Viva Las Vegas
This Pie&Ear weekend, my brother and I decided to go to Las Vegas. . .well, I decided to go and I played on my brother's lack of travel experience to convince him to go so it wouldn't cost as much. Anyway, we drove to Santa Jorge and stayed the night there and then continued on the next day. Once there, we immediately partook in all that Vegas had to offer; Casinos, Walking the Strip, Video Games, sights, sounds, and food (especially of the In-and-Out variety). I had a great time with all of it. As most of you know, I love hanging out in Las Vegas. If it weren't too danged hot and so danged expensive I would probably move there, but I like vacationing there.
While hanging out on the Strip was great, I think the best part of the whole trip was saved for the very end. After all the walking, sight-seeing, and relatively small amount of gambling that we did, we went to one of the Outlet malls. Let me just say that I LOVE Outlet Shopping. As a guy, I'm adverse to clothes shopping in general, but when it comes to Outlet shopping, I LOVE it. I don't know what it is but it just seems different and more fun. Maybe because of all the great stuff that you can get for so little. It's great.
But even just being at the Outlet mall wasn't the best part. The best part was taking my brother and actually convincing him that he needed clothes. This is big for several reasons:
1) Since I've known this kid, if ever he's had a few bucks in his hand, his first and only impulse would be to spend this at the comic book store. Comics, role-playing-game cards, dice, whatever, these took priority, above food, definately clothes, and even movies.
2) His self-proclaimed status as a nerd and a geek places him in a category who as a general rule don't have any fashion sense at all except on Betazed or Coruscant. Now I'm not saying that I have any sort of contemporary or trendy fashion sense, but I escaped the game den a long time ago and can at least recognize and appreciate some of the more modern trends, heck, on occasion I've been seen to watch 'What Not to Wear' with some of my female friends, and therefore have more of an idea what is going on. Also, watching VH1 helps.
3) My brother is tight with his cash. Whenever his monthy comic book binge is satisified, he holds to whatever else he has left. If he can find a good deal, or a free deal, he exploits it. Prime example, he's been living with me for the past month rent free. (That's another blog entry)
So, getting my brother to spend money on clothes gave me a satisifaction I never knew. I was all excited and kept wanting him to spend more.
It started with shirts. Reasonably, he needed collared shirts for work. This was the angle that I worked with. We started at the PacSun, continued to Rue21, and so on. Once finding a good deal at Benzene on shirts (he got a bunch), we needed to find shoes. Factory Brand Shoes was our next stop. He went in wanting to buy one pair, this was not enough for me. Two pairs of new shoes were what he purchased. I was satisfied. Well, you can't buy new shirts and new shoes without picking up some new pants to go with them, obviously. This required the services of Eddie Bauer. Two pair later, I was jealous. I couldn't come all this way and make my brother spend so much without picking up something for myself. It was off to the Adidas store. After much searching I found an awesome fleece for the fall/winter and some new basketball shorts. I even picked up something for my little sister so she could enjoy in our loot.
I think it goes without saying that I had the most wonderful time ever: I got some new clothes, I helped my brother spend some of his hard earned money, and I went to Vegas.
It was a great weekend. I don't know how I can top it.
July 26, 2005
July 20, 2005
I saw 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. I loved it. . .not in the same way that I loved 'Spiderman', 'X-Men', or even 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'. These movies I love because they fulfill boyhood dreams that I've had where I've always wanted to see these comic book movies on the big screen. No matter how campy, dumb, ridiculous, whatever, that people think they are, I will always love them.
'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' I really liked because 1) it was made by Tim Burton, which means that it's slightly twisted and imaginative, 2) it has Johnny Depp, who has made such films as Sleepy Hallow, Edward Scissorhands, and Pirates of the Carribean. The right mix of darkness, actor, and weirdness. 3) the Oompa Loompa. Deep Roy, the only actor to play an army of Oompa Loompas, singing, dancing, and pushing an 8 foot blueberry girl. 4) Backstory on Willy Wonka. And finally, 5) Count Dooku. The only way they could have made this movie better is to add Samuel L. Jackson, possibly in the spot where Charlie's dad covers his ears.
Overall, it was good. Had a few minor qualms with it, but I still had an excellent time.
