So about a month ago I started a new blog at http://www.hoodwinking.blogspot.com
So from now on I am using messageboards for posting, and myspace for whatever the hell myspace is used for.
If you wanna actually take the time to read my blog just follow the link above or click the link in my sig.
That is all.
So I have had the PS3 for approx six months. I weighed all the options beforehand and actually was very close to buying a 360, but then once the $399 price drop happened, I decided to go with the 40gb PS3. I liked the 360 but found that most of it's exclusives seemed to be FPS games and while I find some entertaining, I am not a huge FPS fan. (Which sounds weird now because I have Resistance and plan on getting Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and Resistance 2, but I promise I am not that big of a FPS fan)
I honestly am not sure where all the hate for it comes from besides people who just outright hate Sony and/or their desire to control a bigger chunk of the gaming world.
Ratchet & Clank was a damn fun game, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune was a cool adventure game that begs for a longer sequel, DMC 4 was amazing, and Assassin's Creed was a visual pleasure while the game itself albeit short, was a crafty gem. Yes I know, some of these were also available on the 360. With games coming out more frequently now, and a lot of good titles on the way I don't buy the "no good games" bullshit that is still being peddled by some. Also, it isn't that the PS3 is this "hard complicated" system to program for, it is just different. The same thing was said about the PS2 in the beginning, and the PS2 turned out pretty damn well for itself.
The Blu-Ray player. I don't care what the haters say, it is pretty awesome having not only a blu-ray player, but a pretty damn good blu-ray player(not to mention an upconverting dvd player to boot) in a gaming system at no extra cost, and while blu-ray discs themselves have priced themselves out of my budget for now, it is still considered a good investment for the future.
Playstation eye; pretty crafty add-on I bought that allows me to do video chat with my best friend who now resides in Houston, TX. I will admit, if it wasn't for that factor, I probably wouldn't have bought it because there is not enough other things it is useful for YET. Oh and it also works as a mic for games, so now you have the option to not have to wear a headset of any sort and the mic has a very strong range.
So yeah pretty much overall I am happy with my PS3, and I don't know of anyone who owns one that has any complaints. It seems like most of the hate is coming from people that didn't want, and will never want one in the first place.
While I am currently employed, I really hate my job. Well let me clarify, the job itself is ok, but the pay sucks, there is no room for advancement and my boss is not someone that is a joy to work for, more or less I try to hide from her and have as little contact as possible except when absolutely necessary.
I took the day off work today(I have about 88 sick hours at my disposal) to interview with sutter about an administrative assistant job. My wife works for sutter as a Medical Assistant, so going into the interview I was pretty confident. To my dismay, the very first words out of the panel's mouth was "we just want to clarify that we reviewed that online description and the job is not as entry level as the description makes it seem" GREAAAAAAAAAAT. There goes my confidence down the toilet. Truth be told, I am pretty well versed in MS Office programs. I am strong in Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, Intermediate in Excel, and a novice when it comes to Access. During the interview I found out that this position is kind of one of those positions where you just kind of get thrown assignments and projects your way and it is just kind of up to you to figure out how to get them done. There is no set structure, it is just a "find a way to get it done" enviornment. Well this immediately set my "no thanks" meter off, but for $16/hr I decided to keep the interview going. Anyways, by the end of the interview I got the vibe that they liked me but didn't think I have enough experience in excel and this type of enviornment for the job, and I am perfectly fine with their observation because it is accurate. I am just kind of dissapointed that the online description wasn't more clear because I hate taking days off work to follow leads that turn out to be a waste of time.
On the subject of looking for work in general. It fucking sucks. Is it me or have temp agencies basically taken over websites such as craigslist and monster.com ? I remember back in the day at least when you applied for jobs on there, you had a good chance of applying for full-time work. Now, no matter what category you choose, it is 90% temp agencies that aren't really offering a job, just a chance to come down to the office, fill out massive amounts of paperwork and then go back home sit around and hope you get a phone call(yes I have dealt with temp agencies in the past).
