So I’m asking for your help here. Call it a survey of such. Who’s going to the Super Bowl? I’m thinking Bengels vs Texans. What do you think?

Today is usually a Best Buy Tuesday, but nothing interesting came out. Instead, I’ll just talk about the toys I’ve gotten in the last week and some of the things I’m gonna get within the next month.

First off, Splinter Cell. This is everything a console game is suppose to be and everything Metal Gear Solid 2 couldn’t be. It’s simply the best looking game on any console system ever. That’s saying a lot considering you have something as good as Halo to look at.

Then there’s Xbox Live! I can’t believe how well everything just works. Very un-Microsoft like. It usually takes them one or two tries to get ANYTHING right. The Xbox was made knowing online play would be a huge part of it and it’s perfect (unlike the horrible PS2 online experience). Also, the community is just so much nicer. Any kid or a**hole can get on a PS2 and get online. Bad. Xbox has a very specific crowd they cater to. Hard core gamers and geeks alike. It’s great because everyone is a video game dork like me. A much more mature crowd who’s there to have fun and not just alienate people. I’ve been playing MechAssault and MotoGP non-stop on it with no end in sight. You aren’t going to hear me say this a lot, but way to go Microsoft!

Any movies? I bought The Boondock Saints on DVD and watched it for the first time last week. Simply put, it’s an amazingly funny, dramatic, and highly underrated film. Get it now if you haven’t seen it. I can’t wait for the sequel, Boondock II: The Second Coming, which should start filming very soon and ready for release next year.

Finally, I made my decision on home theater systems. Here’s the quick run down on all of the equipment I’ll be buying:

Home Theater System
a href=”http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=HT-S650&class=minisys&p=i “>Onkyo HT-S650 $599
PS2 Cables
a href=”http://www.monstercables.com/monstergame/ps2/productPagePS2.asp?pin=1442″>Monster Cable GameLink 350 S-Video and Fiber Optic Audio $49.95
Xbox Cables
a href=”http://www.monstercables.com/monstergame/xbox/productPageXBOX.asp?pin=1527″>Monster Cable: GameLink 300 X S-Video $44.95
a href=”http://www.monstercables.com/monstergame/xbox/productPageXBOX.asp?pin=1525″>Monster Cable: LightWave 100 X Fiber Optic Audio $34.95

It’s all a little more than what I was expecting, but I think it’s a good investment.

That’s it for now. Radio is still having issue with OSX 10.2.2, but I finally got everything up and running somewhat stable so you’ll see regular updates again soon.

I don’t know if you’ve seen these yet, but they’re great. Looks like even jolly Saint Nick (played by Will Ferrell) is a switcher.

First off, let me say that I am Republican and that I did vote for Mr. Bush. I, obviously, don’t have to tell you what kind of big mistake that was. Yes folks, our president is a moron. This isn’t news to anyone and there’s no way of getting around it. This site makes it no one elses fault but your own now that you’re writing all of his speeches. What can you come up with? Good luck to us all… seriously.

I think I’m going to be making quite a big purchase here in a couple of weeks. I’ve been looking into home theater systems for the last year or so and now with a friend of mine making his recent purchase of one, I’m hard up on getting something soon.

My original goal was to stick to sub-$300 systems, but you know how things go. “Oh, for only $15 more, I can get this instead…” and so on. Well, I’m up to about $600 now. I was thinking about maybe sticking with Sony, but their stuff has NEVER been reliable for me and the reviews out there have been so against getting anything from that brand. The general concensus from everyone is it’s built like crap. I fully agree. Brand loyalty is thrown out the window now. I was originally gonna get the Pioneer HTP-220S. It’s a great system, but it only has 1 digital optical input. I want to be able to hook up all of my devices for true Dolby Digital 5.1.

Now I’ve got my mind set on the Onkyo HT-S650. This thing has been getting editor’s pick from everyone reviewing it and is basically the cream of the crop (even recommended over Bose). The only thing that’s been scoring better are the higher end Onkyo systems and $1500+ Bose systems. Seems like a fine choice considering the cost is less than half of that.

Let me know if you guys have any recommendations or experience with this stuff.

I haven’t really had a lot of updates in a while and I’m trying to chance that around. After I get all of my technical problems worked out this weekend, I should be good to go.

