Category Archives: Personal

So I open my eyes this morning and it’s 4:30 PM. I slept the entire day! Granted I needed the rest, but I may have just screwed up my sleep schedule. I need to be at work normal time tomorrow, so I have no clue what time I should call it quits tonight. Maybe I can force myself asleep by 2AM or so.

I’ve had a lot of free time the past few days so I’ve broken open some of my old projects. While in Pennsylvania, I picked up the screws I needed to fix my eFlite Blade CX Helicopter. I could have gone locally, but I found myself at a toy store that sold them, so I asked for the parts while I was there. I put the Heli back together and started it up. In the past, I have not been able to control the chopper. I could make it ascend, but upon trying to move it, I would typically hit a wall, the couch, etc…

Somehow, I was more relaxed, and almost in control as the heli lifted off. It started to move but I adjusted it and even had it hovering on it’s own for the first time! It was a momentous occasion as it drifted above the Hanukkah candles, extinguishing them, then smashing into the wall right next to them. Oh well.

I had to run out to the hobby shop to repair it this time, but have now replaced all the plastic parts with their aluminum equivalents. I paid very close attention to what it was doing and was able to stabilize the controls so that the hellicopter can actually be controlled fairly easily. I have had several successful flights (and landings!) since and am finally getting some decent air time.

I still have a bit of trouble maneuvering and getting used to controlling the chopper in a full 360 degrees, but the last time I flew it, I could barely go up and down properly, so a few more baby steps and I’ll be running with the big kids.

Who knows, Maybe I’ll get my next Helli in a year or so.

Aside from finishing my reading, This weekend was a lot of fun, but very Tiring! It was my god-daughter’s fourth birthday, so I had to drive out to Pennsylvania to visit Keaira and my best friend Dave and his wife Kerry. The initial drive was not bad at all. Granted I needed a red bull to keep me alert as I had woken up early to run some last minute errands (Wrap Gifts, pick up EZ-Pass from parents, etc..).

Despite leaving about 30 minutes later than I planned, I got to the party right on time. It was a great time. Keaira seemed like the happiest child in the world the whole time with a bright smile across her face from the moment I arrived, to even when she was waving to me good bye.

I left the party and headed out to meet Casey, 5 hours away. Farther into Pennsylvania. That was a rough drive. I have no trouble driving, even long distances. I had my Zune loaded up with multiple episodes of the podcasts I mentioned exactly one month ago. I needed to catch up anyways, and I had hours of education and entertainment at my disposal. The weather sucked. As I left the party, it had started snowing and was doing so on and off throughout the trip.

Three cans of Red-Bull and 4 hours, 45 minutes later, I let my attention slip as I swerved slightly out of my lane. I promptly corrected myself as the rotating red lights of a police car lit up behind me. Asking if I was in a hurry, I advised that I was not, was just tired, though I didn’t believe I was going that fast. The officer asked where I was headed and I stumbled as I tried to explain that I was headed to a friends house, but frankly had no idea where I was going. I pointed to my GPS and the fact that wherever I was going, was about 12 minutes away. He looked at the GPS and the pile of Red Bull cans and seemed to have a smirk on his face, almost laughing at me, as he told me to slow down and try to keep my vehicle on the road. I thanked him and continued on.

I got to the house and met Casey’s housemates. They all seemed cool, and hope that I made somewhat of a good impression, though I was mad tired. We started to decorate their Christmas tree, but after hanging only 1 decoration, Casey decided it better to put me to bed than leave me to doze off on their couch.

The next day, we left while everyone else was sleeping. It was a 7 hour drive from there back home, so I didn’t want to leave any later than 5PM. Breakfast was at Kings, a friendly’s/denny’s/IHOP type chain with a frowning brownie as their mascot. I really think that they should fire everyone in the marketing department for this one, I mean… Their mascot Frowned. Who wants a Frownie? I want a Happy Brownie (not to be confused with a Special Brownie of which this marketing company had one too many of!)

I got a tour of the campground that hosts Pennsic, a reenactment medieval war that occurs during the warmer weather. This time of year it was covered with snow, but thanks to 4-wheel drive, Casey was able to show me around.

