Who Are You?

As you might have noticed, I use Sitemeter to keep track of who visits my blog and for how long. I sometimes see someone who spends up to 30 minutes viewing my blog. However, I don't know who these people are. Please post a comment or something so I have an idea of who likes my posts. I attempt to write posts that appeal to not just my friends and family, but to other bloggers who have the same interests as I. I often view other peoples blogs using the "Next Blog" link, and if I find an interesting blog, I'll write a comment. So far, I've only got feedback from two of these people. One lives in Pennsylvania, and the other lives in Australia. Blogs are a great way for people around the world to interact. So let's take advantage of this new medium and communicate!

Thanksgiving Downsized

This year it was just my Dad and I eating Thanksgiving diner. The rest of the family, my brother, his wife and my sister are all in France for some reason. So my Dad and I went to the Barona casino for their Thanksgiving buffet. The last two years we went to the Valley View casino, which was nice, but the buffet at Barona was much larger and the food was better. Last time I went to Barona was in 1996, and the entire casino was in a huge circus-like tent. Now there a beautiful Las Vegas style hotel and casino - it's really quite impressive (but sadly, we didn't see Kenny Rogers). The only downside is that they allow smoking in the casino, however, nobody was smoking in the restaurant. We'll all have to go back next year - so much food to try, so little room in stomach.

Recurring Dream, New Twist

The other night I had a dream with a recurring theme, but with a new twist. I have this dream like once a week where I start out at point 'A', and for some reason go to point 'B'. Then the rest of the dream I spend trying to return to point 'A'. Usually I start by driving a car, then for some reason I am riding a bike. Then I loose my bike and I'm walking. There is always something blocking me from getting back to point 'A', such as, all I have to do is go through a building, but as I do, I end up on an elevator that doesn't stop at the floor I need to go to. Another common dream I have is that I have the ability to levitate myself just by concentrating. In the dream I had recently, I was trying to get back to point 'A' while levitating in a small wooden chair. I made it to the top of a large cliff, or a waterfall, and was thinking of jumping off because I knew I could float, but then Godzilla showed up and I knew I couldn't get past him. He was about 100 Ft. tall and started walking towards me. Then he started talking and I tried talking to him, but in the end, I never made it off the cliff, and thus never got back to where I started from. Godzilla? What was I watching on TV before going to bed? I'm sure that this dream has meaning, but who cares. Remembering it in detail two days later is better than watching TV. I hope that in the future there will be a way to record dreams, with sound and video. My dreams are so weird, they could be turned into a television show like The Twilight Zone.

SHOUTcast

I have rediscovered Shoutcast, a web site that has thousands of internet radio stations playing music 24 hours a day for free. You can find a station playing any type of music, many that you may not have heard before, such as: ambient chill, downtempo grove lounge and industrial gothic. For some reason, the most popular stations are techno and trance. I don't know who would want to listen to that music for more than five minutes without being on a dance floor jacked-up on some little pill. I like to find new, unique music that I have never heard before, found mostly on college radio stations. Yesterday I heard a song by Manic Street Preachers, a band that's been around for years that I have never heard of, and now I want to get a CD by them. I guess that's why some bands let their music get broadcast for free. One note, you really need a high-speed internet connection to listen to the music.

Another feature of Shoutcast is the ability for anyone to broadcast their own music. One simple way to do this is by using a Shoutcast server Winamp plug-in. I played a CD using Winamp, turned on the server, and my station was on the air. To verify this, I powered up my other, older and slow PC, whet to Shoutcast.com and searched for my station by name. There it was! There was about a ten second delay, but the music was playing to the whole world. I say simple, but it took me hours to get it working. But still, pretty neat. I couldn't keep my "station" up too long for two reasons. First, I was playing copyrighted music (specifically They Might Be Giants), and secondly, my ISP doesn't allow the use of local servers. Uploading music from a computer uses too much bandwidth, slowing down the whole network. Therefore, once I got the station working, I turned it off. Oh yeah. One more feature is the ability to DJ the songs by talking into the microphone. The downside is the inability to mix the microphone with the music; you have to switch back and forth.

No Motivation

I am off work this whole week, and planned to relax and undertake some projects around the home, but instead here I am surfing the internet. I did go to the gym this morning after sleeping for 11 hours (which was relaxing). I have no motivation to start any project, such as installing a mirror in my bathroom that doesn't cut off the top of my head. Houses are just not designed for tall people. I could also repaint my security screen door, which has numerous rust spots, but I will probably end up hiring someone to do that. I'd rather pluck my toenails than paint. On a lighter note: feathers.