So to anyone reading this, what methods have you found the most successful when searching for work? Do you just dress up, get in the car, drive around and collect applications? I am almost to the desperation point of doing that because the internet is becoming less of a resource for quality jobs and more of a way for temp agencies to fill head-hunting quotas.
I'm baaaaaaaack. <crickets>
So just here waiting for my last two hours of work to end. In case you didn't know, since my last blog, I got a PS3, a Wii and most importantly, MARRIED. Life is good....mostly.
The wedding was fantastic. For the first time in my life I really feel I got more then what I paid for. It was a nice ceremony outside in the garden, and the reception was a hell of a party. We were partying so hard that the wedding coordinator(who owns the place we got married at) paid out of her own pocket to keep the party going for an extra hour. A keg of blue moon, margarita machines, and tequilla & rum shots were flowing heavy that night, but fortunately everyone got home safe. The planning was pretty stressless until about a month and a half till the wedding. We didn't even buy our wedding bands until a week and a half before the ceremony...lol.
Anyways, that was just a quick update to get myself back into the bloggin' groove. In about two hours I will be stopping by Gamestop to pick up Devil May Cry 4....BOOYAH!!!
So I'll start by saying, sorry it's been so long since the last blog, but this whole blogging thing is kind of new to me so I often forget about it for stretches. Anyways, the wedding planning is coming along nicely. Just about everything is booked with a deposit or down payment already cleared. My best friend was in town last weekend and along with him and a few other friends we got fitted for the tuxes which was an enjoyable experience. We just got an email by the DJ with possible song lists and the form to fill out for all the dances. I asked Jennifer if it was cool to be introduced with the Imperial March music playing in the background....lol.
So baseball is back which means I get to try and block it out (this never works)until after the All-star break because the A's usually offer nothing but heartbreak and dissapointmet through the first half of the season. I really don't think they have enough firepower to make a giant surge at the end of the season. I do expect them to improve as the season goes on, however they have some players that just aren't panning out.
Eric Chavez has been a huge dissapointment every since he resigned
Bobby Crosby has become an injury magnet ever since he won ROY
Mike Piazza already looks like he doesn't really care
Basically I feel those three need to have HUGE years for the A's to still be in contention by September. The pitching is pretty good, but not great, and run support is always going to be an issue.
I think the A's will finish about 85-77, good for second place in the AL West.
So I am not sure if I mentioned this in the forums, but tomorrow I start a new job as a vocational skills trainer. Basically this company works with the handicapped and they contract out work that they can handle/do, so when they get a contract, they train me and other trainers on how to do the job and then I train the folks that will be doing the job. When I worked at a Target warehouse I remember some handicapped folks would be bused in once or twice a week to open those old plastic mechanisms that CDs used to be put it....so I am sure that is an example of something I would be training people to do, although each job would be varying in how easy or difficult it is. This isn't a temp job, which is good, and my hiring supervisor said she is looking for someone to grow with the company and encourages me to look for other job listing within the company if I see something I like that better suits me in the future......
Oh and we ended up getting a 2004 Chevy Venture Van. Yeah I know, Chevys are shit blah blah fucking blah, well it only had 24k miles on it, and it was a leased car which gives it a pretty clean bill of health. We had a DVD player put in it the other day, so yea we pimped our ride......I could have bought a used foreign car that "runs forever" but they all had 80k or more miles on them, which means you could probably start running into other issues besides just the engine.....
Well not necessarily a brand new car, but a replacement for my current scrap heap. So yeah, you probably by now have seen my post in the General Chat forum, if not, go read it or just read this blog entry.
Basically I took my car in because oil was getting into the coolant, and causing the car to overheat....long story short.....CRACKED CYLINDER HEAD. The estimate? $2400.00!!! HAHAHAHAH. For a car that probably blue books at $4-5k? Yeah fucking right. Then the guy had the nerve to give me a new engine as an option for $3700....ummmm NO.
