Jaime Writes

A new home!

2011-05-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Not for me, for this blog! I may continue to post here from time to time, but for the most part, I'm going to be blogging over at http://www.jaimeh.com/blog.html.

Also feel free to check out the main page at http://www.jaimeh.com

Osama Bin Laden is dead

2011-05-01T20:17:00.001-07:00

Just watching the news that Osama Bin Laden has been killed. Not a lot of details right now, let's see what President Obama has to say about it

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The newest San Diego Charger is Corey Liuget

2011-04-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

And the newest San Diego Charger is....Corey Liuget! With the 18th pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, the Chargers took the DT from Illinois, who'll probably play DE across from Luis Castillo. Hopefully this takes some pressure of Castillo, and helps clear up more rushing space for Shaun Philips and Larry English. Can't wait to see the kid in action!

Below is his Draft Preview video, and he obviously played pretty well here in Fresno, since most of this video is him destroying Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn and our running backs.

Check Out San Diego Chargers Gear Here

A new domain!

2011-03-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed a change in the domain name here! To make things easy for you, feel free to hop on over to the main page at http://www.jaimeh.com or to check out this blog, the updated URL is http://blog.jaimeh.com

Thanks for stopping by!

I Gave In...

2011-03-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

...And I got a Kindle. It's one of those things that I suppose seemed inevitable, but I'm kind of impressed at how long I held out. I'm liking it so far, although I've only played around with it a little bit. I've got a couple Kindle books downloaded already, and I think the next step is to try checking out an e-book from the library and getting it moved onto the device.

Videos from the Japan earthquake and tsunami

2011-03-11T12:27:00.001-08:00

Well, I've spent a good chunk of the morning watching video of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan today, so I'm going to compile some of the videos I've found here, and keep updating as I find new videos:

A whirlpool off the coast of Japan:

Source: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/03/11/that-giant-sucking-sound

A water surge in Santa Cruz, CA:

Cars and boats being pushed around by the waves:

Footage of the quake from indoors and outdoors:

Raw footage from a grocery store:

An oil refinery fire:

Tsunami waves flooding a the port city of Kamaishi

Added at 12:53 PM Pacific

More first person video of the quake:

Road damage after the quake:

Tsunami TV coverage from Japan:

Whole Wheat Bread: Dirty South Punk

2011-03-11T10:41:00.001-08:00

A few weeks back I went to go see Murs at a small local venue with a friend. Before Murs came out, there were a few other acts, the first being a punk band called Whole Wheat Bread. They were definitely the best of the opening acts, and in a rare move I bought their CD. I love the disc, it's just been playing over and over in my car since I go it. So if you're a fan of punk, check them out. Their album "Hearts of Hoodlums" is on Amazon, both in disc and MP3 format, and you can get it here: Hearts of Hoodlums

In the meantime, enjoy this video for "Bombs Away". The video itself is kind of weird, but music videos tend to be that way. Just enjoy the song for now!

Rogue Review: "Birds & Bees: A Cost Benefit Analysis"

2011-03-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

This year I had about a half dozen shows I wanted to get to, but so far I've only made it to one. It was definitely not a disappointment, I really enjoyed myself.

"Birds & Bees" is a tough show for me to review honestly because I know both people in the show, but I'm going to do my best.

The show follows a couple talking about where they are now. They talk about the various stages of their relationship, with scenes cutting back to show the happy, sex-crazed, early part of the relationship; the "all I can do is think about him, why won't he call me" and "I'll call her later, I'm going to read a book now" stage; and the "big fight".

The show ends with a choice. The audience gets to choose from three endings: happy, sad, and amicable separation. I've read other reviews saying that this is a good way to get people to come back to see the show again, although this is no guarantee you'll see a new ending (unless you bring a bunch of your negative friends to root for the "bad" ending....or something similar with the other endings).

As a whole, I really enjoyed this show. I laughed a lot, I enjoyed the music, and it does hit a true spot with me, and probably with just about anyone out there. When times get tough, like during the "big fight", you have to make a choice. And that's where the cost benefit analysis comes in. It's not always "the hot sexy time" vs "the big fight" time, there are a lot more variables involved, but we've all been there. Is it worth sticking around? What should we do? Too bad we don't always have an audience to choose for us!

The show starts with the cast talking, and cuts to a video of an older band performance, which is the night they met, and there is a picture slideshow of the couple during their early part of their relationship. I really liked the concept, but this is the part of the show where I was confused. Particularly with the slideshow. At this point, I wasn't really sure that we were seeing a couple. Their early banter didn't make that clear enough for me, and the slides showed the two of them having fun, but most of the pictures could have been some good friends hanging out. Near the end of the slideshow, there is one picture of the couple kissing, but my general confusion about their relationship left me wondering if it was just the angle that made me think it was a kiss.

Once the video and picture part of the show was done, and the acting part of the show started with the "flashback" scenes, things became very clear. And this is the part I enjoyed the most. I felt like the use of media was clever, but could have been left out of this particular show. Like it would have fit in better somewhere else.

But that's it, the rest of the show was a lot of fun. There were lots of little one-liners that I loved:

Lady: "I'm going to sing you a song I wrote for you. Why don't you sing along?"

Guy: "Oh, I know this one? Ok, I'll play with you."

Just clever and subtle.

"Birds & Bees: A Cost Benefit Analysis" plays at the Broken Leg Stage, and they have two shows left, on Saturday at 1PM and 5:30PM. Not a great show for young kids due to language and a little sexual content. Check out their Rogue page here: http://roguefestival.com/rogue2011/?p=119

I went to see "Spamalot" last night

2011-03-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to get a pair of tickets to go see Spamalot at the Saroyan Theater in Fresno last night. I've never seen it before, but as a fan of Monty Python, and a huge fan of The Quest for the Holy Grail, I was stoked.

The night was a lot of fun. I was exhausted going into it (just a long week and a long day), so I was kind of worried I'd have trouble making it through the show. Fortunately, I was very wrong. Once the show started, I had no issues keeping focused. The songs were great, the story was great, and we had a great time.

Although based on the Monty Python "Holy Grail" movie, the show doesn't follow the movie exactly. I found that the first Act was more in line with the movie, and the second Act expanded on a different story for the play. Although if you've seen the movie, you know that it doesn't really have a "conclusion" in the typical sense, so this was great.

For the Monty Python fan, there were plenty of familiar scenes. Arguing with Dennis, arguing about whether a swallow could carry a coconut, the Black Knight, the Knights of Ni, the French castle to name a few.

Among the big changes from the movie to the play, I really enjoyed The Lady of the Water. Only mentioned in the movie, she had a prominent role in the play, and I really enjoyed her. A bit of a diva (even a song lamenting that she's been offstage too long), she guides our hero King Arthur on his quest for the Grail.

And finding the Grail? Of course they had to, you need some closure! And that's where some audience participation comes in. Not only did they "find" the Grail in the audience, the lady got to go on stage, be serenaded by the cast and had a quick polaroid snapped! And around this time there was plenty of one liners following the day's headlines (something about California's Father of the Year....Charlie Sheen!).

Overall, lots of great fun, if you get a chance to see it, you'll love the silly, irreverent humor (perhaps I should use 'humour'?) that we've all come to love from Monty Python!

