yeah, but I sense a lot of hatred in him… I fear he has already fallen to the Dark Side…
Yeah… too late to save me, but never too late to run the fuck away from the bastard that not only owns authentic replicas of Darth Sidious’ and Darth Vader’s sabers from Episode III… but could quite possibly have killed them himself to get them ^_~
My office desk needed some extra decoration anyway… and it’s for a good cause… :P
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so instead I leave you with this…
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I’m happy now… I can officially pass off the Mavica to Milady. I have moved from the point-n-click days into the world of D-SLR’s… and yes, I did end up getting the Canon EOS 40D and picked up a macro lens to go with it since I’ll be taking pics of food more often than not ^_~
Only regret… maybe… is that the EOS 50D is released in October. It’s 15.1 megapixels of yumminess. But no SRP is listed on it yet… (scratch that… apparently the body alone is expected to start at US$1400 or US$1600 for the body and lens combo kit)
What I’m loving about it already:
a) image stabalizer… thank you!!! For Mr. Shakey-Hands over here…
b) auto-focus or manual focus… my choice if I ever want to go old school ^_^
c) ease of navigation of the menu and setting things up. Without having to open up the two manuals that came with the camera… just me dinking about.
d) it automatically decides how long to keep the shutter open depending upon the lighting. Note to self… get a damn flash!!! Oh hold up… there’s a pop-up flash on this thing. Must figure out how to get it to pop up ^_~
e) holy crap 4GB is a lot of photos!!! In large JPG format I can get nearly 900 photos on a 4GB card… around 275 if I do raw TIFF files. So might not need to do the whole “USB this bad boy into a 320GB portable hard drive” thing…
Weekdays are going to be uneventful for the most part for quite a while as Milady has somehow managed to score not one but three late-starting shifts that don’t have her off of work until after 9pm… all in a row!!! Thanks Disney… now I have no one to harp on me if I want something to eat or not. Guess it just means more time I can play in the WotLK beta or dink around with my camera. ^_^
Speaking of just dinking around… I’m hoping that the television schedules start to improve soon. There has not been much on the tele as of late… I blame part of it on the Olympics… and part of it on it being summer… but that is not an excuse to show pure crap 24/7. I’ve been doing M*A*S*H marathons on TVLand lately…
and that’s about it on my end… it’s a rather boring update. I think less than a handful will give a damn about the camera and everyone else won’t care about the other drivel ^_~
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I’ve used Fossil Farms in the past for some of my meats and whatnot… and I was rather confused when I opened my package yesterday to not find everything I had ordered. Had ordered up five packs of the ducks sausage with foie gras and only got two of them. Was rather cranky as these were meant for someone else…
Dropped them a cranky voice mail yesterday evening… and then followed up with an email this morning. They are now going to refund the money for the three packs as well as part of the shipping fees… so now I’m going to have to wait and see how long that takes to get into my account. *sigh*
On the plus side though… I now also have two pounds of python fillets to figure out how to prepare ^_^
hopefully a boring weekend upcoming… doing as little as possible. Though that may prove to be difficult… sister-in-law is in town and might want to get together for a meal or something. We are trying to avoid that… we shall see…
Speaking of eats… I’ve been a fan of the Pizza Hut pastas for quite a few months now. Well it seems they brought a new one into the mix recently… Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese. It’s two of my favorite things in one dish… bacon and mac ‘n cheese!!! And can I tell you? It’s yummy!!!!
Red Robin’s did something similar earlier this year but it disappeared off of their menu a couple of months back and it too was yummy though they added in like crushed croutons into the mix which was interesting. Not horrible… but also not fabulous. Sadly, it’s no longer on the menu… so I can no longer order up that goodness whenever we go to Red Robin. *cranky* But I do have Pizza Hut now… ^_^
Other than that? Rather uneventful… my camera should be delivered to me on Monday if all is correct with the UPS tracking info. So that will give me about two months to learn what I need to with this new camera. Might even have to read the manual!!! *shock*
And need to make the choice whether or not we are making the 18,000 foot jump in November or not… $209 plus tax. And then there is the video that one can get… two different packages. One is just the regular videographer for $89.95 and then there is the “ultimate” video package which is the regular video plus there is a camera on the jumpmaster’s wrist for those close up shots of my face flapping wildly at 120+ MPH. And of course I’m going to get video if I jump would just need to figure out my music ahead of time ^_^
And I think that about covers things for today… I guess I should actually do some work now. I am getting paid to do something here. ^_~
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This one came across today and is by far one of the more hilarious videos I have seen done by EA in response to a YouTube video showing a glitch in their game, Tiger Woods ’08.