We took a drive into Pittsburgh and hit up a coffee shop that catered a middle-eastern theme. The venue was popular for belly dancers and musicians to perform live. A friend of mine, and former roomate, Carmine had performed there in the past, and they even had his CD prominently displayed for sale there.

Our last stop was at one of the coolest toy stores in the USA. The building is shaped like a UFO that had crashed on the side of the road. The front door is designed to look like an aft thruster, all burnt out. This place had lots of great toys. Board Games, Juggling Supplies, R/C Cars and Helli copters, Trains, Slot-Cars, Learning/Educational kits and so much more They even had Segways ($5k ouch!). They were really cool there. They hooked me up with some parts I needed for my R/C helicopter, and I picked up a rubber band gun. The kind that you can load 7 rubber bands and shoot them one at a time by pulling the trigger (Hopefully the picture (to the left) is still there by the time you read this.)

The ride home was almost a pleasure. There was no traffic, and the weather couldn’t have been clearer. The car, on the other hand was filthy and all the squeegees at the gas stations were frozen. So were the tubes feeding washer fluid to my windshield wipers. I managed to get the window pretty clear, but it could have been better. Either way, I made it home and managed to get home a half hour before my initial ETA. It was a great weekend. I’m thoroughly looking forward to next weekend, half afraid my plans will fall through. I really hope they won’t!

I would like to thank T.L. Hines and Thomas Nelson Publishing. As part of their marketing efforts for T.L. Hines’s new book, The Unseen, they sent out free copies of the book to Bloggers in exchange for a review. In my opinion, This is a great way to build up hype about the book and get people interested.

and it got me Interested.

The story follows a loner named Lucas. Lucas makes his home inside of underground steam tunnels, train stations, even in active office buildings above ceiling tiles and just about anywhere else that he can set up a perch to watch and observe people as they go about their daily business.

You begin to sense that Lucas, and how he considers this lifestyle of stalking workers as normal, is rather creepy. Until he meets a fellow “Urban Explorer” who is traversing the steam tunnel that Lucas claimed as his home. Their acquaintance sets forth a roller coaster of events leading Lucas to an underground organization of urban explorers who, like Lucas, follow and watch individuals, though they make Lucas’s creeping seem normal.

The story picks up and lures you in more and more as Lucas gets involved with the local police, mob-like thugs and government agencies. Throughout the book you wonder, along with Lucas, who is friendly and who is not.

I’ll admit, it was difficult to relate to Lucas and the characters introduced early in the book, but like a train wreck, you just have to read on and see what will happen next. Once you’re really hooked, the book gets extremely exiting as Lucas is constantly running for his life and trying to avoid members of the underground organization, local police and government agents (but who knows WHICH government!)

Those of you who know me, know that I don’t read books very often. The Unseen, being a freebie, sounded like a fun “Bathroom Book”. You know, one that i would pick it up and read a few pages, at most, a night. About three quarters into the story, I realized I was reading 2 or 3 chapters at a time. If you’re looking for a fun read, pick up The Unseen.

Pick up The Unseen at Amazon.com (and support my blogging habit!)

I’m sitting in the diner with Tiffany playing Dots, and we couldn’t help by being amused by the people sitting in the booth beside us. It was a family of 3. There was Mom. She was a heavy set but confident looking woman. Her husband, your typical “All american” man in jeans and a T-shirt. Finally, there was their son. Your average teenager, probably 14 or 15, wearing a red baseball cap and a grey hoodie. He sat down at the table with his family and asked innocently, “What is W-I-F-I? Is it the Ninetendo game”?

Now I was engrossed in our game, so I misunderstood the mother’s response. I thought she told her son that “WiFi” was a Nintendo product. Tiffany pointed out to me that she explained to her son that “Wifi was Wire-free Internet.” …

okay, my bad.

“The Nintendo game was the “Wii Fee” She continued. Or maybe Wii Free.. Maybe it’s a diet Wii, Like pepsi-free or caffiene-free. Either Wee, it’s back to the Laundromat to dry our clothes and go home!

So aside from hearing about the events at a nearby Wal-Mart, Black Friday was pretty good to me.