How the San Diego Chargers were built

2011-02-11T16:35:00.000-08:00

On ESPN's "Tuesday Morning Quarterback" from the week before the Super Bowl (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/110201_tuesday_morning_quarterback&sportCat=nfl), Gregg Easterbrook talks about how the Packers and the Steelers were both built through the draft, as most teams claim they'd like to do. He looks at how the majority of the starters for both teams were either drafted by the team, or picked up as an undrafted free agent after the draft. Each team had 18 out of 22 starters spend their entire career with that team. No starters were obtained in a trade, and only Charles Woodson was a big money free agent.

After reading this, I got to thinking about my team, the San Diego Chargers. AJ Smith talks about wanting to build through the draft, but how has he done over the years? For the purposes of this, I used the Chargers depth chart posted on the Chargers.com website on 2/11/11 (http://www.chargers.com/team/depth-chart.html).

We'll start with the offense. Ryan Mathews, Jacob Hester, Vincent Jackson, Marcus McNeil, Nick Hardwick, Louis Vasquez and Jeromy Clary were all drafted by the Chargers.

Malcolm Floyd, and Kris Dielman were both undrafted free agents signed by the Chargers.

Kris Wilson was a free agent pickup by the Chargers, originally drafted by the Chiefs. This is a spot where you could argue that he's not really the starter, that's Antonio Gates, who was placed in IR after the Chargers were eliminated from playoff contention. But since the last depth chart had Wilson listed as the starter, we'll go with him.

And Philip Rivers. What do you do with him? Technically, he was drafted by the Giants, and traded to the Chargers. But that was all part of a trade situation from the get-go, and Rivers never signed a contract with the Giants. So I think we can say that Rivers has spend his entire career as a Charger, basically being drafted by them.

That's 10 offensive starters who spend their entire career with the Chargers.

On the defensive side, Luis Castillo, Shaun Phillips, Brandon Siler, Quentin Jammer, Antoine Cason and Eric Weddle were all drafted by the Chargers.

Jacques Cesaire, Antwan Applewhite and Steve Gregory were undrafted free agents signed by the Chargers.

Antonio Garay and Kevin Burnett were obtained as free agents.

That's 9 defensive starters who have spent their entire career with the Chargers.

So 19/22 starters is actually ahead of both of the Super Bowl teams. What does that mean? Nothing really. The Chargers didn't make the playoffs this year So this only really says that the team does build through the draft, bringing in players as rookies and developing them, rather than going after big free agents.

Fresno Food Review - Iron Bird Cafe

2011-01-22T18:09:00.000-08:00

I've only been to the Iron Bird Cafe a couple of times now, but it's where my book club meets, so I know I'll be finding myself there more in the future. So far I haven't had a chance to sample a lot on the menu, but I feel like I can still write a brief review.

The food is what you would expect at a cafe: breakfast food, soups, salads and sandwiches. And coffee of course. I've tried the Grilled Chicken sandwich, which comes with the standard fare: lettuce, tomato, cheese, but it also comes with a pesto aioli spread which is really yummy. Normally I'm not big on trying out new sauces, but this one was really good.

Today I tried out the Downtown Mocha. The drink was really good. A carefully crafted mocha. The only downside is that it is a little small for the price, but I watched the guy make it, and he did spend a lot of time making sure it was right and presenting it nicely.

The staff at Iron Bird is great. Everyone has been really nice when I'm there, and I never feel unwelcome (You know how that is, you go to get a coffee, and you end up feeling like you're interrupting the person - none of that here).

The place itself is very clean and welcoming. Iron Bird also offers free wi-fi, you just have to get the days password off your receipt when you order.

A lot of my friends swear by this place, and one of them I know spends a ton of time there. Honestly, I can't blame them. I would probably spend a lot more time there if it had a better location for me. It's right near the Tower District and downtown Fresno, so it's a great spot for lots of people.

If you haven't been there yet, then you should give it a shot!

Restaurant: Iron Bird Cafe

Location: 1915 Fulton Street, Fresno (At Divisadero and Fulton, just south of the 180)

Overall: Highly Recommended

Company Website: http://www.ironbirdcafe.com/

Fresno Food Review - Harlem Wing and Waffle

2011-01-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

**This is the first in what I hope to be a series of restaurant reviews in the Fresno area.**

Last night we headed to Harlem Wing & Waffle at Riverpark in Fresno. As you can guess from their name, the menu isn't very expansive. They have chicken wings, chicken fingers, and waffles. There is more than that, but not much.

They may not offer many choices, but there are lots of variations on those choices. They have full wings which are breaded, and they have "winglettes" which is the smaller wings you would see at someplace like Red Robin or a pizza place. When you order your wings, you can pick a flavor. There is plain, buffalo, suicide, spicy bbq and many others (I forgot to grab a brochure, so I can't give a full list, but I know there were well over a dozen flavors to choose from). Among our group we tried about a half dozen of the flavors, and everyone was satisfied.

Most of us had the waffles. They were small, maybe 3-4 inches in diameter. But really, that was a perfect size. If you couldn't finish it, you could take a couple of small ones with you, instead of having to take half a big waffle home (like you might with a normal sized waffle). They were also very light and fluffy.

My wife tried the onion rings as a side, and they were just standard onion rings. Nothing overly fancy and impressive, but nothing wrong with them either.

The staff was great. The girl at the front counter was really friendly in explaining our different options. She was also very nice about cleaning up a little "mess" one of our friends had (someone needs a sippy cup next time!). There was a guy who was going around the dining area cleaning up the tables, and he even stopped to ask if we needed anything, which was nice. The guys who were cooking were very polite as well. The girl at the counter had stepped away to clean some stuff up, and when I went up to ask for a knife, they were both quick to find one for me. None of that "I'm in the kitchen, I don't deal with customers" stuff.

Finally we come to what might be the greatest thing about Harlem Wing & Waffle: the price. I ordered the 12 wingette combo, which was $8.99. In comparison, at Red Robin I could get around 10-12 wings for the same price. Except that this combo also came with 4 of the small waffles and a soda! All of their combos are like this. Get a bunch of food and a drink for a good price. At any other place, I would probably have paid close to double the price to add a drink and the extra side.

I have to give a big recommendation to Harlem Wing & Waffle. The only downside I can think of is that it is at Riverpark, which can be an unpleasant experience if it's too crowded. Surprisingly, Riverpark was pretty clear for a Friday night, and there were plenty of tables at this place. So get out there and try some Wings and Waffles!

Restaurant: Harlem Wing & Waffle

Location: Riverpark, Fresno, Next to the IMAX theater

Overall: Highly Recommended

Company Website: http://www.facebook.com/HarlemWingandWaffle

I Am Going to Read 50 Books in 2011

2011-01-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

I don't generally make New Years Resolutions. I try to stick to goals. And I do have a goal for 2011. I want to read 50 books. Just under 1 book each week. I think this is doable. I've got a decent list built up that I want to read, and I know I can find more as the year goes on.

I'm going to keep a list here of the books I plan to read or have read. I'll update fairly frequently as it regards to this goal. I'm of course going to keep more specific tracking over on GoodReads.

The first 20 books on my list are books that have won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for science fiction. I'm in a group that is going to go through these throughout the year (on a side note, if you're interested in joining us for this, come visit our group here: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/41533.Hugo_and_Nebula_Awards).