So there are some interesting points to this that I am sure EA is going to get hell for… and while I mostly loathe EA for their crappy business practices of swallowing up the competition and the shitty way they treat their employees trying to meet deadline, I have to give them kudos for quite potentially upsetting the Christian Right… you know who you are O_o
I can just see it now… the entire Bible Belt is sitting there stunned… and stammering, “but… but… but… he’s black!!!!”
“Doesn’t Jesus support NASCAR?”
Kudo to EA for making those uptight fuckers squirm just a little bit ^_^
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For those who care… I have added an additional thirteen screenshots from the Wrath of the Lich King beta to the Northrend sub-gallery…
More screenshot will be added as I continue to explore the areas that are currently accessible by my character (must level faster!!!) but others will be glossed over since I am currently running through zones that are stacked with mobs that will kill me VERY quickly.
Hey Cache… hurry up and level damn it… I need a meat shield…
Links to the gallery are found on the right-side bar in the Links section…
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Not literally smokin’ hot… that’s the only way I can describe the new laptop. This thing was on almost all weekend while doing various downloads and updates and whatnot… and the heat on this thing is almost non-existent. I’m rather shocked by it all…
Yes… it does have Windows Vista… but it’s Vista Ultimate and it’s about the best you can get of the various versions. Had to do a lot of uninstalling of programs that came with it… but most of it is crap that I can only assume is part of the Ultimate package.
Some things I don’t like about Vista:
1) The inability to move the Quick Launch bar from the bottom to where ever I want it… I love having my QL bar up on the top of the screen. There is a hack around it though which I found to be interesting and VERY helpful.
2) The constant asking if I want to install/run/uninstall… I’m hearing there is a way to shut that thing up… I’m still hunting for it though. I did manage to get part of it shut down… now I just need the rest killed off.
3) out-of-the-gate installation of the eye candy that just kills your computer’s resources. Seriously… I managed to get mine turned off rather quickly, but I’m hearing that some folks are allegedly turning them off and checking to make sure it does not return only to see them come back again. O_o
4) the horrible navigation system… I was trying to find some function last night and was having a pain in the ass time just trying to find that function that I was used to in XP. Even the desktop properties are now broken into a few million different separate links… whether it be the resolution, background, effects, or screensaver. I miss the old tabs… *sniffle*
5) gimme back my old Windows Explorer you bastards!!! I want to be able to quickly flip between two different folders with one click and not having multiple windows open in order to do so. The UI for Vista is VERY unfriendly…
But on the flip-side of things, so far I’m not ready to completely format the hard drive in order to install XP… yet. We’ll have to see how things go.
After what seems to have been a rather disasterous BlizzCon ticket sale last week, Blizzard is apparently making it up by adding an additional 3,000 tickets…
Okay, I understand that the system was borked for the most part and there are those who got boned in the end… but having attended last year’s BlizzCon I can tell you that doubling the number of tickets is a BAD idea. It was rather crowded last year… and the lines just for merchandise lasted for hours. Double the damn crowds and the merchandise lines will last for the entire event. O_o
Not to even mention the panels and whatnot. If you feel like attending anything of importance, you are pretty much going to have to plan on camping for event to get a seat at least an hour ahead of time… if not longer.
Thought it will be interesting to see how Blizzard handles this “lottery” system for the other 3,000 tickets. I know they can’t just think of just randomly picking 3,000 names and not have people gripe that they wanted to buy more than one ticket.
UPDATE: it seems they are releasing info this morning on the lottery… 2 tickets per person who wins a slot. Winners are not required to purchase tickets. Those who did purchase tickets initially will not be eligible to win the lottery slots (that would be me). Unsold tickets will go into a pool for additional drawings until all 3,000 tickets are sold.
And I do have to love the whiners up on the BlizzCon forums… it’s more hilarious to read than Bush’s speeches. Now they are whining about it only being two tickets per lottery winner… and about having to be a legal adult in the countries that are allowed to “opt-in”. This can only lead to more hilarity…
And it seems that the fuchsia-haired one is getting the “huh?!?!” looks when it’s found out that she has a ticket to the event even though she doesn’t “play” WoW… uhm, actually she does have a character and it’s under my account. And because I’m a prick I rolled her character as a gnome… ^_~
Guess folks are already calling dibs on the contents of her goody bag. Don’t give in kiddo… it’s your stuff… you paid for it… :P
So this past weekend we made the trek up to SF for Milady’s great-grandfather’s one-hundredth birthday celebration. Things were going well until we got to the airport to fly back down… two hour delay. And the concourse we were in is undergoing a revamping… so guess what is not available in my concourse? A decent bar area to sit for the two hour delay… *sigh*
How long does it take to work on this shit anyway? I was up in SF a few months ago and it was closed then too… but thankfully we didn’t have to wait long to board the bloody plane that time.