Also, I finally solved a game that I've wanted to play for a long time. It's good for computer programming to teach recursive logic and recursive programming. I just wanted to solve it ever since I saw it in one of my psychology books. I still don't know the name of it but I like it.
The idea is to move the entire pyramid to a different location but only moving one level at a time, AND you CANNOT put a bigger piece on a little piece. If you want to try it, I would suggest starting with 3 layers. Scroll down and highlight the number 3 in the menu box and then click on the button next it.
I thought it was fun.
'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' I really liked because 1) it was made by Tim Burton, which means that it's slightly twisted and imaginative, 2) it has Johnny Depp, who has made such films as Sleepy Hallow, Edward Scissorhands, and Pirates of the Carribean. The right mix of darkness, actor, and weirdness. 3) the Oompa Loompa. Deep Roy, the only actor to play an army of Oompa Loompas, singing, dancing, and pushing an 8 foot blueberry girl. 4) Backstory on Willy Wonka. And finally, 5) Count Dooku. The only way they could have made this movie better is to add Samuel L. Jackson, possibly in the spot where Charlie's dad covers his ears.
Overall, it was good. Had a few minor qualms with it, but I still had an excellent time.
Also, I finally solved a game that I've wanted to play for a long time. It's good for computer programming to teach recursive logic and recursive programming. I just wanted to solve it ever since I saw it in one of my psychology books. I still don't know the name of it but I like it.
The idea is to move the entire pyramid to a different location but only moving one level at a time, AND you CANNOT put a bigger piece on a little piece. If you want to try it, I would suggest starting with 3 layers. Scroll down and highlight the number 3 in the menu box and then click on the button next it.
I thought it was fun.
July 18, 2005
Personal Theme Song
Today at work, I got my own theme music. . .from the Crew Chief no less. As I was rounding the corner and headed toward the crew chief's desk to check some equipment, the Crew Chief was playing some music on the computer and told me that the song he was currently playing was my theme music. It was more funny than weird, but still weird. You want to know what song that was, then click here.
My only responds to him was, "I'm glad that it's Jessica Simpson and not Ashlee Simpson."
I don't know what he was trying to tell me.
Today at work, I got my own theme music. . .from the Crew Chief no less. As I was rounding the corner and headed toward the crew chief's desk to check some equipment, the Crew Chief was playing some music on the computer and told me that the song he was currently playing was my theme music. It was more funny than weird, but still weird. You want to know what song that was, then click here.
My only responds to him was, "I'm glad that it's Jessica Simpson and not Ashlee Simpson."
I don't know what he was trying to tell me.
July 12, 2005
HA!
As I am an avid opponent to simultaneous cell phone use and driving, I find that these studies give some weight and reason for me to yell at people while driving on the road, even if it is not full accepted by all. I think a paint gun with pellets that splatter in a form that say "GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!" would be quite handy in such situations.
Also, regarding the last posting. . .see, I was right. In responds to the bombings, however, there is one site that is pretty cool. CNN even reported on it.
As I am an avid opponent to simultaneous cell phone use and driving, I find that these studies give some weight and reason for me to yell at people while driving on the road, even if it is not full accepted by all. I think a paint gun with pellets that splatter in a form that say "GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!" would be quite handy in such situations.
Also, regarding the last posting. . .see, I was right. In responds to the bombings, however, there is one site that is pretty cool. CNN even reported on it.
July 8, 2005
F.Y.I.
Something interesting was brought to my attention reciently. So just as a warning I offer some advice/information to chew on as you surf the web. I don't mean to make anyone paranoid or anything, I just hope to offer some info that may help you in your internet sessions.
Reciently there was a bombing in London aimed to disrupt the summit meeting of the Group of Eight (G8). Sadly, there was losses. But sometimes in the aftermath of a major tragedy like the one yesterday and also after Sept. 11, there's usually an increase in the amount of hacks that take place on the internet. After Sept. 11, 2001, a sense of patriotism in hackers rose and multiple attacks on Middle Eastern sites and servers rose dramatically. New hacks, viruses, rootkits, and the like were created with the focus being on 'terrorist' information sites. But in the wake were new viruses, etc., that also affect unknowing and well meaning surfers like you and me. I wouldn't be surprised it there are new attacks in the next couple weeks.
