Life In the OC (That’s Oneida County)

I couldn’t decide whether to call this “Untitled Post” or “Default Text.” This entry is so uninteresting, but I just felt like writing. So I did.
So… Vacation continues. I woke up a little earlier this morning than I did yesterday. Regardless, waking up any time after 5:30 AM is automatically a good start to any day off for me. I immediately gathered all of the bottles and cans (and just clap your hands) that I’ve been holding on to for a year or so and brought them to Wal-Mart for returnal purposes. For a year or so, I was quite surprised that I only had about $7 worth of bottles and cans (and just clap your hands). I didn’t really do it for the cash money, though. I just wanted to clean my apartment up a little bit.

After that whole bit, I looked around a little itty bitty bit and bought myself some chai tea. Ah, chai tea. I have friends who enjoy tai chi. I always respond by telling them how I like chai tea. In fact, I think I’ll make some now. Good stuff, that chai tea.

I also took a quick tour around the store, stopping in the electronics department to laugh at the fact that there are still Playstation 3s for sale. No body wants the damn thing (though, that’ll prolly change in a few weeks when Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out). I also walked through the Nintendo section and saw a few things that I would like to pick up, but I have some other financial obligations to absolve first. Specifically, at the end of the week I’m going to the Buffalos for a wedding. Anyway, I was looking at Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for the DS. Also, Shiren the Wanderer for the DS. Essentially, they are the same game, one with cutesy pokey mans, the other with a gruff silent-type as a protagonist, where the majority of the game’s story takes place in the opening cinematic scene. I’ve been digging the Roguelikes, lately, thank you very much, Jeremy Parish. I (illegally) downloaded the Pokey Man Mystery Dungeon game that came out for the Game Boy Advance Recently. It’s fun, but like I said, it’s cutesy.

I also was about this close to buying Crosswords DS or Lego Star Wars for the Wii, but that’s about when I remembered my financial situation.

So, tail between my legs, I head out, pay for my chai tea, and head on home. I enjoy a little time to myself, download a couple of podcasts, copy them on to my iPod, hop in the tub and enjoy a good long soak.

After that, I made myself a nice ghetto lunch of Grilled Cheese, deleted a couple of things off of my Will and made this blog post.

A relatively uneventful day, sure, but hey.  I’m at the most boring part of my life.  No TV to talk about, what with having the cable shut off.  A waning interest in video games, though they were quite adequately covered in this post.  No local friends, per se.  It’s just kind of a “waiting for something to happen, then thinking if I want to involve myself in said happening.”  I wish the weather were better.  I’d be spending this entire vacation out side, but it’s still only in the 50s.  This is the worst pre-Memorial Day week ever.

Life in the OC contains (but is not full of) things that no longer matter.

I’ve been removing a few things from my life lately. I removed an entry from this blog. I’ll prolly remove a few more. I removed a ton of links in the blogroll, mostly because they’re never updated anymore. The ones I left? Well, they’re never updated, either. I removed cable TV back in September, October. Suprisingly, No TV, No Beer does NOT make Dan something something.

I removed a couple of things from my Wii. I wanted to try Wii Ware, so I had to get rid of the useless “Check Mii Out” Channel, as well as the much more useless “Metroid Prime 3 Preview” Channel. I deleted a ton of save data for games I’ve rented. After all of that, I barely had enough room for “Lost Winds.” It’s okay. I was under the impression that it would be a bit “Metroidvania,” and it kind of is. It’s just not as fun as the series that originated the term Metroidvania. I’m not so sure it was worth the 1,000 points, either.

There are a few more things I need to remove from my Wii.  Non-save data related things.  My apartment definitely needs a few things removed, too. I’ve thought of removing my myspace a couple of times. Once, I even tried to do it. I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Maybe the only way is to “zero out” all of the information.

I’m on vacation. It’s the end of May. I have always taken this week for vacation, the week prior to Memorial Day. Right now, it’s 40 degrees, windy, and rainy. It’s never like this on this week. If I could, I would remove this bad weather.

This is just stupid.

And, no, I’m not talking about my piss-poor photo editing ability. That’s another topic for another time.

Fuckin’ Classmates.com Fuckers are incapable of basic math. Look at the picture on the left. Sweet 16. I would guess, and this is solely a guess, that based on the hair style and clothing, that this picture was taken in 1987. Fast forward twenty years to 2007. That would make a person “thoughtful 36″, not a “shitty 60″ as depicted.

It’s simple math. Classmates.com… go fuck yourself.

Love, Dan.

Life in the OC HURTS!

I remember I used to start and end every day with a blog post.  Well, I’m doing this as a sort of placeholder to force myself to update later.

Short story to be updated later:  A fortune cookie is responsible for stubbing my toe, leaving me a cripple!  Holy crip!  He’s a crapple!  We’ll leave it at that for now.  Update coming later.  I have to work!  ^_^

Life in the OC is precarious.  Ooh!  Good word, Dan!