Blog Obligation

I feel obligated to blog about my adventures last night. I didn't do anything remotely cultural like watching a movie or going to a museum, just a night of beer drinking and debauchery. My night was centered around the Aztec football game. We had seven people this time, and the more people the more fun you will have. We al met at my friends house, piled into his Ford Expedetion and drove to the stadium. After 1 1/2 of beer drinking at the tailgate party, we headed into the stadium to watch the game. First stop, the bar to get a beer. As we headed to our seats, I had to make a pitstop. By the time I got to my seat, three of my friends had just walked on to the field! On of them had a green pass from the tailgate party, and for some reason security thought this was a field pass. My other two friends just kind of followed him on - one was carrying a beer. They spent the first half watching the game on the UNLV sidelines, talking to the players and making numerous cell phone calls, you know, like people do at a sporting events when they are on TV. As the first half ended and the players headed to the locker room, my one friend high-fived the UNLV coach, John Robinson, who was coaching his last game ever. Then two of my friends headed into the locker room with the team. On ended up leaving after he got the football he earlier grabbed taken away. The other listened to the coach give his half-time speech. Once we all got back together, it was another trip to the bar before we headed home at the start of the 3rd quarter. Yes, we had a designated driver.

Next we headed to a bar in Escondido called Woody's, where someone knew a band was playing. We hung out there for a while drinking beer and playing foosball. We left two friends there and traveled to RB to get some Mexican food. I got a Monster burrito, and big it was. Our next stop was the local bar called McGee's. Here we sat for five minutes without drinking beer before going back to our starting point. Two more people left, and us last three watched some HBO on-demand, drinking water.

This morning I woke up with a headache and to the sound of thunder. I haven't heard thunder that loud in a long time. The storm lasted around 20 minutes with heavy rain and some hail. Now I'm trying to decide if I should go to the gym or just sit and watch football all day. The Chargers play the Raider this afternoon. Oh yes, the Aztecs ended up winning, with a season record of 4-7. We'll do better next year.

Star Wars Trilogy DVD

Over the past two weekends I watched the Star Wars trilogy DVDs, which include episodes 4 to 6, plus a DVD of bonus material. My first thought after watching the movies on DVD for the first time - I need a bigger television. My 10 year old 27 inch RCA TV just doesn't work for movies like Star Wars. If I had thousands of dollars burning a hole in my pocket then I'd buy a new high-definition TV. Since I don't, I'll just wait until my current set breaks and make a decision then. However, I could tell that the video was much improved on the DVD over how it looks on VHS tape. My sound system is half way decent and my livingroom walls were shaking nicely during the louder action scenes. As far as the changes that George Lucas made on top of the special editions, I wouldn't have noticed unless I was told in advance, except for the final scene with the replaced Anakin Skywalker. The highlight of the bonus material is a 2 1/2 hour documentary called "Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy". They spend almost one hour showing how Star Wars came to be, and I had no idea how many problems George Lucas encountered during the whole process. It was quite interesting to me, however, I'm sure much of what was discussed is known by all Star Wars die-hards. I didn't listen to any of the audio commentaries, and I normally don't. The problem I have is that I end up trying to listen to the movie dialog in the background and have a hard time concentrating on the commentary. Plus sometime the commentary can be quite boring. One more note, there is a hidden feature on the bonus disc, or an "Easter egg", as they are called. I don't see how anyone could figure this one out. On the games menu, type "11", then "3" then "8" and you get a five minute "bloopers" reel. I get the "1138" reference, but how would someone figure out when to enter this sequence of numbers? I found out from Hidden Features, a site that lists numerous Easter eggs for hundreds of DVDs. Stay tuned for my review of "Star Wars: Episode III, Revenge of the Sith" in May of 2005. I can hardly wait!

Reasons not to Read Someone's Blog

The following are some of the reasons that I don't read someone's blog:

• Changed my cursor
• Sweep effect when displaying the page
• Background music
• Pop-up ads
• Blog posts in small scrolling window
• Foreign language
• Incomplete sentences written like a 13 year old in a chat room
• No posts to read
• A blog consisting of nothing but links
• Tiny, unreadable fonts
• Blog dedicated to a topic of no interest to me

Can you Add to this list?