The short version:

12:30 AM @ Tanger Outlet, Wilson’s Leather Outlet – Leather Jacket – Under $100
5:00 AM @ Circuit City – USB HDTV Tuner $20
6:00 AM @ Ritz Camera – 3pack 4GB Compact Flash cards $FREE ($60-Mail-In-Rebate)
8:00 AM @ MicroCenter – Two 22″ wide screen LCD (No good. Returning them tomorrow!)

I got an early start this year at the Tanger Outlets in Deer Park, NY. They had a Midnight Madness event so Tiffany and I headed down there. I was pleasantly surprised to find an ad showing they were giving away $10 gift cards to the first 100 people in line, so I stepped onto the end of the line as the 44th person. The wait wasn’t too horrible. Just an hour. It was cold, but I was prepared wearing my embroidered Preferred DJ’s jacket (Cheap plug!) and my hat and gloves!

I picked up a nice leather jacket, after discounts was just under $100. I didn’t plan on buying one, but I needed one, and the deal was too good to pass up.

I separated with Tiffany and headed to Circuit City. Picked up a USB HD TV Tuner. I figure, Vista comes with some cool TV/DVR-like features, and for $20 it was worth giving them a look. I slept for 30 minutes in the car before getting in line at Circuit City and after waiting an hour, I was in and out of the store in 7 minutes. Unlike last year where it took me almost an hour in-store to pay for my stuff and leave. (or Best Buy 3 years ago-almost 3 hours on line to pay!)

Ritz Camera’s ad read All Stores Open at 6, and they had an awesome deal on Compact Flash cards. My 40D takes CF and three 4GB cards for Free after a mail-in-rebate, who was I to turn this deal down! I was there at 5. The gate was down and the lights out in the store. It seemed odd that nobody was there preparing, but I figured that being a small store, they’d pop in at a quarter to. By 6:00 AM there was nobody there, so I called the closest store (in CT) and was told the actual hours varied from store to store. They thought that the shop might open at 7, so I hung around. 7:00 AM came and nobody was there. Since I got there around 5:30 I’d been looking for signs with hours. All I saw were Dec Holiday hours and promotional signage. I finally got out of my car and looked through the gate. Two feet in was the actual door, and on it a sign stating their hours from 9AM to 9PM for the day! Lesson to be learned.. Don’t be lazy-Get out of your car! So I headed to my next stop.

I got to Micro center and stepped in line. It was an hour until they opened, but I was entertained by a man who had plenty to say, but wasn’t the type to stand in your face with bad breath and never give you an “out”. He was friendly and we talked tech for the hour while we both waited patiently to get inside. Once in, we wished each other luck with our findings and headed our own ways. Tiffany met back up with me, after staying home and sleeping for a few hours on and off. We grabbed two 22 inch LCD’s with the intention of replacing my single 20″ LCD with the group of them. Unfortunately, upon un-boxing and testing one of the monitors, I noticed they were the exact same height, though the 22″ screen had a lower resolution than my current 20 inch LCD. I tried it out and decided I had more working space on my smaller monitor, so I re-boxed the new LCD and will be bringing it back tomorrow. Maybe I’ll try to buy a more expensive 20″ with matching specs to the one I have now. Or maybe I’ll look for a larger monitor, but I’ll check their floor models before buying one from an Ad!

We went to Ritz and I was the first one in the door as they opened at 9. I walked in and asked for the 3 Compact Flash (CF) cards and the clerk laughed. It wasn’t an evil laugh but more of an “I knew this was coming” laugh. The actual deal was for Compact Flash OR Secure Digital (SD) cards. They had TONS of SD cards in stock, but only 2 CF cards and the rebate is for 3 of the same card(s). They ordered the third card for me from another store, and I took the 2 they had in stock. Maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll get the card in tomorrow. I’ll be right around the block returning the LCD’s!

After that we hit the diner, and I headed home. Checked the monitor, Hopped online to chat and did whatever I could to avoid falling asleep too early. Crashed while watching this week’s episode of House (which I still have to finish) and woke up 15 hours later, just in time to get ready for work.

That was my Black Friday. It was relatively easy going and I managed to get everything that I really wanted. I was disappointed by the LCD’s but I don’t know what I was expecting for $150 ea (actually $120 after rebate!)… I may just spend the $300 on a nice LCD and pair it with what I have now. The thought of 2 identical LARGE LCDs was nice though. I don’t want to give DELL the business of getting another of these monitors though!