So the next time I get to board a plane will be on Halloween night… on a red-eye to Orlando, FL with a weird jaunt here and there… from SNA to SFO to CLT to MCO. But one thing I will enjoy about that flight… I’m in First Class the entire trip. So the likelihood of screaming child being near me? Hopefully VERY unlikely…
Speaking of the trip later this year… it’s beginning to look like our jump in FL might not be happening now. I have at least one person who has all but totally backed out… and then there are the reviews by experienced jumpers about the drop zone.
Bummer… was kind of looking forward to the jump. But if this company are going to be complete pricks then there is no sense in giving them my money and wasting my time.
But in the meantime we are looking at the events that are being released for this year’s Food & Wine Festival. Milady is already getting reservations booked for the various events that we are both agreeing to… and I’m taking a peek at the sample dishes that will be served at the various marketplaces. Some things are definitely looking good… some I am questioning (really, a California Roll at the Japan booth? Idiots!!!)… and some I’m avoiding altogether since I already know what it is and not going down that road again (escargot anyone? You can have mine…)…
But the “pay us a lot of money on top of your admission” events are interesting… getting those booked up as soon as we can…
But let’s not forget that there are other things to do while at WDW… like swimming with some dolphins for a wee bit… and behind-the-scene tours… ^_^
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I bought this yesterday and it’s being delivered today.
I love you NewEgg!!!
Now I’m looking at a new camera rig… time to put the Mavica to rest (or at least pass it along to Milady to play with if she wants). I was hoping to maybe get something somewhat similar to my name but after holding the Nikon D60 I felt that it was too small for me. It’s a nice camera… really it is but the damn body felt tiny in my hands.
So instead I’m looking at the Canon EOS D40… it had a good weight to it and felt right in my hands. Part of it was the lens attached to it, but it just felt right. So now I’m going to be be pondering that one over for a short while… no need to rush it, right? Make sure I’m making the right choice…
My biggest issue with the Canon is that it take the compact flash, BUT it does have a USB 2.0 port on it that I could hook a portable hard drive to it and shoot directly to onto the hard drive.
Anyone have the Canon D40 or used the D40? Or any opinions on the matter? I’m looking at the body and lens combo plus I’ll be getting a macro lens as well…
Camera body & lens combo
Macro lens
Drop me a line if you have an opinion on this rig… I’m open to suggestions and comments. ^_^
Weekend plans are somewhat simple… flying up to the Bay Area tomorrow morning and flying back tomorrow evening. Playing WoW beta all day on Sunday.
and since it isn’t such a big secret anymore… yes, the 4th Annual OMGWTFBBQ was held last weekend. A total of thirty people in attendance… and the menu is as follows:
Berkshire Pork Sausages with Apple & Sage
Venison Sausages with Blueberries
Duck Sausages with Foie Gras
Inside-Out Burgers
Wagyu Hot Dogs
Boar Ribs with an interesting apple, onion, and jalapeno glaze (ok, that one didn’t quite work out properly)
Celeriac Puree (like mashed potatoes, but better for you)
Bacon-infused Bourbon
and that’s what I served… what other foods were brought to the gathering…
Mashed potatoes with bacon
Potato salad with bacon
Sangria
Pan-fried grubs with onions
Pan-fried fogs legs
Goat testicle & cow tongue tacos
Three-bean salad
Spushi (aka Spam sushi… shut up… it’s good!!!)
All in all I think everyone had a good time… not a whole lot of leftover food… and no incidents.
I am still in review over whether or not I am going to have the 5th Annual OMGWTFBBQ or not… but after how I felt drained and sore after this one, I’m thinking that this was the end of an era. Sure I’ll enjoy cooking the more exotic meats and whatnot, but not to the large scale that we have become used to. Maybe do more intimate gatherings where it’s a handful of people and that handful of people would be changing depending upon how I feel they would take to certain proteins.
Starting to get into final vacation mode… the Food & Wine Festival schedule was released this week so Milady and I are going through trying to plan out what we were interested in partaking in. Some definitely good things happening while there… but also some stuff that might have been interesting if it weren’t for the fact that we land the same day as those events. :P
And then there is the whole, are we gonna do the 18,000 jump or not? We were reading reviews of the jump site and from the experienced jumpers it was a horrible experience and crappy service… and while I think it would be a great place to make a jump, I’m having serious doubts because of these horror stories we were reading. So now that’s up in the air… no pun intended.
Worst case scenario? I don’t do the jump and we spend the day at one of the WDW parks instead. *shock*
that is all for now… am trying to figure out a way to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible today so I can get home to play with the new toy and uninstall all the bloatware that came with it.