The rules? Nothing too concrete, but it has to be a mostly word book. In other words, I won't count the latest treasury of "Pearls Before Swine," or a compilation book from the "I Can Has Cheezburger" site. But I would count a blog-turned-book book like "Stuff White People Like" or "FU Penguin," since it's mostly text. The book doesn't have to be all high falutin' or anything. Young Adult does count, I plan to read the 2nd book in the "Lorien Legacies" series (i.e. the sequel to "I Am Number Four"). I also would like to re-read some books I read as a kid ("Where the Red Fern Grows," "A Wrinkle in Time") and that I never did read as a kid ("The Chronicles of Narnia" series). Other than that, I'll adjust the rules as necessary.

1/7/11
Currently the list stands at 36 books I plan to read, with 1 completed. So I've got my plan of attack, plus room for a little over a dozen books that I can randomly find throughout the year!

1/29/11
Six books done, 44 to go. I'm well on pace (although Maus and The Metamorphosis were pretty short, I do admit that).

3/19/11

Seventeen done in eleven weeks. Good pace, actually a lot better than I thought I was!

7/21/11
I haven't really been keeping track, since this is all but done! 40 books down!

On to the list!

The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi, Started 1/15/11, Finished 1/19/11
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon, Started 1/19/11, Finished 1/26/11
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold, Started 2/16/11, Finished 3/3/11
American Gods, Neil Gaiman, Started 3/9/11, Finished 3/13/11
Forever Peace, Joe Haldeman, Started 4/22/11, Finished 4/29/11
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis, Started 5/14/11, Finished 6/11/11
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, Started 6/15/11, Finished 6/18/11
Speaker For the Dead, Orson Scott Card, Started 6/18/11, Finished 6/24/11
Neuromancer, William Gibson, Started 6/28/11, Finished 7/5/11
Startide Rising, David Brin, Started 7/17/11
The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C. Clarke
Dreamsnake, Vonda N. McIntyre
Gateway, Frederick Pohl
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman, Started 4/2/11, Finished 4/6/11
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, Ursula K. Le Guin
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
Ringworld, Larry Niven
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Dune, Frank Herbert
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood, Started 1/3/11, Finished 1/6/11
In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks, Adam Carolla
Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, Started 1/16/11, Finished 1/28/11
The Meowmorphosis, Franz Kafka and Cook Cooleridge
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz
The Rookie, Scott Sigler, Started 6/25/11, Finished 6/27/11
Ancestor, Scott Sigler, Started 1/28/11, Finished 1/21/11
City of the Dead, Brian Keene
The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold, Started 1/29/11, Finished 2/13/11
The Living Dead 2, J.L. Bourne (Various Authors)
The King of Plagues, Jonathan Maberry, Started 3/28/11, 4/2/11
Dust and Decay, Jonathan Maberry
The Night Eternal, Chuck Hogan and Guillermo Del Toro
The Power of Six, Pittacus Lore
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Graham Smith, Started 1/6/11, Finished 1/14/11
Maus, Art Spiegelman, Started 1/26/11, Finished 1/27/11
The Hangman's Daughter, Oliver Potzsch, Started 1/31/11, Finished 2/6/11
Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Jeff Lindsay, Started 2/8/11, Finished 2/16/11
Zombielicious, Timothy McGivney, Started 2/21/11, Finished 2/23/11
You Might be a Zombie And Other Bad News, Cracked.Com, Started 2/28/11, Finished 3/5/11
The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood, Started 3/4/11, Finished 3/9/11
5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth, The Oatmeal, Started 3/9/11, Finished 3/13/11
Ship Breaker, Paolo Bacigalupi, Started 3/13/11, Finished 3/16/11
Breaking News: An Autozombiography, N.J. Hallard, Started 3/14/11
Catalyst, Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Started 3/18/11, Finished 3/28/11
The Fiche Room, Suzie Carr, Started 3/19/11, Finished 3/25/11
Dearly Devoted Dexter, Jeff Lindsay, Started 4/6/11, Finished 4/9/11
Death Note, Tsugumi Ohba, Started 3/14/11, Finished 4/12/11
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, David Sedaris, Started 4/5/11, Finished 4/5/11
The Zombie Autopsies, Steven C. Schlozman, Started 4/11/11, Finished 4/13/11
Dead Spell, Belinda Frisch, Started 4/14/11, Finished 4/21/11
What You See In The Dark, Manuel Munoz, Started 5/1/11, Finished 5/14/11
Bossypants, Tina Fey, Started 5/6/11, Finished 5/8/11
Blood is Red, Scott Sigler, Started 5/8/11, Finished 5/8/11
Coraline, Neil Gaiman, Started 5/14/11, Finished 5/31/11
Pump Six, Paolo Bacigalupi, Started 5/31/11, Finished 6/5/11
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro, Started 6/12/11, Finished 6/15/11
Sundiver, David Brin, Started 7/6/11, Finished 7/16/11

Chargers Starting Lineup Against the Colts

2010-11-28T10:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I did a post about the San Diego Chargers starting lineup. The first posts were speculation on who would be starting, and boy has it changed since the beginning of the season. The Chargers have gone through more players this season than they did all of last season.

Most of the starters are the guys we've come to expect, but there are some significant changes since the beginning of the season:

Offense:
QB - Philip Rivers
RB - Mike Tolbert (With Ryan Mathews still injured, Tolbert will be the guy)
FB - Jacob Hester
TE - Randy McMichael (If Antonio Gates can't go, then McMichael will get the start)
WR - Vincent Jackson (His first game eligible after serving his suspensions couldn't come at a better time. Patrick Crayton has stepped up, but injured his wrist last week against Denver)
WR - Malcolm Floyd
LT - Marcus McNeill
LG - Kris Dielman
C - Nick Hardwick
RG - Tyronne Green (If Luis Vasquez can't go, then Green will get the start)
RT - Jeromy Clary

Defense:
CB - Quentin Jammer
CB - Antoine Cason
SS - Paul Oliver (Steve Gregory is listed as Questionable, so it looks like Oliver might start)
FS - Eric Weddle
OLB - Shaun Philips
MLB - Stephen Cooper
MLB - Kevin Burnett
OLB - Antwan Applewhite (Shawne Merriman is gone, and Larry English has been hurt, but he'll see time on the field)
DE - Luis Castillo
DT - Antonio Garay
DE - Jacques Cesaire

Special Teams
P - Mike Scifres
K - Nate Kaeding
LS - Mike Windt (I've lost track of how many Long Snappers this team has used this season, but it's got to be a record!)

Enjoy the game, and good luck identifying all those guys, especially on Special Teams, who weren't there a few weeks. I don't know how many times during a game I got "Who the hell is number __?"

Go Bolts!

Looking for San Diego Chargers Gear?

*Please note, this lineup is based of of my guesses and information taken from www.Chargers.com and www.SignOnSanDiego.com/news/sports/chargers

Some New Diseases

2010-11-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

I saw my cousins for Thanksgiving, and as part the Christmas gift exchange (since we won't all be together again this year), this is what I ended up with. From left to right, I got herpes, crabs, HIV, chlamydia and giardia. Thanks, cousins!

Want to learn more about the giant microbes? Check out http://www.giantmicrobes.com or check out Giant Microbes here.

Was Michael Vick's MNF Game the Best Fantasy Performance Ever?

2010-11-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering this question since Michael Vick put up a ridiculous 333-yard passing, 80-yard rushing, 6 touchdown (4 passing and two rushing) performance. So I've been wondering if this was the best fantasy performance of all time, or at least the last 10 years (which is about how long I've been doing fantasy football).

I was going to limit my search to the last 10 years because I unfortunately don't have the time to scour the internet and historical NFL stats to find out. But fortunately for me, there are people on the internet with more time than me!