Why precarious?  I dunno.  I’m wondering whether or not to keep the blog.  I never write in it.  No one reads it (not that there’s anything to read).  All of the pictures I’ve posted have fallen off.

So I says to Mabel myself, “Self… You need to quit, or get this thing in gear.” 

Like a cowboy on Brokeback Mountain, I just can’t quit you!

So here’s what I’m suggesting.  I think I’ll erase all of my old posts.  Yes.  Even the ‘funny’ ones, and starting with this post, create a new life for myself, here in the OC.

Remember when Horatio Sanz was funny?

Yeah.  Neither do I.

Life in the OC can be entertaining at times.

I was wondering what to write about today.  All day.  Up until ten minutes ago, it was going to be about Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches.  While it’s a fascinating topic, I’m sure, it will probably have to hold off for now.

Nope.  Today, I will be writing abut something that just slapped me in the face.  I’m addicted to “To Catch A Predator,” and I don’t know why.  Something is just awesome about seeing the scummiest of the scum getting arrested.

If you’re not familiar with the show, here’s the set up (appropriate, since the whole show is a set up, heh heh.):

People (well, men, really) start talking with way too underage kids online about performing various sexual acts and send pictures of themselves posing in oh so unsavory ways.  They make plans to meet.  What the men don’t realize is that they’re actually talking with a cop, or an independent person who is assisting the police.  When the meet, it’s actually a young adult who can pass as a teen or tween.  The young adult comes up with a plan to leave the room and in comes Chrish Hanshon to talk to the predator.  He asks them all sorts of questions about what they’re doing there, if they brought condoms, if they brought alcohol or tobacco.  This is usually where the predator acts stupid… playing dumb, pretending they were just visiting a friend, or some other stupid shit.  It is at this point that Chrish Hanshon will whip out a copy of the transcript and read it word for word.  “You said you wanted to have a 13 year old *bleep* your *bleep!*  Don’t you see anything wrong with this?”  Finally, after several minutes of interviews, the predator is told who Chrish Hanshon is, and that they’re part of a Dateline NBC Investigation.  Then, out of seemingly nowhere, about 13 guys come out holding video cameras and boom mics to intimidate the predator.  The predator freaks out and leaves, only to be arrested promptly by the local police.  Reset, do it again, repeat 10-12 times.

Now, you may be thinking, that’s not entertainment, and I agree.  It’s not.  It’s news.  However… here’s the sad part.  I find this serious and sad news program more entertaining that, oh, say and episode of Deal or No Deal.  Let me tell you why.

Deal of No Deal.  Clearly, it’s entertainment.  It’s alternative programming (a PC way of saying Reality Show), but it’s still considered entertainment.  I’m sick of Deal or No Deal.  I’m extremely sick of Deal or No Deal.  Deal or No Deal, a show that feels the need to not only have the word Deal in it’s title, but the need to have the word, “Deal,” in their title twice.  Deal or No Deal is on two, three, sometimes five times a week.  I can’t watch it that much anymore.  It’s the reason that I, like most Americans gave up on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.  Overkill.  I haven’t watched Deal or No Deal regularly since October.

Unlike Deal or No Deal, To Catch A Predator is Interesting.  To be honest, they should drop the Dateline NBC prefix from the title.  Hell.  I already have.  Next, make it a weekly series.  Not only would it be entertaining, I’d bet that after a short while, it’ll finally put a dent into all of these sickos who are going after our pre-teens online.

I just wanted to let everyone know that a very special person passed away today.  Although I’ve only been watching NASCAR for six years, I’ve grown to love the commentary of the man known as “The Professor” and “BP”.  After a battle with lung cancer, a friend of the NASCAR community, Benny Parsons, has passed away.

Another name that could be applied to Benny was, “The Champ.”  Benny won the Winston (Now Nextel) Cup championship in 1973.  One of only two (I believe) drivers to have won a championship with only one win the season, a very difficult task to accomplish.

Benny could also have been called “Ambassador.”  Plain and simple, I’ll say this.  It is impossible to dislike Benny Parsons.  The man loved to share his knowledge of the sport, and did it in a way that didn’t make you feel stupid.

I just wanted to say, “Thank You,” Benny.  Although I have never met you, you’ve made me feel like I know you.  I regret that I’ve only known you for six years, but they have been six fantastic years.

RIP, Benny Parsons, 1941-2007.

Life in the OC is full of waiting.

It’s about 10 days until the release of Final Fantasy XII. I’ve been playing video games for a long time, and I’ve been playing Final Fantasy games since Day 1 back in 1990.

So, I though a good way to waste time is to talk about my favorite Final Fantasy Games in Order from most, to least. Why? Meh. I don’t know. No one is going to read this! :-)

First off is Final Fantasy IX.

Some people may read this and go, “Bdwaaaaaaaahh!?!” I don’t know why people hate this game. I love it. Cool characters, all of which are likeable, even if Zidane has a tail and looks like David Bowie. Even the villain is likeable. Kinda’ sad, really. Okay, so I don’t remember why I liked him or felt sorry for him. I just remember that I do. I owned this game, but it somehow disappeared. I borrowed it from Ryan, probably two or three years ago. He prolly thinks his copy disappeared, too.