So anyways, I am looking at Car Max right now, for something 10k or under. Nothing fancy as I am not into cars other then them being a means of transportation. I can care less about how powerful it is, how fast it is, how trendy it is etc.....my only demands are 4 Doors, Air Conditioner, Low Mileage(at time of purchase) and Good Gas Mileage...in other words a 4-door Sedan is what I am probably going to get.
So yeah, this wouldn't be a fucked up situation, except for that fact that Me and Jennifer have a goddamn wedding to pay for.....Of course the first half payment is not due till July, so it gives us time to save money back up for awhile, and me having a great mother and all, she is probably gonna end up buying the car for me upfront, and I can just pay her back in payments rather then dealing with a loan or car dealership to pay back to.....Did I mention my mom is the greatest?
So as you all know by now from reading earlier blog(s), I am getting married in August. So after some quick research and reference checking, we have settled on a place to get married and the photographer.
Here is the place.... http://www.greatoccasionschapelandgardens.com/index.html
I forgot the name of the photographer, the package gets us 300 pictures(film) plus an album, and an engagement photo that I guess we will put in one of those matted frames where people can sign some "cutesy" statements on....whatever....
So yeah, the place is nice, not over the top, and we certainly found more elaborate places, but we decided to work with a 10k budget, that way we can pay for the wedding all in cash, and not have to worry about going into debt for a one-day event. Plus, the ceremony itself is about 1/16th of the total cost, and will barely take 20-30 minutes. It's really the reception where the money and planning and overall time is put into, and the place works with Hannibal's catering(yeah, haha HANNIBAL) which was ranked #1 caterer of Sacramento.
We are also thinking of getting a harpist, which would play all the wedding march music, for only $250, seems reasonable enough, plus it would probably sound a little nicer then just having a CD played over the PA system....
I am 90% sure we are doing the outside garden ceremony and reception, since the garden will be in full boom, and there is more space.
The place also will do a cake for you via a bakery they work with, but it would come out to $400 for the amount of guests we are having, and we can probably get it for cheaper, but who knows. We get to have tastings with the bakery and with Hannibals, we just have to call and set them up....
So yeah, we still haven't even looked into flowers/floral arrangements yet, but since the reception will be in the evening, we are thinking of doing a lot of candles on the table rather then an obscene amount of flowers......
Before living on my own I never realized how fast bread goes, even if it tightly wrapped back up and put in a bread box........goddamn moldy bread, nothing like getting the craving for a simple sandwich and having the buzz killed because of a few green spots on the load of bread........Yup, that's it.....
Yeah, I'm sick. Not hungover-sick, just sore-throat, congested etc sick. It's not so bad, I have the Descent and Superman Returns here, ready to be watched, and a very comfortable couch to lay on.....I still am in some disbelief that I went ahead and got engaged. Not regretting it of course, it is just weird that after all this time being in a relationship with the same person, there was STILL a next step/stage to take it to. The planning will begin soon, and one of the benefits of being the last of the group to holdout, is that a lot of friends are throwing us referrals and references left and right for deals on stuff...Me personally, all I really care about is that everyone is well fed at the reception. Oh and the Tux. Yeah, the two things I care about....haha. Since this is the first time doing this, I suppose the first thing to do is make the guest list since a lot of stuff is based around how many people will be at the wedding....
I don't want to steal the thunder of my previous blog, since that is much more important "news" to share then this bitter entry, but I noticed, when I was Christmas shopping how a lot of clothing lines/brands/names etc....have become fashionable over the past couple of years which has been met with a price hike that makes purchasing more then one or two items unbearable. Stores like "Tillys" "Ground Zero" etc....they mostly contain a lot of brand names that a few years ago basically made the same stuff, but not as many people took a liking to it. It was never "cheap" perse, but it was all reasonably priced. Not anymore. Why are they asking $25 for T-shirts....not a nice dress shirt or collared shirt, but a fucking T-shirt with a random, generic print on it....$25? The only thing I could find which blew my mind away were Hoodies, that were a mere $20.....yes people they were charging more for T-shirts, then Hoodies!?! Of course, I suck at clothes shopping for other people anyway, so I usually just sell out and by some type of accessorie.
