephanie – 159
Jon – 156
Michelle -153
Stephanie – 149 (you see a pattern here?)
Bob – 145 (best score ever, even higher than my real life score – yes I am that bad)
Debbie – 139
Bobby – 129
Debbie – 123
Bob – 116
Bobby – 84

A good time was had by all. However I think the most fun came from creating the Mii avatars that we used for the game. Each spouse got to create an avatar for their significant other. Jon & Debbie went cute and Bobby & Steph went nasty. Bobby ended up looking like a balding gray haired “Who” from The Grinch, while Steph was a total Eastern Block super star complete with unibrow and the denial of using male growth hormones. I was in tears.

From there we decided to bust out Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. While Bobby, Jon & Steph were all part of a virtual Wii Bowling league, we were all on the same footing here in this game.

It was awesome. The Wii experience is tough to describe until you’ve had it, but you’re thinking, come on it’s a video game, yeah video games. But until you’ve ran your little Mii through the 100m hurdles or totally poked your wife in Fencing, you just can’t understand how much fun it is. It transcends age groups, and is really accessible to anyone (though some games weren’t left handed friendly). We swam, we ran, we long jumped, triple long jumped, hammer tossed (which we had to watch a YouTube video to get the hang of it. Dang dude, you totally have to whip your hand around to get that thing going) and a slew of others.

One of the highlights of the hammer toss learning was when Bobby decided to see if he actually spun around if he would do any better – no he didn’t end up going head first into the TV, but he almost did. I still can’t believe with all that spinning he still managed to get the toss of and in bounds. Before you know it, as Bobby took Jon in a game of Ping Pong we hit midnight. Yes, that’s right, midnight.

It goes without saying that everyone will be sore in the morning, but we certainly had a great time. I’m thinking that we need to have Wii nights to go with game nights. Well, happy New Years Eve everyone!

… That I didn’t jump on the right band wagons (albeit a year later)

Enjoy this blast from the past and really the viral video that help relaunch a band and YouTube as a force to be reckoned with.

People think I’m smart, but that’s not really the case. It’s simply the fact that I know how to put the tools at my disposal to good use, and I often bend them in twisted ways.

Cases in point:

Last night we were watching the old television and I heard a snippet of great music in the commercial. Now I hate that, because I have a taste of a really good song and no idea in hell where to start finding what I need. But fear not, all is not lost. Come internet, be my salve and find the very things I am looking for. With in seconds I had the name of the song and the lyrics.

Falling in Love in at a Coffee Shop
by Landon Pigg

I think that possibly, maybe I’m falling for you
Yes theres a chance that I’ve fallen quite hard over you.
I’ve seen the paths that your eyes wander down
I want to come too

I think that possibly, maybe I’m falling for you

No one understands me quite like you do
Through all of the shadowy corners of me

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop
I love so much
All of the while I never knew
I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop
I love so much
All of the while I never knew

I think that possibly, maybe I’m falling for you
Yes theres a chance that I’ve fallen quite hard over you.
I’ve seen the waters that make your eyes shine
Now I’m shining too

Because oh because
I’ve fallen quite hard over over you

If I didnt know you, I’d rather not know
If I couldnt have you, I’d rather be alone

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop
I love so much
All of the while I never knew
I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop
I love so much
All of the while, I never knew

All of the while , all of the while

Well that’s a freaking cool song, so now I’ve got to have it. So I go to my normal means of public distribution and no such luck. Never fear, I found the artists website, found that I can get it through iTunes (yes, believe it or not, I do actually purchase music as well). But before I just clicked the buttons and slap down my .99 cents, I did some comment reading. A few quotes in, someone points out that this song can be downloaded free from Diamonds are Forever (http://www.rcarecords.com/diamondisforever/). Snap! Just saved myself some cash.

Through this method, I’ve also discovered (and purchased) such cool artists as The Weepies, Stars (from the Old Navy Commercials), and Ingrid Michaelson, The Way I Am (also from Old Navy).

But the internet is for more than entertainment purposes.

We were enjoying some online shopping at Eddie Bauer and their up to 50% off sale. When all was said and done we made out pretty good. However, you know no me, I’m never satisfied with pretty good. I thought to myself, I wonder if I can get free shipping (I mean, they have a slot for promo codes, you might as well use them). After a few more clicks I found a promo code for 20% off, blam-o I just saved another $80 bucks on top of the savings I already had! I love the internet.

I love you internet.

Have I mentioned lately how much I enjoy the goodness that is my MacBook?

So a few weeks ago after suffering some permissions issues with her MacBook, Mélaine ended up doing some upgrades on hers and has been in Mac bliss ever since. Well, since it’s the American way not to sit back and let those Brits think they can rule the world again (first it starts with naval dominance, next thing you know the sun never sets on the British Empire, and then it’s all God save the Queen this, and God save the Queen that – taxation without representation and all of that). So really this had nothing to do with envy, and everything to do with my manifest destiny to preserve the American way of life. Honestly, it was my duty… really.

Well any any case, when I originally bought the Mac I had no idea if I was going to like it, or use it, so rather than wasting a bunch of money on upgrades I wasn’t going to use, I just got a base line model (I know, I’m shocked too). Yada, yada, yada, a year later and I’m in love.

But honestly I got tired of having < 10 gigs free on ye old hard drive (since normally I am downloading at least that much at any one given point in time). I found my way over to MacSales.com and ordered myself a new WD 250 gig hard drive, an external SATA kit, and 2 gigs of memory.

It showed up the next day (yeah Illinois, you’re now of my states to invade list).

Now I’ve built quite a few PCs in my day (including the now infamous into my desk model), so upgrades don’t really scare me, but I’ve never really dived into a notebook computer. Normally when I wander into areas of the upgrade world that I don’t want to tread, I call my good friend Bobby to the rescue (he having built the last 2 computers I purchased). The nice thing about my Mac, I didn’t even have to break up a sweat to do any of the work.

I opened the battery bay, removed 3 screws, popped to levers and the memory upgrade was pretty much done. I pulled a tab, slide out the drive, undid 4 torx screws, swapped the drive, redid the screws, slid the new drive in, tucked the tab, replaced the 3 screws and that was it. Pressed the power button and blam-o, I’m back in action.

Nice.

Now I did do some preplanning to make things go super smooth. I installed the new drive first in the the SATA external drive kit, installed Leopard, and then ran the migration assistant to copy over all the programs and settings from my current drive (took about 2-3 hours), but everything I had before, I have again, so life is good.

I love my Mac (and I’m a patriot).