Second on my list is Final Fantasy IV.

My first memory of this game involves how I actually obtained a copy. My first Final Fantasy as I had said before, was Final Fantasy 1. This game came out in the US, two years later as Final Fantasy II. To be chronologically correct, though, I’ll refer to it as Final Fantasy IV. This was the first Final Fantasy for the Super Nintendo. For the first time (for me), the characters have names. That was weird. This game was more like an interactive movie, than a video game. Within hours, I was emotionally connected with the characters. I also found the battle system quite interesting. Instead of entering each character’s commands a the start of a turn, you enter commands when their turn comes up. Time is always moving! Though this is commonplace in 90% of RPGs now, this was such an interesting concept. So how did I obtain my copy? Well, I lived in the middle of nowhere growing up. No, literally. Middle of nowhere. The closest town was about 10 miles away. That town only had your basic necessites such as a grocery store, and and Ames department store for clothes. The nearest big city and mall was about 90 minutes away. We were friends with the owners of the Sprout Brook Country store, about two miles down the road. The Owners son had a copy of this game, but had no time to play it. I borrowed it, in exchange for Mario Paint. After falling in love with the game, I had requested to purchase it from him. I knew the game cost about $80 from my few trips to the mall. I had saved up about $100 from allowances, so that I could purchase it. When I spoke with the store owner, she asked how much I wanted. I offered $60, she said, “How about $20?” Sold! I played this game for probably two years straight. Beating it, starting over, and loving the story and characters again and again. The nostalgia around this game is so sharp in my memory.

Next up, in third, is Final Fantasy X. This game was originally scheduled to come out in January of 2002, I believe, however, due to popular demand, Square pushed it up to mid-December of 2001. This game is full of sadness, yet the characters are so cheery. The game takes place in the world of Spira, whose name seems quite apropriate, when you consideral the spiral of death that takes place in the world. Basically, you’ve got this guy named Yevon, who is the ruller of a city of Summoners called Zanarkand. Zanarkand goes to war with the City of Bevelle. Bevelle is ridiculously overpowered, and Yevon knows that his city won’t survive, so he takes all of his people, turns them to stone, so that they can create a giant summoned beast named Sin. Using Sin, he destroys all of Bevelle’s technology and tells people that the only way to get rid of Sin is to destroy all of their technology and maybe, some day, Sin won’t ever come back. Nice story, except it’s not true. Well, it’s a game, so that’s the reason, it’s not true, but it turns out he was lying to the people of Bevelle. Sin will always be there. Kinda’. You see, Yevon’s daughter, Yunalesca, also a summoner, found a way to defeat sin. It’s a trick called the Final Summoning. Basically, Sin can be destroyed by having a summoner take one of their most loved friends or family members and having them turned into the final summoning, which is able to defeat Sin. Unfortunately, the summoner loses their life by performing the summoning. So Sin is gone, right? Wrong. Yevon still lives inside of Sin. He uses the body of the final summoning to create a new Sin to destroy the world’s technology. Thus, the cycle begins again. And so it continued for 1,000 years until the time that the game takes place in. The cast of heroes find a way to not only stop Sin, but defeat Yevon, so that he can’t create a new Sin. Hooray heroes!

Well, that’s my top three. I’ll see if I can get the next set up soon. Ten bucks says I don’t!

Life in The OC is full of reflection.

Before Saturday’s Nextel Cup rave, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

From nascar.com’s “We Wonder” segment…

… how long has it been since you said the Pledge of Allegiance?

As a military man whose name escapes me recited the Pledge of Allegiance during pre-race ceremonies Saturday night, I found myself trying to remember the last time I had said it.

I couldn’t remember. Then I wondered why.

I once heard comedian Lewis Black call the Pledge “coffee for elementary school students.” On this day especially, I think we all could use a second cup.

I just wanted to thank Mark Spoor, the writer of the column.  Like me, he is originally from upstate New York.  I’ve chatted with him via email once or twice, and he’s a great guy.  I just wanted to say it’s great of him to note what happened this day and to point out that like me, he will never forget what happened on September 11th, 2001.

Life in the OC is pretty ugly. Here’s Proof.

I am one ugly Mofo.

Life in the OC is pretty much lived by wasting time until the next event comes up.

Check this out. This is definitely me wasting my time.

And… now I’m a little scared.

Life in the OC can be tough.  Today was funeral 2.0.  We burried my grandfather who died back in January.

The commital was done in my grandfather’s home of Little Falls which is located in the HC (Herkimer County).  It was tough, but not as bad this time around.  When we were done, we went back to my grandmother’s, where we tried to stay happy.  We pretty much succeeded at that.

I came home and installed my air conditioner.  Twas a task, but nowhere near impossible.

I went to the doctor Thursday.  My blood pressure is down.  Hurrah!  Still waiting on my cholesterol though.

Other than that, though, Life in the OC has been just that.  Life in the OC.