So, in order to keep damage to a minimum and to safeguard your computer, I would suggest that you keep your protection programs updated, sweep your computer regularly, and surf the net cautiously. Some websites provide some useful and great information, but that may be a cover for something more malicious. Some websites may download programs to your computer without your knowledge just by going to their website. You may be surfing and wanting to know about certain groups or organizations, but may accidentally download something that you may not want. Not very likely but just to give you a heads-up, some sites are covers.
Some guidelines that were given in my IT 210 class included:
1) rather than clicking on links, type the entire address yourself*. It may be a pain in the keister, but if you are unsure of the link, typing out the whole thing may save your bacon.
2) stay with well known sites and names of companies who are trust worthy**. Well known sites like jaju.blogspot.com are safe but there are others that have hidden downloads in the html, I won't name any at the obvious risks.
Some of the newest security programs that safeguard your computer can actually block attacks on your computer as they are beginning. I hope some of this info was helpful. Happy surfing.
* In UNICODE, the international standard for encoding language characters for every language known, there are some characters that look like the Alphabet that we use in the US but are only slightly different and have a different byte value. (Funnily enough, the Klingon language was rejected but some Tolkien languages, like elvish scripts, are still under consideration. True story.) Example: the Latin letter o (value: 006F) looks like the Coptic letter o (value: 03BF). So in the .com portion of a URL, this little change could direct you to a site that may look like, say, google.com, but may really be a hacker site.
** Some sites may have the look and feel of a site that you normally visit, but may be a hacker site. Reciently, Paypal.com has experienced this. There were a series of emails sent from the fake paypal.com site asking that account information be updated or their spending limit will be reduced. Unknowing paypal.com users clicked on the link in the email and were taken to what looked like paypal.com but was really a hacked site that recorded account information.
Something interesting was brought to my attention reciently. So just as a warning I offer some advice/information to chew on as you surf the web. I don't mean to make anyone paranoid or anything, I just hope to offer some info that may help you in your internet sessions.
Reciently there was a bombing in London aimed to disrupt the summit meeting of the Group of Eight (G8). Sadly, there was losses. But sometimes in the aftermath of a major tragedy like the one yesterday and also after Sept. 11, there's usually an increase in the amount of hacks that take place on the internet. After Sept. 11, 2001, a sense of patriotism in hackers rose and multiple attacks on Middle Eastern sites and servers rose dramatically. New hacks, viruses, rootkits, and the like were created with the focus being on 'terrorist' information sites. But in the wake were new viruses, etc., that also affect unknowing and well meaning surfers like you and me. I wouldn't be surprised it there are new attacks in the next couple weeks.
So, in order to keep damage to a minimum and to safeguard your computer, I would suggest that you keep your protection programs updated, sweep your computer regularly, and surf the net cautiously. Some websites provide some useful and great information, but that may be a cover for something more malicious. Some websites may download programs to your computer without your knowledge just by going to their website. You may be surfing and wanting to know about certain groups or organizations, but may accidentally download something that you may not want. Not very likely but just to give you a heads-up, some sites are covers.
Some guidelines that were given in my IT 210 class included:
1) rather than clicking on links, type the entire address yourself*. It may be a pain in the keister, but if you are unsure of the link, typing out the whole thing may save your bacon.
2) stay with well known sites and names of companies who are trust worthy**. Well known sites like jaju.blogspot.com are safe but there are others that have hidden downloads in the html, I won't name any at the obvious risks.
Some of the newest security programs that safeguard your computer can actually block attacks on your computer as they are beginning. I hope some of this info was helpful. Happy surfing.
* In UNICODE, the international standard for encoding language characters for every language known, there are some characters that look like the Alphabet that we use in the US but are only slightly different and have a different byte value. (Funnily enough, the Klingon language was rejected but some Tolkien languages, like elvish scripts, are still under consideration. True story.) Example: the Latin letter o (value: 006F) looks like the Coptic letter o (value: 03BF). So in the .com portion of a URL, this little change could direct you to a site that may look like, say, google.com, but may really be a hacker site.
** Some sites may have the look and feel of a site that you normally visit, but may be a hacker site. Reciently, Paypal.com has experienced this. There were a series of emails sent from the fake paypal.com site asking that account information be updated or their spending limit will be reduced. Unknowing paypal.com users clicked on the link in the email and were taken to what looked like paypal.com but was really a hacked site that recorded account information.