One of the top results for "best fantasy performances" was this article from Total Pro Sports: http://www.totalprosports.com/2010/11/16/was-michael-vicks-monday-night-performance-the-best-fantasy-football-performance-ever/

Since fantasy football rules vary from league to league, they used a fairly standard set of rules and found that Michael Vick's performance was....the top fantasy football performance of all time! Well, sort of.

Billy Cannon put up more points than Vick, but it was a year before there really was "fantasy football." But I say that Cannon is still number 1, just for accumulating 300+ yards of rushing and receiving plus 5 touchdowns.

Performances of note: Clinton Portis at #4 with 218 yards rushing, 36 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns. This was an important performance because I had him on my team that year, so I remember this distinctly. Yay me!

How Long Should You Wait To Discuss TV Shows?

2010-09-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

I had a terrible time coming up with a title for this post, but I think it sums up everything I'm curious about.

It's premier week on TV, and I haven't had time to watch any of the shows I love. A friend asked me if I'd caught the premier of "Glee," and when I said that I hadn't, she didn't go into anything about the show, but said that I needed to hurry up and watch it so she could get someone else's opinion on it. And this got me thinking...

Technology has changed the game. In the past, you could watch something on TV, then the next day you would go to work and talk about it. Now, you tweet while you're watching the show, and everyone around the world can see it. This is a great way to discuss what's going on with other people, as it happens, but it can also sting if the wrong person sees it.

Living on the west coast, I'm part of the group that gets burned. I remember a few years ago logging onto Yahoo, and finding out that Carrie Underwood had won American Idol....2 hours before the show aired where I lived.

Yahoo has since learned their lesson, and they (like most other sites) won't post anything crucial on their main page. You have to click through to see it. I think I even saw that MSN wouldn't put Olympic medal news on their main page until after it had aired.

But major websites aren't the real problem. It's the individual on Facebook or Twitter. And when I say "problem," I don't mean to imply that most people do it intentionally (like the assholes who went around to Harry Potter midnight release parties shouting "Dumbledore Dies!"). I just mean that individuals tend to say what's on their mind, without an editor saying, "Wait, we can't post this just yet."

Recently on Facebook, Chef Kevin Gillespie, a former contestant on Top Chef posted something about this season's winner. He quickly took it down and apologized to the west coast viewers who hadn't seen the show yet.

So when is too soon to spoil something? I think we can all agree that if you're on the east coast, maybe give the west coast their 3 hours to catch up. But most people don't seem to follow that. You can hop on twitter and your east coast friends are tweeting away about what just happened.

OK, so you can avoid social media for a few hours if your on the west coast. It doesn't seem fair, but it's probably the best way to avoid spoilers.

But then we get to the next dilemma: DVRs. Lots of people have busy lives, and I know I'm one who tends to let shows accumulate, then catch up on the weekend, or maybe on a weeknight later in the week if there's time.

I've spoken to several people who seem to agree that most shows deserve at least a day or 2, because of the DVR situation. Let your friends catch up before you start dropping spoilers.

But what's an acceptable time frame? Do we give people 2 days before we drop any spoilers? Give them through the weekend? That might be basically a full week if the show is on Monday. What do you think is a fair amount?

NFL Picks - Week 3

2010-09-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

Ouch, not so hot last week. Only got 6 games right. Time to make up for it! I'm going to be out of town this weekend, so I'm posting my picks a little bit early.

Here are my pick's for week 3 of the 2010 NFL season. Remember, I'm an unabashed San Diego Chargers fan, so I'm not going to pick their games for this weekly column. Home team in caps:

GIANTS over Titans
Bengals over PANTHERS
BUCS over Steelers
PATRIOTS over Bills
RAVENS over Browns
CHIEFS over 49ers (I had a tough time with this one. I'm not 100% sure I picked right)
TEXANS over Cowboys (I've been going against the Texans all year, and I've been wrong. And the Cowboys don't look good)
Lions over VIKINGS (It has to happen eventually, right?)
SAINTS over Falcons
Redskins over RAMS
Eagles over JAGUARS
Colts over BRONCOS
CARDINALS over Raiders
DOLPHINS over Jets (Remember what Brandon Marshall has done to Antonio Cromartie in the past?)
PACKERS over Bears

Last week: 6-9
Overall: 18-12

The Next Day - Jaguars at Chargers

2010-09-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

My week 2 thoughts the day after the Chargers game.

Wow, what is there to say? The team played well in all aspects of the game. There were way too many turnovers, and that wasn't cool, but the defense got plenty of takeaways.

So here's my summary:

THE GOOD

*Philip Rivers - What can I say? He's always good!

*The defense was aggressive. Sacks, QB hits, turnovers, I liked it all. At least one of the pick's came because Garrard was getting hit as he tried to throw and the ball just popped up.

*Mike Tolbert could be our starter. I would like to see him get his carries, kind of mix it up with Ryan Mathews. Keep both of them fresh.

*Antoine Cason is proving that the Chargers were right in trusting him to take over Antonio Cromartie's CB spot.

THE BAD

*The turnovers. The picks might have been dropped or off of receiver's hands, but Rivers wasn't always perfect on the throws. A better throw, an easier catch, and it's a completion.

*The return game. Sproles averaged 18 yards per return yesterday. I'd like to see Sproles return to being that guy who was a major threat as a returner. Maybe it's the blocking, I'm not sure, but I do want to see better returns.

And that's it for this week! Next week, the Chargers head up to Seattle!

2010 NFL Picks - Week 2

2010-09-18T22:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a great week 1! I picked 12 out of 15 games correctly. Must be early season luck! On to week 2.

Here are my pick's for week 2 of the 2010 NFL season. Remember, I'm an unabashed San Diego Chargers fan, so I'm not going to pick their games for this weekly column. Home team in caps:

PACKERS over Bills
VIKINGS over Dolphins
BROWNS over Chiefs
COWBOYS over Bears
FALCONS over Cardinals
PANTHERS over Bucs
Eagles over LIONS
Ravens over BENGALS
TITANS over Steelers
BRONCOS over Seahawks (We get to find out if the Seahawks are actually good, or if the 49ers are that terrible)
Rams over RAIDERS (The Rams have to win eventually, and the Raiders looked terrible last week)
REDSKINS over Texans (I think last week's win over the Colts was big for the Texans, but they definitely came to play for that one)
Patriots over JETS
COLTS over Giants (Peyton at home on a prime time game. I'm still not going against that)
Saints over 49ERS

Last Week's Picks: 12-3
Season Pick's: 12-3

Supercooling Water

2010-09-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

This morning I decided to try out a simple experiment I had seen online: supercooling water. What is "supercooled" water? According to Wikipedia, "Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid or a gas below its freezing point, without it becoming a solid." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercool)

Upon aggitation, the water will instantly freeze, as you can see in the video below:

So how do you do this experiment at home? Very simply! You need some very pure water. I read that Fiji water works well, or also distilled water. I used Fiji water.

1. To start, find a flat surface in your freezer and leave the water in there. I left it overnight to make sure everything got nice and cold.

2. Once the water is below freezing, carefully remove it from the freezer (One way to gauge that it's cold enough is to leave another bottle of tap water next to it. Once that's nice and frozen, you know it's cold enough).

3. Agitate the water and it will freeze! As you can see in my video, I attempted to shake the bottle, although that didn't quite do it. After I picked it up to shake it, I ended up putting some force into setting it back down, which did it.