Shy Guy is dead.

Well … he isn’t really, but the blog known as Shy Guy is dead. The original purpose of my blog was to write about how I had trouble talking to people. (It rarely did that.)

While sitting on the crapper at work today, I thought to myself, “Self? What’s a good name to give to your blog? Shy Guy just isn’t working anymore.”

So I remembered that I often say that I live in the OC. Oneida County. I guess that works. It’s kinda’ funny I guess. So, instead of shyness, this is now a blog about life. Let’s see how often I update it!

What the hell is a deubelflarb?

Meh. Doesn’t matter. I just figured it was time for one of my semi-annual posts. Fun huh? Lesse… There’s some stuff to say. I’m not 100% sure, but I think Ryan has discontinued his blog. It has since been replaced by what we’re calling the farblog. It’s the god of all blogs here on farbnode.com. Ryan writes in there (on occasion). I write in there (on occasion). We also added the mysterious third farbnode.com writer, Jen, who in reality is not really all that mysterious. It’s just Ryan’s cousin, but lets keep that between you and me, internet.

Anyway, my car is broken. I’m afraid to drive it anywhere. Fortunately, I’m taking the first step toward getting it fixed this weekend.

Am I surprised that my car is having issues? Hardly! I just made the last payment. I’m surprised I haven’t totalled it yet. You know how that luck goes, right? Heh.

So I’ve been missing my sweetie, Jaime. She’s been out of commission for a week with the flu. I’m hoping I get to see her soon. I really miss her.

So… check out the farblog. I think we’re gonna’ try to keep it updated a little bit better.

Plus we have that whole podcast thing coming. Don’t worry. This is something we definatley plan on following through with. We’ve been planning it since November and we’re all excited here at farbnode.com

So, with that, I leave for now. Possibly, maybe to return within a few day, but more than likely, it’ll be another month when I post again. Talk to all ya’ll soon. ^_^

Yeah. I know. It’s only March 1st, but it’s been a tough year already. Monday morning at 4:11 AM, I received a call from my mother letting me know that my other grandfather had died.

I’ve been at my mom’s all this week, save the crazy amount of running around I’ve had to do.

I’m just in a tough spot here. I’m just not sure what else I could write, y’know?

I’ll miss him, and I’ll remember him.

Two days later, and I’m still having a hard time gathering myself.

Don’t you love it when sports writers hype up an athlete or an event? Nine times out of ten, it fails to deliver. Take a look at… oh say, nine of the last ten Super Bowls.

NBC, sports writers, Nike, all of them put their stock behind the magical, mystical, amazing Bode Miller.

Bode never had a podium finish.

I don’t know for sure, but I believe Bode never had a top five finish.

Bode Miller is indeed useless.

Then, there’s the other obvious observation. Ratings for the Olympics are down. But, look at the big picture. I mean the BIG picture. All TV ratings are down. Whose fault is it? Overexposure? Simon Cowell? Liberal hippies who hate competition in any way shape or form (I’m referring to my crazy neighbor).

Me? I’m blaming it on the fact that it’s the Winter Olympics. As Americans, we don’t generally care how fast a person can ski down a hill (although, personally, I love the Biathlon. I guess I’m Biathlon-curious).

But…. I guess I’m a sports nut at heart. I really enjoyed watching the Olympics this year. Except that god damn figure skating. *shakes fist* Damn you, figure skating!

Another prime example: I sat down to watch the first Hockey game of the Olympics this year. The crowd was pumped up, and the commentators were pumped up. I went from curious to pumped up when the commentators were telling me that they’re expecting the gold medal match to be between the US and Canada for both men’s and women’s hockey. I said to myself, “Wow! I bet they’ll be great matches!” I never got to see them, because neither the US, nor Canada qualified for hockey medal matches. Again, thanks for nothing NBC.

Besides that, the NHL season was interrupted so our athletes could go to Italy and lose to amateurs. Nothing against amateurs. I just think we should go back to sending our own amateurs.

The one good thing that came out of the Olympics this year. My curiosity from my childhood: Curling!

But first, a cute little story.

I remember when the cable network CNBC started up. It was the Consumer News and Business Channel. After maybe five years or so, GE/NBC/Universal/The Undying Soul of Dick Fuckin’ Clark Incorporated took notice that the last three letters were NBC. They snatched it up. Surprisingly, very little was changed. Plus, it gave NBC another channel to run Olympic programming on every other year.

Well, for this year’s Olympics, CNBC was used primarily to run tape delayed curling. Surprisingly, people ate it up. In fact, the ratings for Olympic curling on CNBC beat what was usually running on CNBC at that time. I’m just wondering if the Consumer News and Business Channel is going to become the Curling National Broadcasting Company.

Yeah. Somfin wrong big time. I’m sitting here at 11 at night watching the Olympics. I’m watching freakin’ ice dancing. Put something decent on, dammit!

…Like curling.