Well it's official, me and my girlfriend are now engaged. I am anxiously awaiting how many times I will still introduce her as, "my girlfr...err...fiance" LOL. We've been dating forever, and have lived together for about a year and a half now, and I'd say the experiment is working quite nicely...haha. So yeah we are looking to get married late-summer/early-fall 2007. We've told most everyone in the family that would be attending the wedding, but I haven't even really told any friends yet.....It's just kind of weird because after dating this long, it doesn't even feel like a "next step" it just feels like, umm ok now she has a ring on her finger. LOL.
So I just got done watching the J-horror flick, Dark Water. As some of you might know, the movie was remade a couple years back with Jennifer Conolly for "American Audiences" I must say that it is a shame that foreign films, especially horror films aren't just given wide releases here instead of being re-made. A lot of the atmosphere is ruined and traded in for cheap parlor tricks in the america remakes. I have heard the argument that american audiences would not appreciate the japanese flicks because of the cultural themes in them, however I would hope that americans seeking out these films would be smart enough to understand different cultures. I, personally have no problem understanding the outlying themes, and actually appreciate it even more because it is something different then hollywood has to offer. It's not even like most of the japanese horror films are groundbreaking or anything, but it is a shame that good and decent j-horror flicks are remade into crap-tacular american films, and on top of that 90% of the people seeing them don't even know they are remakes. The worst part is that usually the american remakes are reviewed by critics so harshly(with the exception of The Ring) that it detours people from even wanting to see the original. So do yourself a favor, the next time you see an ad for a horror flick, that has to do with a kid, a ghost(usually with LONG SPOOKY BLACK HAIR) and a lonely mother....check to see if it was originall a J-horror flick!!!
You know what bugs me? Going into the freezer to get ice for my drink, only to find an empty ice bowl. I am the type of person that likes ice with my drink. I like drinking my drinks at maxium coldness. Whether it is the hottest day of summer, or coldest day of winter, that is just the way I am. During the Winter time it is ok because no one else uses ice for their drinks much, but in the summer it can get frustrating. Everyone uses it at their convenience, but they don't NEED it like I do, so they just use it when it's there and don't ever bother to make new ice in the ice trays. ( We don't have a water line hooked up to the freezer so we have to make ice manually. )
So this is it, my first TSM Blog.
So I was driving along the road and I heard rock music being blasted out the car next to me. Nirvana. Yeah, Nirvana is still getting as much play on the radio today as it did in 1992. Now, personally I have nothing against Nirvana, I was a young teenager in their heyday, and I listened to them, however at 26 and almost 15 years older, I have to think to myself, what the hell are they still doing getting hourly spins on the radio?
With the boom of the internet it was my hope people would not be simply downloading the "hot music of the hour" but actively seeking out bands you don't hear on the radio. Doesn't have to be what I happen to like, I can care less, but I guess my dissapointment is that either the music of today is so bad that there isn't enough quality to fill up the radio for a couple of hours OR the industry itself is so tedious and petty that just want to rehash music from a previous generation onto the next generation of teenage angst. Or Both!?!
I have never been one to say you can't like this or that, or the one to argue that what I happen to like is the best, but there are some things in life that I do feel the need to speak out about and one of them is the absolute shit quality of music today. Now I am sure people will reply to this with so-and-so and how awesome they are, but even if that is true, I am willing to bet they are the exception to the rule.
With the internet entering more homes everyday, and highspeed costs coming down(somewhat) My hope is that one day the monopoly that is currently held on corporate radio can be broken by the will of the people. I hope for a day when most people just flat out turn off FM Radio for good and seek other venues for music. That is when the search for true Artists will begin.