You will find that the water doesn't freeze into a solid block, but rather it's more of a hard slush. But it's a simple experiment, and pretty cool to do!

What Was Your First Album?

2010-09-16T20:15:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been listening to lots of old CDs in my collection. For whatever reason, I've just been feeling like listening to old stuff from high school, and this morning I ended up pulling out one of the very first CDs I ever bought - "Garbage" from Garbage. It was actually the second CD I ever bought.

The first CD I ever bought? Another self-titled one. "The Presidents of the United State of America." Why? I don't really remember. I do recall my friend James introducing me to them, somewhere around 7th grade. And I really did like them a lot (and I do still enjoy listening to those first few albums.

So what was the first album you ever bought? Leave a comment below with your first album!

The Next Day - Chargers at Chiefs

2010-09-14T21:47:00.001-07:00

Week 1

My weekly thoughts after having a day to think about the week's Charger game.

Even though I've had time, my thoughts on last night's game are pretty much the same. San Diego should have won that game. Kansas City really had 3 big plays: the big run by Charles, the punt return by McCluster and the forced fumble. Outside of that, the Chiefs couldn't convert on 3rd down and couldn't drive the ball. San Diego had their times in the game where they couldn't move either, but also had times where they couldn't be stopped. So what are the good and bad things to take from this game?

The Good

*The defense looked good. Other than the one big run, the Chiefs were held to 141 net yards. I'm sure part of this is on the Chiefs offense, but the Chargers defense was good.

*Philip Rivers can lead a comeback. If my team is down by a touchdown with 2 minutes to go, he is one of the few quarterbacks I want leading my team.

*Antonio Gates is a beast. The Chiefs had to double and triple team him to take him away.

The Bad

*The punt coverage. Need I say more? I wish I could find stats on hangtime, but it seemed to me like the Scifres wasn't getting as much hangtime as he normally does. Maybe I'm wrong.

*The receivers need to step up. They had their moments, but when Kansas City was attacking Gates, it seemed like there wasn't anyone picking up the slack, or maybe no one that Rivers felt comfortable/trusted enough to throw the ball to.

Next week the Chargers return home to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kassim Osgood returns to San Diego, and he'll probably be fired up now after catching a touchdown last week. I think the return home will help the Chargers get the victory.

Chargers at Chiefs - Halftime Report

2010-09-13T20:56:00.001-07:00

Wow. This game is looking rough so far. The Chargers came out pretty strong before the rain started.

So what's wrong? The Chargers were big favorites in this game, yet they're down 21-7. there is no single answer, but if I had to pick one, I would say "stop the big plays." 50+ yard TD run, 95+ yard punt return for a TD, and Ryan Mathews was stripped and the fumble was returned close to the goal. Kansas City has the momentum right now.

The Chargers really need to get composed at the half and come back in the 2nd half and march down for a TD. Get momentum back and control the game.

San Diego is down by 2 TDs, but they have a half, and we've got Philip Rivers, so I feel like we can do this.

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2010 NFL Picks - Week 1

2010-09-12T09:52:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm a little late getting this posted, but I'm going to try to pick all of the NFL games this year. Just win-loss, not against the spread. I already had picked the Saints over the Vikings (you'll have to trust me since I didn't get it posted). I'm late, so I can't get too much description going, so here are this week's picks (home team in caps). I won't be picking any Chargers games since I'll pretty much always pick them to win, and I refuse to pick against them. I'm a homer, I know.

BUCS over Browns

Dolphins over BILLS

PATRIOTS over Bengals

Colts over TEXANS (sorry, Texans. Get it done and prove me wrong)

JAGUARS over Broncos

FALCONS over Steelers

TITANS over Raiders

GIANTS over Panthers

BEARS over Lions

Cardinals over RAMS

PACKERS over Eagles

49ers over SEAHAWKS

REDSKINS over Cowboys

Ravens over JETS

Rough Day for Former Fresno State Football Players

2010-09-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Today was decision time. NFL teams had to cut down to their 53-man roster today, and the rookies from Fresno State did not fare well.

Ryan Mathews was the only Bulldog drafted in the 2010 NFL Draft. He went 12th overall to the San Diego Chargers, so there was really no way he wasn't going to make the roster.

No one else on the team was drafted, so they were long shots to make an NFL team.

Also picked up by the Chargers, as an undrafted Free Agent, WR Seyi Ajirotutu was cut today. San Diego Union-Tribune writer Kevin Acee has speculated that Ajirotutu will make the practice squad, however.

RB Lonyae Miller was cut by the Dallas Cowboys. He was a long shot to make it anyway, behind veterans Felix Jones, Marion Barber and Tashard Choice.

On a positive note, CB A.J. Jefferson did not get cut by the Arizona Cardinals. Although I didn't see any of their preseason games, I imagine that Jefferson's abilities as a returner had to have helped him there.

Rookie WR Chastin West was also cut by the Green Bay Packers.

And finally, although he was not a rookie, former Fresno State QB Tom Brandstater was cut by the Indianapolis Colts.

2010 Chargers Starting Lineup - 9/4/10 Edition

2010-09-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

To view the 2011 Chargers starting lineup, please visit http://www.jaimeh.com/blog/chargers-starting-lineup/

Check out the Chargers lineup for 11/28/10 against the Colts here: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/11/chargers-starting-lineup-against-colts.html

Today is the day that NFL teams have to cut down to their 53-man roster. I'm not brave enough to take a shot at guessing who will or won't make it, but I think now is a good time to update my guess at who will be the in the starting lineup for the San Diego Chargers when they open against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Not much has changed since my original lineup, which you can find here: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/08/2010-chargers-startin-lineup.html. The changes are marked with an asterisk, and I added some more comments about various players.

Offense:
QB - Philip Rivers
RB - Ryan Mathews (No notes about his roster spot, I'm just really excited to see him in a game!)
FB - Jacob Hester* (Looks like the coaches like him as a FB, and Mike Tolbert will get more action as a running back in certain situations)
TE - Antonio Gates
WR - Malcolm Floyd
WR - Legedu Naanee (The trade for Patrick Crayton makes me wonder where they want him on the depth chart, but he's only got a little bit of time to get adjusted)
LT - Brandyn Dombrowski
LG - Kris Dielman
C - Nick Hardwick
RG - Luis Vasquez
RT - Jeromy Clary

Defense:
CB - Quentin Jammer
CB - Antoine Cason
SS - Stephen Gregory (Experience counts. Darrell Stuckey has talent, but he's not starting on opening day)
FS - Eric Weddle
OLB - Shaun Philips
MLB - Stephen Cooper
MLB - Kevin Burnett
OLB - Larry English (The fact that Shawne Merriman has been limited in practice and hasn't played in a played in a preseason game since signing make me nervous.)
DE - Luis Castillo
DT - Antonio Garay
DE - Jacques Cesaire

Special Teams
P - Mike Scifres
K - Nate Kaeding
LS - David Binn

And that's it! What do you think? What changes would you make? We'll see how I did when the final depth chart comes out!

Looking for San Diego Chargers Gear?

*Please note, this lineup is based of of my guesses and information taken from www.Chargers.com and www.SignOnSanDiego.com/news/sports/chargers

Biohazard (Zombie Apocalypse) Movie Trailer

2010-08-23T21:32:00.001-07:00

Yep, that's me

Earlier this summer I was an extra in an indie movie filmed here in Fresno, called "Biohazard (Zombie Apocalypse)". A while back, a rough teaser trailer was released, which you can see here: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/07/biohazard-zombie-apocalypse-trailer.html

I've been trying to follow news about the release of this movie, and somehow missed this new trailer that came out last month. And guess what? You can see me in it! Only for a quick second, but I'm there. Probably helps that I know where to look. But can you spot me? Even if not, enjoy!