So last week, I was hanging out with my sister. We decided to get dinner at Pizza Hut. Just something different, y’know? So we walked in and sat down. Across the way, there was an elderly couple. With them was their granddaughter. The granddaughter gets up from the table and walks over to our table. She just sorta’ stares at us. My sister says, “Hi! How are you?!”

The little girl just continues to stare at us. After a couple seconds, she says something. I heard what she said. My sister thinks she heard what she said. My sister says, “What did you say?”

The girl says, “Jesus died on the cross.”

The grandmother says, “What did she say!? Get back over here!”

The family left. I spent the rest of the dinner saying to my sister, “Jesus died on the cross.”

You know, I wanted to be a wise ass, but that little girl was so innocent. I was gonna’ tell her that “Our God is an awesome God“.

But, I’m too nice.

I’m gonna’ try to get back into the writing habbit. It’s been a while. I think I’m gonna’ aim for five entries a week. That’s managable. Let’s see if I can make it.

I really spend too much time watching TV. It’s not news to me. It’s just something I felt I should point out. I really really noticed it when I was working on my myspace.

…I hate myspace…

But anyway, if you wanna’ check it out, it’s here. Not much there… but, I wouldn’t really expect there to be, seeing as I hate it.

By the way, I agree with my girlfriend. Boobs are indeed filled with music. It’s a cute story. If I ever meet any of my readers, I’d love to tell it. ;-)

That’s all for now. I’ll try to come of with a theme to follow for the next week or so!

It seems like boobs are filled up with music.

Hey, folks. Not the best new year so far. I’m kinda’ down. Promise me it won’t bring any of you down, though.

As you can tell based on the header for this entry, today is January 2, 2005. Eighty-eight years and one day ago… It was January 1, 1918.

So a couple years ago, he found out he had stomach cancer. It seemed he was prepared to die, but the doctors convinced him he could easily live another ten years if he had the surgery.

He had the surgery.

I rushed to see him the day he got back from the hospital. I remember eating spaghetti with him and him getting yelled at for putting too much crushed red pepper on it.

A few months later, he started having trouble walking. We took him in for physical therapy. He got better.

A few months later, he really started having trouble walking. He couldn’t live at home anymore. The man I had always seen as invincible could no longer walk. The man I had always seen as invincible could no longer help his family. The man I had always seen as invincible now had to have round the clock care.

A few more times, he was brought in for surgery. A few more times, physical therapy was tried. I remember after seeing him after his first surgery. I remember him saying, “I never thought I’d end up like this.”

Thanksgiving, 2004. He moved away. Christmas, 2004, we were told he’d be lucky if he made it to his birthday, January 1.

He did. And he made it to Easter. And he made it to Father’s Day. And he made it to July 4. And he made it to Veteran’s Day. And he made it to Thanksgiving. And he made it to Christmas. And he made it to his next birthday.

There was a party for him. His family was there. And that night, January 1, 2005, he died in his sleep.

His name was Dan Bucenec. He is survived by his wife, Kris, His Daughter Jean and her Husband Stan, his son Dan, his grandchildren, Alex, Holly, and me, Dan.

I regret wholeheartedly that I did not get to go to the party yesterday. I had intended on visiting today to make up for it. I regret that I didn’t get that chance.

But in my father’s words, “He seemed fine and dandy yesterday.” To me, it seems that yesterday was one of the happiest days of his life. His family was there to give him an eighty-eighth birthday party. He may have died in his sleep, but I’m sure he died as the happiest man in the world.

I miss him already. I’m going to miss him everyday. I want to strive to live my life like the man I had always seen as invincible.

Wow. Nearly a month. I’ve had a lot going on, but at least I beat Ryan to making a new entry.

Just kidding, Ryan.

He’s been ridiculously busy.

Maybe I’m paranoid (I know I am), but something doesn’t feel right lately.

Tomorrow, 12-16 is my birthday. Twenty-fifth, to be exact.

Ryan and I are planning something for the farbnode.com main page (finally!)

As for the Ben Folds concert review, well, I’ll post the pics here with a mini-review, but nothing major. I hate to say it, but I’m just to busy. :-(

Anyway, here come the Ben Folds pics!

Good news! It looks like the overtime is nearing it’s end. I’ll finally be free. Hopefully, I’ll get a little more time to read and write. Also, I hope you guys really like this project Ryan and I are working on. We hope to debut it within the next few weeks. We’re just putting some things together for now.

Anyway, until next time, I’ll try to be a better mood. I miss reading all of your blogs, and I really miss writing. Things have just been really difficult lately.

By The Way, folks, I plan on puting some notes on the pics above. Check back, all ya’ll.

Yeah… Like Ryan said, we went to see Ben Folds. I plan on writing an entry on the concert, but I have to get some free time.

And, Oh, By The Way… there are plenty (read 6) of pictures!

Happy Birthday, Ron the Mon.

Folks, he’s 27, and all he got was that stupid T-shirt.

A stupid T-shirt signed by all of his friends.

I took this picture on October 25th, 2005, looking over the steering wheel of my car.