Still trying to figure out if I am wanting to keep Vista on it or not… it is the ultimate version of it… will have to see how the laptop runs with WoW and Vista both…
EDIT: Okay… not quite. Found this one just for Milady today… Penguin at Edinburgh Zoo may pick up Norwegian knighthood…
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BlizzCon Ticket – 4 Tickets @ $100
Ticket Holder: Christopher S. (Character: Niekon, Alliance, Azuremyst, Warcraft, US)
Ticket Holder: Matthew S. (Character: CacheCrash, Alliance, Azuremyst, Warcraft, US)
Ticket Holder: Jennifer S. (Character: MmeLeota, Alliance, Azuremyst, Warcraft, US)
Ticket Holder: Diana C. (Character: Shrtyvnchkn, Alliance, Azuremyst, Warcraft, US)
Item Subtotal: $400.00
Sales Tax: $0.00
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Total: $400.00
Tickets were supposed to go on sale on Monday morning… some things happened and Blizzard’s site exploded. About 600 of the 12,000 tickets were sold all day while the site was up and down. Most of those who got tickets were part of a 5-10 minute window a bit after 6pm.
Today tickets were supposed to go up again but no one knew when… I was paying attention to everything since I got to work. Nothing at 6:30am… 8am came and went without any word from Blizzard. It wasn’t until around 10:30am that word was passed down that tickets would become available at some point in time AFTER 12pm.
12pm came and went with a lot of griping from folks on the BlizzCon forums… I understood what Blizzard meant by “after 12pm”… but I guess everyone else thinks of it as 12:01pm. I still kept the store URL up though… and would F5 every five to ten minutes. Around 12:35 I got a new error… which meant we were coming back online. Scramble… type in all the info needed… attendee’s names, characters, factions, etc. Page errors out… refresh… dead page. FUCK!!!!
Refresh like mad… get main page again and have to re-enter all the info again… and page errors out a second time. Refresh… dead… DOUBLE FUCK!!!!
Mad refreshing… I’m in… enter everything a third time!!! This time I am able to get to the next page… but not without an XML error. Refresh and the info is all there and the page is ready to move forward. Get to the payment… confirm… and place order. Order placed and confirmed by Blizzard… email was seconds later… and I could go back to actually doing something constructive with my day. :P
For those attending in October… all three of those who are listed up above… see you at BlizzCon bitches!!!!
EDIT #1:
And was just over at the BlizzCon forums… and noticed a frenzy of panic about tickets being sold out in under an hour. I have no idea what the hell is going on over there… I’m assuming Blizzard is releasing in batches like they did last year… at least for their sake they better be releasing in batches…
EDIT #2:
and a few minutes later things seem to be fine again… allegedly a coding error or some shit. O_o
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So the big portion of the meat for the OMGWTFBBQ was placed this past Monday… it arrived yesterday without any sort of warning. So grumpy apartment manager because she “had to” move it into my apartment.
Could not imagine why the bugger was so big and heavy until I opened it and saw one of the items inside. Instead of how I had previously ordered it once before in the past, this time it seems like they just took a cleaver to the animal and sent me the whole damn thing. This is going to be even MORE interesting now…
The good news? Lil’ Dude will have his own special stuff I ordered up… and if not then I’ve got me some grubbin’ food for me :P
This weekend is doing test runs on certain things… and if they do not succeed then they are going to be kaboshed from the menu. So everyone hope things go well tomorrow in the kitchen :P
Milady and I will be trying out a new restaurant that opened up at Garden Walk, here in Anaheim, tonight… Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine. It definitely sounds intriguing to us… and figured it was time to check it out. Even utilized the restaurant’s online reservation system to make our reservations. It’s pretty nice to see various places doing this now. ^_^
And I’m sure we will have something up soon afterward about our experience there…
More fun-filled excitement in the office… new hire is not going to be getting trained by me to take my accounts. Nope!!! I am keeping them and the new hire is going to be assisting with the FL account. Now this should be interesting… O_o
At least I know I can start filing all of these files again in my cabinets… it was rather annoying having all of these files scattered around my desk not really knowing what was going to happen next. *sigh*
Aside from cooking this weekend, hoping to get more time in on the WotLK beta… I am planning on rolling my third Death Knight this weekend. This one will be Horde as it will allow me to traverse Azeroth without too many issues plus I’ll have my mount already ^_^
Must get more screencaps for folks who are interested in seeing what’s up an coming. I do have some screenshots of me kicking the crap out of some seals… and no… I didn’t start it. They attacked me first… :P
And must try to work on leveling my guy up so I can start exploring beyond the starting areas ^_^
and that is all for now… I need to finish clearing all of this crap off of my desk and try to finish my day somewhat on time ^_~
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