Biohazard (Zombie Apocalypse) Trailer 1 from Clay Von Thomas on Vimeo.

Facebook Profile Photos

2010-08-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

I'm not really adamant on this, but I've decided that people need to have some sort of an identifiable profile picture on Facebook. I feel like my logic is reasonable. I apparently went to school with lots of people name David and Steven or Stephen, and it seems impossible to find them. I search for "Stephen Smith" and get 1,000+ results.

Not a really big deal, it's just frustrating to search for someone, get tons of results, and half of the profile pics or of some random non-person thing, or the individual people aren't identifiable in the thumbnail-sized pic.

Or maybe I should have just had friends with more unique names.

2010 Chargers Starting Lineup, 8/10/10 Edition

2010-08-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

To view the 2011 Chargers starting lineup, please visit http://www.jaimeh.com/blog/chargers-starting-lineup/

Check out the Chargers lineup for 11/28/10 against the Colts here: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/11/chargers-starting-lineup-against-colts.html

(Update: You can view my updated lineup prediction here: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/09/chargers-starting-lineup-9410-edition.html)

I know it's early, but with training camp started, the preseason officially going, I'm spending my days thinking about football and what is going to happen in the next few months. The Chargers are yet to take the field for a preseason game, but it's never too early to speculate.

So who will the starting lineup for the Chargers be come opening day? Obviously things will change. We don't know how the young guys will do, there will be injuries, and possibly signings to fill voids. But if you had to pick your starters now, who would they be?

Some of the spots are locked (Phillip Rivers is the guy obviously), and I'm largely guessing. I don't live in the San Diego area anymore, so I'm going off of reports by Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Bolts From the Blue (http://www.boltsfromtheblue.com/), to name a couple (isn't Twitter great!?). And I'm no expert, just a fan needing some Charger talk to get me through the next month.

Offense:
QB - Philip Rivers
RB - Ryan Mathews
FB - Mike Tolbert
TE - Antonio Gates
WR - Malcolm Floyd
WR - Legedu Naanee (Maybe it's health issues, but I just see him beating out Craig Davis as the starter)
LT - Brandyn Dombrowski
LG - Kris Dielman
C - Nick Hardwick
RG - Luis Vasquez
RT - Jeromy Clary

Defense:
CB - Quentin Jammer
CB - Antoine Cason
SS - Stephen Gregory
FS - Eric Weddle
OLB - Shaun Philips
MLB - Stephen Cooper
MLB - Kevin Burnett
OLB - Larry English (Since Shawne Merriman hasn't signed yet, I have to assume he won't, at least for this version of the starting lineup)
DE - Luis Castillo
DT - Antonio Garay
DE - Jacques Cesaire

Special Teams
P - Mike Scifres
K - Nate Kaeding

Clearly I didn't venture out and make too many bold predictions. And keep in mind this is only opening day. As best I can tell, there aren't a whole lot of opening spots really open right now. Most of the competition is for backup spots (the third and fourth corner spots should be interesting). And as much as I can't wait to see Cam Thomas, Ogemdi Nwagbuo and Vaughn Martin in some rotation on the line, I just see experience winning out with Garay and Cesaire. Plus I hear that Garay is having a great camp so far.

This is only version one, I'll update this as camp goes on and people are cut or signed. Maybe I'll even get brave and try to guess the 53-man roster. But this is as of August 10, 2010.

So what would you change from my list of starters? Who do you think is or isn't going to be starting?

Looking for San Diego Chargers Gear?

*Please note, this lineup is based of of my guesses and information taken from www.Chargers.com and www.SignOnSanDiego.com/news/sports/chargers

Inception

2010-07-27T19:07:00.001-07:00

Before I say anything, let me warn you that this post will contain spoilers! So if you haven't seen "Inception" yet and you plan to, then stop reading now and come back after you've seen it!

Before we get to the obvious part that everyone is talking about (the ending!), let's talk about the visual effects. Crazy special effects are the norm now, and we see them in every movie. But I though the effects in this movie were very smooth. In the scene where the architect was first learning to mold dreams, and she folded the city to a 90 degree angle, it looked almost natural, and it wasn't awkward as she and Cobb stepped up onto the perpendicular walkway. I loved that it didn't look clearly CGI or fake in some way.

I also loved the scenes inside dreams when gravity was being toyed with. As the van was in free fall, and people were floating in midair, whether it be a fight scene, or just moving around, I felt like I was watching The Matrix for the first time again. Just the unreal physics involved, and a totally new way of seeing a movie shot were amazing.

So now let's get to the really fun stuff! So Cobb gets off the plane, heads home, spins his top, and gets distracted. The top continues to spin, we see it wobble just a little bit, then cut to the credits. So anyone can argue their point. He's awake, we just didn't get to see the top fall over. Or he's still in a dream, which means that the entire movie was a dream, which means that we don't even know if anyone else is real or just a projection. I'll be honest, I was a little too wrapped up in the story as a whole to have been studying the little details that might give it away. This is why I can't wait for the DVD to go back and re-watch the movie, knowing that that top was still spinning. Look for clues that he was dreaming all along.

What did you think? Was Cobb still dreaming or in limbo? Was he actually awake?

Adorable Stories of Healing

2010-07-27T18:57:00.001-07:00

Ok, so in the news recently I've seen two incredible stories of cats who faced a terrible situation, and were helped to recovery in a couple of different ways. The first is about a cat who was paralyzed, and through hydrotherapy, learned to walk again. Check out the full story here: http://www.tonic.com/article/kittie-paddling-saves-paralyzed-cat/

The second story involves a cat that was in a terrible accident and lost both of its back legs. But someone was able to develop bionic legs, and the cat is walking again! Amazing! Check out the story here: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/bionic-cat-walks-on-prosthetic-legs/

And apparently there is now video of Oscar, the bionic cat:

Both of these are great stories, but which do you like better? I think the bionic cat is very fascinating, but I find the hydrotherapy cat to be an incredibly adorable story.

Full List of Cities that Have To Change Their Name

2010-07-16T17:15:00.001-07:00

Here I'll keep the list of cities (in alphabetical order) decreed to need to change their name. Why do they have to change their name? Because they're riding the coattails of a more famous city with the same name. See the original post here: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/07/some-cities-need-to-change-their-name.html

Berkeley, Illinois (Added 7/16/2010)
Dublin, California (Added 7/16/2010)
Las Vegas, New Mexico (Added 7/16/2010)
Manhattan, Kansas (Added 7/16/2010)
Miami, Ohio (Added 7/16/2010)
Paris, Texas (Added 7/16/2010)
Portland, Maine (Added 7/16/2010)

Some Cities Need to Change Their Name

2010-07-16T17:00:00.001-07:00

Update 7/16/2010: I've added a full list of all the cities that need to change their name. This is where I'll keep updating the full list of cities that I decree have to change their name: http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/07/full-list-of-cities-that-have-to-change.html

Maybe I'm crabby because it's freaking hot today (Weather Channel says it's 106, but it "feels like" it's only 105!) and I need a nap, but I've decided that some cities need to change their name. Today I saw a label on some equipment that was from Berkeley, Illinois. Now when I hear the name Berkeley, I immediately think of northern California and Cal. This experience also reminded me of a few months ago when a friend of mine was going to Maine. She told me she was off to Portland, and I had to stop and say, "Wait, I thought you were going to Maine?" She clarified that there is a Portland, Maine as well as the one in Oregon.