Yeah. Really. October 25th, I’m driving to my girlfriend’s house. I can’t see a thing.

It’s way too early to have a Utica snowstorm.

Well… this isn’t a Utica snowstorm. It’s not a Utica Snowstorm unless you get at least twelve inches over the course of twelve hours.

But still, it’s pretty bad for November.

So, I only ended up staying for about a half an hour and headed home. My way home was blocked by an accident. I turned and took a different road, hoping it would get me home. I passed by ANOTHER accident.

This was some crazy night.

About a half a mile from the city, the road suddenly became very clear. The snow had stopped. It was almost as if the snow never was. It was just rain. I went from driving fifteen miles per hour, all the way up to 60. It was like a breath of fresh air.

And even now, two hours after I’ve gotten home, Jaime tells me it’s still snowing. And here, it’s still just raining.

That’s some wacky weather.

But that’s what we get… We’re aware of what we got into when we moved here.

And I love it. And I hate it.

It’s what hell would be like if it were frozen over.

But…. It’s Home. Y’kow? Sometimes you just love your home, no matter the wacky weather.

Yeah. That’s a Bruce Springsteen reference in the title to this post. Gotta’ love the area I chose to live in.

So smart. So freakin’ smart.

Yes, Mr. Fogerty, I have seen the rain comin’ down on a sunny day.

Yes, Mr. Fogerty, I have been blinded, whilst my wipers were running at full blast.

It’s been raining here for near three weeks straight. Well, not straight on rain, rain and nothing but rain, but, we’ve had enough rain every day for the past three weeks to ruin any plans that may have been made.

Rainy weather used to be my favorite kind of weather. It’s kinda’ cool out, and it brings life.
…But you know, when you have someone special in your life and you want to do something, but the rain has kept you inside for three straight weeks, you start to get upset with it.

One of the most popular things in my neck of the woods is corn mazes.

So, last year my buddy and I explored a corn maze shaped like Yoda.

Here’s a pic….

Now, I know you can’t see that, so if you click on it, it should come up. Thumbnails, my friends. Thumbnails.

Anyway, because of all the rain, we haven’t been able to go to this year’s maze. I remember how muddy last years was, and that was a week after the last rainstorm. I can only imagine how bad it is after three straight weeks of rain.

I hadn’t planned on writing about the mazes until I went through them, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to get to do it this year. Maybe, MAYBE if it isn’t raining on Halloween…

Anyway, here’s this year’s maze:

As you can see, it’s two mazes. They decided to keep up the Star Wars theme. Pretty cool.

Their problem is that they’re only open on Saturday and Sundays until the end of October. We haven’t had a rain free weekend since September.

Well, all I can say is that I hope one of you get out there to experience something like it for yourself, since I can’t this year. I loved last year’s maze, and I was so looking forward to this one, but it’s just not going to happen. :-(

I would love to hear your account. Either write about it in your blog and let me know by comment, or just leave a comment on this post letting me know about your maze excursion.

Mmm… Excursion. Good word. *pats self on back*

Well, For the past three or four months, I’ve been blitzed with spam comments on my blog. I just wanted to let you folks know that I’ve (I’ve meaning that Ryan has done so nicely for me, as he usually does) installed a karma program for comments. I’m still getting the hang of it, so if your comment doesn’t appear right away, don’t get freaked out, and don’t resubmit it. It might take a few minutes, or a half of a day, but it should show up.

Sorry about that, folks. ^_^

I don’t know what to do! I’ve had all this time off and now I’m thinking about all that money I’ve got saved up and what I might want to spend it on. I was at Wal-Mart three days out of five on my vacation. Each time there, I stared longingly at the wide screen plasma TVs. They had a decent looking one for $800.

“Decent looking” is the term, though. It was a Sanyo, after all. So, I’m considering shopping around for a TV. A nice widescreen TV, you know, what with that being the future and all. So, I’m gonna’ go price shopping at some point. Maybe get a brand better than Sanyo. Gotta look around, though.

I’ve also considered greatly the fact that I have no pictures of my friends and family, so I was considering purchasing a digital camera. I’m sick of not seeing my friends, you know, because they all live so far away. Same with the family. I need to start taking more pictures.

So, I gotta’ start comparing and contrasting cameras.

Then I have to consider which of the two I’d like to get more.

Maybe I’ll get both.

Oh yeah. 32 freakin’ inches.

No, not me, you pre-verts…

That’d just be freakish. I’m no Dirk Diggler. I can hold my own, though.

Not that any of you care. :-D

I seriously considered buying a 32 inch TV from Wal-Mart Yesterday. They marked it down to $400. I was sick of having all my OT money and nothing to spend it on. It really is burning a hole in my pockets…

…either that, or I need some new jeans.

Anyway, I opted not to get it, because I didn’t have anywhere to put it, I didn’t have any way to transport it, and honestly, I don’t think I could have picked it up. It was a pretty big TV.

So here I sit, broken hearted… came to shi…

That’s not right.

I’m just realizing that I have nothing to talk about lately, so I’m writing about how I almost bought a TV, which I probably wouldn’t have time to watch.