I have been without power at my apartment for the last 4 hours. The whole damn city went down and it just got turned back on. More time away from a computer means more thinking. Before I write about that, though, I put up all the images I took yesterday morning. I woke up at 3am and drive up to Angeles Crest Highway to check out the meteor shower. I didn’t get any pictures of the meteors, though. Instead, I just took a bunch of long exposure sunrise and highway shots. You can check them out in my photo album.

Just another thing to keep you entertained at work.

I think that Arizona trip really screwed me up. Well, at least the drive did. You’re basically forced to think about things you wouldn’t normally think about. It was all dealing with my personal life. More specifically, it was dealing with (for lack of a better term) the “significant other” aspect or the whole lack of one. Now don’t get me wrong. I think my personal life is fine. I’m surrounded by good friends. I live very comfortably. It’s this whole dating thing that’s getting to me. I mean it’s cool and all, but I think I may be ready to move past it. Maybe it will help if I quickly run down my reasons for dating in no particular order:

• Mystery & Excitement. Yeah, hanging with friends is cool, but it can get repetitive, especially with friends like mine. I mean I’m not all that exciting either, but it’s really the blind leading the blind when we get together. That’s why hanging with someone new every couple of days is good. It’s changes the pace up every once in a while and you don’t REALLY know what to expect from the other person.li>Sex (or sexual relations). This is really something that doesn’t need to be explained. Everyone wants it and casual dating is a great way to get it. As long as ya stay safe and keep some sort of morals, I think this is a great positive.li>Exposure & Discovery. Man I hate saying this word because I hear it way too much at work, but it’s probably the main reason for me to date. The more I’m exposed to, the closer I get to discovering what I really want and what I really don’t want.

Now the first 2 are still needed. They’ll always be needed during anytime of my life, whether it’s in a committed relationship or just casually dating around. Those reasons stay. Now the third. This one gets throw out all together. Why? Because I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish in this reason at this point in my life. I have a general idea of what I want and what I don’t want. There’s no more exposure needed because I’ve discovered all I want to right now. So what is it I do want? Well, here’s my general list of attributes (again, no particular order):

• Independent. Someone who doesn’t really need me in their life to move forward, just as I wouldn’t need them to continue on. Someone who can make their own decision and is not easily influenced by people.li>Sense of self worth. They trust themselves and respect their position in life.li>No baggage. This is a quick summary of the following: no kids, no just getting out of long term relationships, no previous marriages.li>Honest and up front. This one deals completely with communication. You need to know how to talk to me. I’m not a mind reader and I don’t do well with hints. Being brutally honest and up front with me works well because I think this is how I am and I respond the best when dealt with in this way.li>Goal oriented. There are certain goals in life and you need to know how you’re going to progress towards this. I tend to focus on career being a major goal and this automatically trims away at the younger girls because they are either trying to get through school or just f*cking off. I think I’m past both of those.li>Physically attractive. Let’s face it. I’m a beating short from looking like a irregular garden gnome or circus troll. I’m not going to lie though. This needs to be there or I’d be settling. The only people who don’t care about this are unattractive people. It’s almost a catch 22 for me.

Alright, now back to the main reason I’m posting. Why do I want to move beyond dating? It’s simple. My personal progress has stopped at this point. I’m not learning anything new and I’m not feeling anything from the dating thing. Relationships are good because they make you feel. Whether it’s good or bad, at least it helps you remember you’re alive. I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s so true. And even if it’s a negative experience, at least you’re learning something from it. I’ve learned WAY more from the bad stuff that’s happened to me. This is why I still can’t thank my ex-girlfriend enough for everything she’s done. Even though things didn’t end the way I would have wanted it to and we’ll probably never talk again, I owe every bit of my success (personal and professional) to her and I will always love her for the person she is (and now she’ll never really know it). All of the girls I’ve dated in the last year and a half have been way too young, way too willing, and way too immature to help me in any way and I’m done with that (I hope).

So there it is. Too much to read and still not enough content to hold someone’s interest. Still, I think I’m heading in the right direction. Learn from the past, enjoy the present, and the future will be nothing but bright. Good luck to us all…

There are major compatibility issue with Radio 8.0.8 and the newly updated Mac OSX 10.2.2. This (along with me being just plain busy) has seriously hindered my ability to post some of the longer thoughts I’ve had the last couple of days. You don’t know how frustrating it is to write some of this stuff out and have it all crash on you when you hit “post”. For this reason, I am not going to post anything of great length until a fix has been created. It should take a couple of days at the most. You should see a couple of short posts this weekend though. Again, here I go thinking people actually read what I write on this thing.