So my decision is that cities that have the same name as a very famous city need to change their name. Maybe it's because I'm in California that I immediately think of Portland, Oregon or Berkeley, California, but I think both of those cities are famous enough to make Portland, Maine and Berkeley, Illinois change their names.

What else is there? There are no questions about Paris, Texas and Las Vegas, New Mexico. Both of those cities have to change their name. Clearly you can go to 99% of people and say Paris or Las Vegas, and they immediately think of France or Nevada. And how about Manhattan, Kansas? They have to change their name too.

Ok, so when I hear someone in northern California mention Dublin, I don't bat an eye, but that's only because I always see the signs along the freeway when I head up to the Bay Area. But I think on a national and global scale, Dublin, Ireland wins. Sorry, Dublin, CA.

I am willing to let less famous cities keep their names though. I live in Clovis, California, and I happen to know there is also a Clovis, New Mexico. Neither city is particularly famous on a national scale though, so they can both keep their name until one becomes big enough to knock the other off.

Who will decide which cities have to change their name? I'm thinking I should, since I came up with the idea. What other cities have I missed? I know there are lots out there. Leave your other nominations for cities that have to change their name in the comments, and I'll give my decree.

"Kitties Are Creatures of Habit" or "My Cats Are Ridiculously Cute"

2010-07-16T16:53:00.001-07:00

So yesterday Erin sent me this picture that she took while she was getting ready.

After I saw it, I was reminded of this video I took back in January of this year, when Gizmo was apparently a lot smaller!

Then I remembered a couple of pictures I took of Dublin when she was younger. The first one was taken in May of 2008, and the second one was taken in August of 2008. Guess our cats have their spots and poses they like to use frequently (even if Dublin did decide to turn the other way!).

Raising Money for a Good Cause

2010-07-12T22:33:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Karen, is raising funds to help battle childhood cancer. I have decided that I'll give whatever earnings I get from sales made through the link below to her fundraising efforts. This will apply to any items added to your cart and purchased during the session, as long as it's an order in the United States or Canada.

Unfortunately, I can't mention what her group is (due to restrictions in the affiliate agreement with Amazon), but I can give you her main fundraising page if you want to make a donation directly to her, or just to read more about her story and why she is raising money for childhood cancer. Her site is here: http://bit.ly/befiEd. You can also learn more about hers and her son's journey here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaachatfield

I'll keep doing this until the end of her fundraising efforts, so feel free to stop in until then!

If you'd like to support her through your regular purchases, just start by using the banner below, and any new items added to your cart and purchased during the session will count toward the donation made to her cause:

Or use this link: Amazon.com shopping link

Biohazard Zombie Apocalypse Trailer

2010-07-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned that I was recently a zombie extra in a film that was being made locally (http://jhowrites.blogspot.com/2010/07/last-night-i-rose-from-dead.html). Well, it seems the director, Clay Von Thomas, has made a rough teaser trailer for the film. It takes a little bit to get to any actual shots from the movie, but it looks pretty good still. It's neat to see the video, and recognize that "Hey, I was there!" So anyway, enjoy the video below, and I'll definitely keep posting more information about this as movie as I hear it!

BIOHAZARD TEASER TRAILER Directed by Clay Von Thomas from Clay Von Thomas on Vimeo.

Last Night I Rose From the Dead

2010-07-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a friend of mine sent me some info about a movie that was being filmed locally that needed extras for a scene. Basically the call was for "100 zombies." She said she immediately thought of me, and lucky for me, I was free to do it!

**Edit, Ok, it looks like I might have gotten some of the bio info a little wrong. Clay Von Thomas might not be from Fresno, but I do know a lot of the actors were**

The working title is "Biohazard," and it was directed by Clay Von Thomas. I looked up a little and found out that he's from the Fresno area, and most of the actors were from the area as well, so it was definitely a locally filmed indie movie. Here is a little page I found with some information (although not much) about the movie: http://www.zombiehub.com/biohazard-zombie-apocalypse.html.

I got to the location around 6, they started applying latex makeup pretty quickly, and then there was lots of waiting. They told us we'd start doing the big scene with all the zombies around 9. But as these things tend to go, it was a little late. I'm guessing it was around 11 when we started doing the scene, and it took a couple of hours. Actually, the time went flying by once the filming started. But it was a pretty mellow night in Fresno, so it wasn't unbearably hot or anything, which was great.

Below are a few pictures I took. I had a lot more, but something went funky, and they're not on my camera anymore. The first one is me with the first layer of makeup, and the second one is me at the end of the night. The last two pictures are just big shots of lots of the other extras getting their makeup done.

New Website Launched

2010-06-23T20:29:00.001-07:00

So I've been away from the blog for a few days, but I've had a decent reason. I've been working on a new website, and it's called "Find Zombie Gear." You can find it at http://www.findzombiegear.com.

It is a shopping website, and our focus is zombies! Movies, books and games, however you like your zombies. So if you get a chance, check it out. I'm still working on some of the aesthetics and whatnot, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks!

http://www.findzombiegear.com

Thoughts About E3

2010-06-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Looks like lots of cool stuff is debuting at E3 this year. One day I'll figure out a way to go and check out this stuff live, but for now I'm stuck reading about it. This is by no means a full collection of what has debuted, but it's just stuff that I've personally found interesting for various reason.

Kinect for XBox 360 (http://www.xbox.com/en-US/kinect)
The motion sensors and camera don't require a controller. The demo videos I've seen look like it picks everything up pretty smooth. Gamestop has is for pre-order at $149, so it's not cheap, but it really could be a lot of fun. (Looks like the scheduled release is November 2010)

Kirby's Epic Yarn (for Nintendo Wii)
This is probably the thing I was most excited about. The screenshots looked awesome, and made me think of Super Paper Mario, in that it's a familiar character, but a very unique look for the world. I'm looking forward to more details on the story and gameplay. Due out in October, it can already be pre-ordered from Amazonby clicking here.

Yoostar 2 (http://www.yoostar2.com)
I've posted plenty of my Yoostar videos on this site, and Yoostar 2 is the next step. Instead of being PC or Mac based, this is going to be on XBox 360 and PS3 using the Kinect and Playstation Move. The game doesn't require a green screen, and looks to have a scoring system, so there will be an actual game to it instead of just the acting. Also, checking out the list of movies that will have scenes is getting me really excited about this.

Nintendo 3DS (http://e3.nintendo.com/3ds/)
Yet another awesome new toy that I really don't need, but I can't wait to see. The screen will be in 3-D, without the need for glasses. I am really excited to see how this looks.

Playstation Move (http://us.playstation.com/ps3/playstation-move/)
Playstation's motion sensor system. It looks pretty cool, although since I have an XBox, this isn't quite as exciting to me. Also available for pre-order at Gamestop. (Looks like the schedule release is September 2010)

Zombies Attack!

2010-06-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

It has finally happened, the zombie apocalypse is upon us, and Newsweek.com broke the story!