Bah, what the hell. Maybe I’ll go back tomorrow to see if they still have it. I’m sure I can find a nice entertainment center, too.

I need to spend more money on me. I don’t feel I’ve done enough of that lately. ^_^

I’m getting there. I’m excited that vacation is coming. I’m going to be doing A LOT of household chores that have been ignored since my last vacation. My apartment is in shambles…. I’m not lazy, it’s just that I”m so tired when I get home.

At the end of this month, we will have been doing overtime for a year at work. I’ve skipped very few hours of overtime. My checking account would definitely prove that to you.

The bad part is, there’s currently no end in sight for the overtime. We’re hoping to end it in the beginning of the year, but, well… they said that the overtime should have ended in February. Who knows.

All I know is that I’m definitely looking forward to rest. I need it.

On the lighter side of life…

Well… I haven’t had time for the lighter side of life. Maybe I’ll blow a few bucks on vacation. Not much else to do. ^_^

…But… what to buy?

Any suggestions?

…man…

Not only have I felt like crap lately, but I look like crap, too…

Good thing I’m on vacation next week!

Good lookin’ out on my part. I recognized that there was a hurricane in the gulf coast yesterday, and locked in prices at $2.99 a gallon. Well… to be fair, that’s still a rip off. All day at work yesterday, I reminded my co-workers to get gas. Hopefully, they followed through. I wasn’t there to remind them today.

They’re saying $4-$5 a gallon after this weekend. That’s a little ridiculous. We’ll see.

Well, nothing to worry about yet. I’m hungry.

I added a few links in yon blogroll on the side. My sister’s blog, Peanut Butter Jelly Time, my girlfriend’s blog, I Used To Be An Alligator. She’s not too happy with me at current.

I also added my sister’s friend, Heather’s blog. She’s spending a semester in Australia as my sister spent a semester in England. It’s fun to read, but we should prolly leave comments for her to update more often. It’s great hearing about far off lands, right?

Ah, FTP…

…no, not the flower people. Ryan taught me how to use a File Transfer Protocol system to make changes to my website. I think moving my site over from geocities will start moving a little quicker.

Good work, Ryan.

Now, let’s see if it actually happens.

We’re starting to move into a very difficult part of my life. I call it… OCTOBER.

October is my favorite month of the year, yet it is such a great challenge. You see, in October, there’s the Major League Baseball playoffs, the start of the NFL season, NASCAR’s chase for the championship, and now the World Series of Poker, which I am slowly becoming addicted to (by slowly, I mean I’ve watched every episode over the past two years).

Do I need to get a life?

It seems to me that the majority of America has forgotten what happened on this day, four years ago.

I feel that the news should still show footage of what happened. Maybe that way, people would understand why we’re at war.

As Americans, we tend to forget things very quickly.

That is all.

I’m trying to get a little more active here again, but it’s taking me a while. Bear with me, folks. I’m not like Snoop Dogg, you know. While he can come up with funky ass hits like every single day, I can’t come up with funny ass blogs like every single day….

But I do love the Chrysler commercial with Snoop Dogg and Lee Iaccoca.

Fo’ Shizzle, Lee Iaccocazizzle

My favorite commercial right now is the one where the King from the Burger King commercials picks off the pass in the NFL game. Too freakin’ funny. I love the king. Where is your god now.

I know almost every blog is talking about what has happened with Katrina, or the effects of Katrina. I think we could use a break from that, so I’ll try to post something that is supposed to be funny, but it probably won’t be funny at all.

I would swallow my pride
I would choke on the rinds
But the lack thereof would leave me empty inside
I would swallow my doubt
Turn it inside out
Find nothing but faith in nothing
Wanna’ put my tender
Heart in a blender
Watch it spin ’round to a beautiful oblivion
Rendezvous
Then I’m through with you.

My gripe is this: Is this all it takes to write a hit song? If so, I’ve written enough crappy songs. Where’s my millions of dollars and slutty groupies?

I usually try to keep things light-hearted and happy here, but I’ve had a rough couple of hours. I have to share it with my friends, family, and readers whom I haven’t made strong friendships with yet.

One of the main reasons I haven’t been able to write in the blog too often over the course of this summer is that I’ve been helping out my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin by babysitting their pet Rabbit, Jasmine, and their pet Guinea Pig, Oreo. A few months back, I had plans to put their pictures up here to exclaim how proud I am to have them in my life.

I never got around to getting the pictures up.

…Hell… I never got around to snapping the pictures.

I’ve enjoyed my time with them. Watching them, playing with them, cleaning up their poop. Okay. Maybe not cleaning up the poop.