Joey

Each season, TV that is, there are many new shows on the major networks. However, I end up watching at most one new show each year. This year it is Joey, the Friends spinoff. Joey started off slow, as all new shows do, but after watching this weeks episode, I realize that it has actually gotten really funny. The downside of the show is Joey's character is a little dumber that he was on Friends. The upside is Joey's sister, played by Drea de Matteo. I can see this show making it into a second season, hopefully without a "guest" appearance by a Friends co-star during sweeps week. We don't need an appearance by Rachel or Ross! Let's let those characters live forever in television history.

New Anya and Tara Figures

I arrived back home this morning after running some chores and was at first shocked that on my front porch my mat had been moved and draped over a box. My first though was, "Oh my, someone has placed a bomb on my step and I'm about to be blown up!". Then my shock and horror changed to joy and excitement when I realized that the box was a package from Diamond Select Toys that I was expecting. The box contained six action figures from the Buffy The Vampire Slayer series VI, including five variants of Anya and one Tara figure. These are the first new figures since the six Willows were released earlier this year. There are three other Tara variants that I did not buy, mostly because they all looked the same and Anya is a more interesting character than Tara, as you can see by these pictures I took. Taking photos of the figures in their boxes is not easy. The light reflects of the plastic creating a glare, plus the camera wants to focus on the plastic, not the figure inside. My next project will be finding space on my wall to display my new figures. As someone once pointed out, I have plenty of open wall space, but I'm determined to keep my toy collection in my two extra rooms. I want the rest of my house to look semi-normal. The solution seems to be that I need a bigger house! So what's next in the Buffy/Angle line? Spike and Darla figures early next year, and just announced for mid-2005, Wesley and Lorne. Then the year will end with one more Buffy line of figures where we will hopefully get maybe a new Buffy and Dawn. Until then, happy collecting!

Cassini and Saturn

Have you been viewing the pictures beamed back from the spacecraft Cassini-Huygens orbiting Saturn? They are amazing! Cassini just made the closest approach to Saturn's moon Titan ever, measuring all aspects of planet-like sphere using a multitude of instruments. Later this year, the craft will send the Huygens probe into the atmosphere of Titan. Hopefully it won't crash like the Mars Climate Orbiter and the Mars Polar Lander did. Speaking of Mars, the two Mars Exploration Rovers are still alive, roaming on the surface taking pictures and sampling the soil. This is an amazing feat, and most people forgot about this exceedingly successful mission months ago. The rovers have lasted three times longer than they were designed for. I have been interested in space and astronomy since I was a kid and hope NASA/JPL's budget doesn't get cut much more.

Four More Years

It is time I broke my silence and confess that I voted for Bush. I am happy he won, unlike many of my friends who now think the world is going to end. Sure, the President is not perfect and his administration has made many mistakes, including Iraq, but could Kerry do any better? Kerry is great at pointing out all of America's problems and saying he had a solution to every one, including the ability to make paralyzed people walk again, but I don't think that he really could follow-up on his promises. I could have done better in the debates than Bush. But could I lead the country? No. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks this way, and that is why George has four years to complete his agenda.

Halloween

Here I am at a Halloween party after my blades had been plucked from my hands! I looked much better with spikes poking out of my gloves. The beads were given for each beer I drank, except when this picture was taken I was on about my 10th beer, meaning that I should be hunched over due to the extreme weight around my neck. Sunday was no fun day for me.

Blogshares

Well, I claimed my blog at Blogshares. What exactly does that mean? I'm not sure. This web site has 1.8 million blogs that are tracked like stocks, where you can buy and sell shares of blogs. I found my blog here by chance, and signed-up so I could claim ownership of my blog. Also, I got some shares automatically invested in my own blog, as well as "cash" to invest in others. Is there actual money to be made here? Not that I can see. My goal is to increase the value of my blog, which seems to be based on incoming and outgoing links. However, it says my blog has 3 outgoing links, and I know I have over 20. Lets see how long this trendy endeavor holds my interest.

Time to Vote!

Tomorrow is election day. I hope everyone votes. If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain if your candidate doesn't win or your favorite proposition is defeated.

Interesting Blog Quiz

I found a link to a blog quiz called Are You A Blogaholic? on someones blog. I scored a 40/100 and here is what it said about me:

You are a casual weblogger. You only blog when you have nothing better to do, which is not very often. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you'd post a little more often, you'd make your readers very happy.