Anyway, since I’ve had the bunny and guinea pig [or as I lovingly referred to them, Rabb-utt und Pig, (Rabb-utt und Pig akin to Moose und Squorol)], I’ve noticed that the rabbit goes through a bottle of water over about three or four days, and the pig goes through a bottle of water a day. I’ve noticed over the past couple of weeks or so that the pig hasn’t been drinking that much water… or eating that much food, or only nibbling on the treats I’ve been giving her instead of swallowing them up within three minutes. Today, when I got home, the pig was on her side, breathing heavily, her eyes partially shut. I’ve never seen the pig off of her feet. Never. NEVER. I knew it was time. She had been acting so uncharacteristically lately, I knew she would be passing soon. It turned out today was the day. I called my Aunt around 4 to let her know, and she explained that the average guinea pig has a life span of about five years. They’ve had her for three years, and they knew she’d been alive longer than that. We figured it was her time. I just got off the phone with my Aunt and let her know that she died. My Aunt is driving into town tomorrow afternoon to pick her up.

I’m so upset that this had to happen on my watch, but my Aunt reassured me that it was something that was bound to happen one day, and she let me know that she wasn’t upset, because she was sure I treated both her and the rabbit with love (and I did).

This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything dead. My grandmother passed a few years ago, and I refused to go see her after she had died. I just couldn’t do it. Same with my step-grandmother earlier this year. Any pets I’ve had before died while I was away, so my parents always got to them first.

I’m having a tough time, but I’m dealing.

Anyway, RIP, Oreo (At Least 2002-2005)

Sorry, folks. I’ll try to be more upbeat next time. :*-(

I haven’t written in a while… I’ve been bad. Sorry. I’ve had some real world distractions, which I may or may not discuss at some point.

Let’s put it this way. I’m extremely happy.

…and… I’ve been in a small funk, which I now believe I’m over…

anyway… news!!

Finally after getting sick of people saying, “Hey Dan! Why haven’t you read the Harry Potter books? What’s wrong with you? Are you mental? They’re good books, you know… What’s the matter? Can’t handle a fourth grade reading level?”

“Okay,” I said. “Enough.”

I refuse to buy them, but I am borrowing them from several people. So far… well… maybe I’ll review them on my website. It has been a year since I’ve updated it. BTW, don’t bother clicking on the link. I haven’t activated the site yet. You still get that silly “under construction” picture.

Okay. That’s all for now. I hope to be back soon, real world matters, pending…

Okay. Sorry about the lack of updates, but nothing has struck me as odd as of late. Today, however, I’m watching the Nextel Cup race, and I see a commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Why in the hell is the theme song for Kentucky Fried Chicken, “Sweet Home Alabama?

Yes, the title looks the way I want it to.

We have this little thing at the company I work for called spirit. I can’t talk about it too much without getting in trouble. We have a certain group of people called the Spirit Team. It’s their job to come up with activites to keep us energetic and motivated. One of the things that they came up with is “Pass the Spirit.” It’s a little thing that they made with like confetti or something. I jokingly refer to it as the “Spirit Explosion.” The point is that if you notice someone is having a bad day, you’re supposed to pass the spirit on to them. They’ve been doing it since November, and some people have had the spirit several times. Not me, though. Apparently, I’m so full of spirit that I don’t need it… or some shit like that.

Well, Thursday was pretty shitty, and some one noticed, so Thursday night, before they left, they passed the spirit on to me.

See?

Maybe it got to my head…

So at the end of the day, yesterday, I passed it on to a gal who was working her last day.

Hmmm… dunno if that was the right thing to do…

Someday, we’ll fix the colors on this site so that it’ll be easier to read…

…someday…

Okay. Before I start, I have to apologize. A few days ago I said that I would have a new entry up, and every time I started to write, something came up… A few things, I should probably not talk about (it’s good, but it doesn’t belong in a blog).

…fuckers…

My Monday began like no other. I awoke in a hotel room in New Jersey.

Oh, and if you’re wondering about the girl and the pizza place from the title, they don’t exist. I just stuck that in there cuz I thought it’d make this entry sound cooler.

Well… work is finally starting to get to me. When I was watching the Nextel Cup race this past weekend, I was suddenly reminded of work. And it scared the hell out of me.

What the hell am I doing!!!

I am so fucked in the head. I need to get away from the overtime, but then again, the it’s the overtime that’s paying for this internet access…

I’m sure some of you may have already heard this. Michael Vick is a Football Player in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons. There’s a woman sueing him, currently, claiming that they had a relationship in which she gave him the herpes. (That’s pronounced, “The Hurps”, thanks, Notch Johnson) Anyway… to try to protect his privacy (too late), Michael’s name on all court papers appear as “Ron Mexico.”

And do you remember the commercials this past football season, displaying “The Michael Vick Experience”? Well, what do you think this year’s Michael Vick experience would look like.

Are you excited? I am. This is my first blog post from home! Hurrah!

Well…

That’s all I’ve got. I promise a real update tomorrow!

Anyone who has known me for a while knows what a big fan of Ben Folds’ music I am. So I figured, since I have some space on the web, I’d promote Ben’s newest CD, Songs For Silverman.

That’s the cover of the new album.

And here comes the promotion part…

Here’s me doing a pretty shitty impression of the album cover.

There. Free press, on a rarely travelled website. Enjoy.