Knott's Berry Farm

It's time to talk about something more uplifting, my trip yesterday to Knott's Berry Farm. I hadn't been there in over 15 years, and this was the first time I had been to Knott's around Halloween time, when it is decorated for Knott's scary Farm. It was a perfect day weather-wise, abundant sunshine and warm enough to wear shorts. Plus, free passes into the park! I remember going to Knott's when I was young, and seeing some of the old rides and attractions brought back memories. The last time I went was the first time I rode the rollercoasters, like Montezooma's Revenge.

There were many new rides for me to experience, as well as the classics. I rode: Timber Mountain Log Ride, Calico Mine Ride, Jaguar, Montezooma's Revenge, Bigfoot Rapids, Hat Dance and GhostRider. Some rides, like the mine train, were decorated for Halloween. The miners were replaced by ghosts, zombies and the Grim Reaper, which added a new twist to the ride. However, these creatures weren't animated - I get the feeling that they save the good stuff for the Knott's Scary Farm event after dark.

My favorite ride was GhostRider. This is a newer ride, and had the longest wait. It is a wooden coaster, like Colossus at Magic Mountain, but has many more sharp turns and twists. I got a little beat-up on the ride but it was worth it. I was laughing the whole time. Laughing in fear! There were a few attractions that were closed for the day. Some were only open for the nighttime event.

For lunch I ate a chicken meal at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. This is the first time I remember eating here. As a kid, I never wanted to eat there - I wanted hotdogs instead. The chicken was excellent, as well as the biscuits and apple pie. Since most of the lines for the rides were so short, after 5 hours I was ready to go home. It was a great day that wasn't quite over. I ended up at the Karl Strauss brewery in Carlsbad, drinking pints of beer and watching the World Series. I slept well last night.

Cedar Fire One Year Later

It was a year ago today that I did what I never thought I'd have to do, evacuate my house as a huge fire approached. I will never forget that morning. It started when I woke up at 5 AM and for some reason looked out my window, where I saw what I thought was a fog bank. I opened the door and it was warm outside, and I thought, "that's strange, how can there be fog when it is so warm?". So I went back to sleep. Around 6 AM I woke up again when I heard sirens nearby. During the next hour I heard about 20 fire trucks drive by, and still I just wanted to sleep. Finally I got up at 8 AM and after looking outside again I realized that the fog was really smoke, and it was getting thicker and closer. I turned on the news and every station was broadcasting pictures of the fire as it was burning up my neighborhood - about 4 miles away. Then the news channels said everyone south of the street I live near by needed to evacuate. I live about 1 block north of that street, so I decided it was time for me to leave. Not knowing what to pack, I took my computer, photo albums and a bag of clothes, threw them into my car and headed north on the freeway. It was an eerie site to see the southbound lanes filled with cars not moving, because the freeway was closed. Only a few cars were going north with me.

Not knowing where to go, I called my friend Mark and said, "hey, I just evacuated my house, can I come over?" So I spent the next two days at his house, sleeping on his couch and watching the local news, not knowing if my house was burned or not. All I could do is call my home phone, and if my answering machine answered, then I knew it hadn't melted into a pile of goo. When I was finally allowed to return home, my house was there. The air was thick with smoke and ash, and the smell of smoke was inside as well. I didn't want to spend the night there, so I drove back to my friends house for a second night on the couch. As I drove away, I saw that the fire burned on two sides of my complex, burning some trees within a few hundred yards of my home. A few months later I found out why our neighborhood didn't burn. My neighbor sprinkled some holy water that she keeps on hand. Either that, or it was the two neighbors who didn't evacuate and fought the fire with a garden hose. My guess is the winds were blowing the fire to the south. No matter, I'm glad my precious action figures didn't go up in flames.

Gwen Stefani solo album

Good news everyone. Gwen Stefani has her first solo album in the works. It is called Love. Angel. Music. Baby. and will be released November 23rd. Why you ask am I giving her free advertising? Because I am a big No Doubt fan and I think Gwen Stefani is one of the most talented singers around. You can listen to her new single and see the video at her web site, Gwen Stefani.

Washers and Mundaneness

On Sunday my not-so-old washer finally gave up. It started having problems a year after I bought it - right after the limited warranty expired. For six years it limped along until my washer decided to wash no more. Luckily, it failed during the final rinse, so I wasn't left with soapy clothes. So after watching the Chargers lose, I went shopping for a new washer and ended up buying a front-loading LG Electronics model at Best Buy. I wish I had bought a front-loading washer originally, but they are almost twice as expensive as regular, top-loading washers. However, they are more efficient in both electricity and water usage, plus they get your clothes cleaner with less wear and tear. I'm doing my first load now, as you, the whole world, can see in the photo.