Well, sort of. Earlier today (and actually, as of about 10PM Pacific Time), you could go to newsweek.com and punch in the Konami Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, ) on the main page, and the main page would change all the headlines to news regarding to the recent Zombie Outbreak. In case it goes down, I've grabbed some screen shots of all the stories (the links on the page just bring you back to the main page, so what you see here is everything that was/is available on Newsweek's site). Click on the images to get a bigger view.

The Vader Project

2010-06-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

On June 12, 2010, we took a trip down to Los Angeles to check out The Vader Project. 100 artists were each given a replica of the Darth Vader helmet and asked to make something with it. The helmets have been on tour and were on display in Los Angeles before making the trip to Pennsylvania to be auctioned off. The day we chose to head down, there happened to be 25 of the artists available to sign the catalog. I have to say, all of the artists were incredibly nice, and I really appreciated that they were there.

Below are some of the pictures we took. As you can see, the artists took their projects in all different directions, using all sorts of different materials.

If you want more information about The Vader Project, go to www.thevaderproject.com. If you get a chance to see it before the art goes on auction, I highly recommend it!

(Click on the picture to see a bigger version)

"The Revenge of Mr. Hahn" by Joe Hahn

"Darth Bacon" by Dan Goodsell

"Carmen Mirandarth" by Girls Drawin Girls

"Nauga-Vader" by Paul Frank

"Unavader" by Ferg

"Full Metal Vader" by Eelus

"Darth from Above" by Marc Ecko

"Untitled" by Dehara

"Hanus" by Jim Koch

"Spy Vader Spy" by Peter Kuper

"Untitled" by Mad

"Darth Banana" by Mad Barbarians

"Praise the Lord" by Plasticgod

"Son of the Suns" by Suckadelic

"Untitled" by T9G

My Summer Reading List

2010-06-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's summertime, which used to mean carefree afternoons, being lazy and hanging out, until the last couple of weeks before school when I had to start on the dreaded "summer reading list." There was always a test on the first day or two of school to make sure you'd read the books that were assigned. This type of stuff in school is what killed the joy of reading for me. When I was a young kid, I read all the time, and in elementary school they just encouraged me to read all the time.

By the time I hit middle school and high school, there were assigned readings. And it always had to be a "classic," which (almost always) bored me like crazy.

In recent years I've tried to get myself to read more. I found a few books that I really enjoyed. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was one I found, and became one of my favorite books all-time. It's definitely one of the few that I have re-read multiple times.

The Harry Potter Series is a series I was introduced to and loved.

But beyond these books, there was very little I loved reading. There was a book here and there that I enjoyed, but nothing that really stuck with me. So that makes 8 books I loved and a handful of others I enjoyed over a period of about 8 years. Not exactly a great average.
In the last few months, I was introduced to a few books that had me hooked from the start. Books that literally took 2 days to finish because I was reading every free minute I had. This has really left me feeling excited about reading, anticipating the next book, a feeling I haven't really had since I was a kid. Fortunately it will keep going. A few of the books I read are part of a series, and I have to wait until at least September for the next book.

But in the meantime, I've decided to give myself a reading list for this summer. There is definitely a theme to most of these books (which should be pretty obvious), but it's a genre I enjoy.

So in no particular order, here are the books I want to try to get through this summer:

The Living Dead - A compilation of stories, including works by Stephen King and Clive Barker.

Play Dead - A high school football team is killed by their rivals, but a local witch is able to bring the team back from the dead to play for the championship. Combining football and zombies? What could be better!

Ghost Road Blues - Sort of a requirement, since I accidentally bought the second book of a trilogy, and this is the first. Gotta go in order!

Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1-3 - I always see this book in the store, and I'm always tempted to grab it, but something else usually grabs my attention. But I do enjoy Clive Barker's work, so I'm going to dive into this book.

Author Jonathan Maberry Visited This Site(!)

2010-06-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

So about a week ago, before I went on vacation, I posted a review of the book "Patient Zero" by Jonathan Maberry (Read the review by clicking here.)

Shortly after it was posted, I received a comment on the post from none other than the author of the book. How freaking awesome is that? He thanked me for the review, and mentioned some of the other Joe Ledger books that are out and coming up. During my vacation I did finish The Dragon Factory (so a review should come soon), and started one of his other novels, Dead Man's Song. Maberry is definitely turning into one of my favorite authors, and that position will be cemented if Dead Man's Song turns out to be awesome.

But the news in the comment was also exciting, that there are at least 3 more Joe Ledger novels coming in the future, and I can say that I'll be watching to pre-order them as soon as I can!

Ok, I'm done geeking out about that. Thank you for stopping by!

Book Review: Patient Zero

2010-05-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Patient Zero: A Joe Ledger Novel by Jonathan Maberry

"When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there's either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills... and there's nothing wrong with Joe Ledger's skills."

You see where this one is going? This book combines zombies (of sorts), military and counterterrorism. And all in a seamless, captivating way.

To say that Patient Zero is captivating would be an understatement. I started this book on a Sunday evening, and by Tuesday night I was done. I just couldn't put it down.

Maberry does an excellent job of putting a different twist on the zombie concept, and he answers your questions. Many other stories leave you wanting a little more closure, so you're left wanting a little more. Patient Zero does give you those answers, but not in a way that makes you feel dumb. The answers he gives you are integral to the story, and presented in a way that builds tension and keeps you on your toes.

The way this book is written is a little different, and I loved it. The chapters tend to be short, but each chapter jumps from one locale to another, each crucial to the story, and they are all labeled with a time and date, which helps you keep track of how quickly the story is progressing. Maberry doesn't jump through time, forward and back, but the time codes on the chapters do help you keep track of what's going on at any given moment.

If you are a fan of zombies, or even military covert operations stories, I would recommend Patient Zero to you. It is a fun story, and this book is really difficult to put down.

Cirque Du Soleil - Alegria

2010-05-27T23:26:00.000-07:00

This week I was fortunate enough to win a pack of tickets to see the opening show of Cirque Du Soleil - Alegria at the Save Mart Center here in Fresno. I really had no idea what to expect, but I was excited because I've heard good things about other Cirque Du Soleil performances.
As we walked into the arena, I was immediately impressed. Only about a quarter of the arena was open, given it the feel of a theater. The stage was in the middle, cutting off about half of the arena, and the upper deck was closed off.
The stage was interesting, and as the first performers came out, I realized that what I thought was a flat backdrop was actually a sloped portion of the stage. Just a clever illusion with the angles. Very nice.
The music hit me quickly: this is the kind of stuff I like. I do enjoy musicals, and this had a very opera feel to it. Actually, at times I was reminded of some of the opera music in Final Fantasy VI (or Final Fantasy III as it was released on SNES). What a treat! So of course I had to come home and get the music.
The performers were all terrific, although two in particular stood out to me. One involved a performer with a giant metal ring, which left me wondering how someone even finds out they have that sort of talent! The other involved two contortionists. Do I need to say more? At times I found myself losing track of what was an arm and what was a leg, and whether the person was bending forward or backward. Simply amazing.
So I give this show a huge thumbs up! If I had the opportunity, I'm pretty sure I'd go and see this again. Maybe I'll save my money to check out a different Cirque Du Soleil show, but Alegria would definitely be worth paying to see again. I recommend you check it out if you get a chance to during the tour. Check out www.cirquedusoleil.com for more information.

As I said, the music in this performance was amazing. Check out the soundtrack here: Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria Soundtrack

Book Review: The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

2010-05-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Strain - By Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

What would it be like if vampires were running around in modern society? What would society do? Would the general public even know what was happening?
This book presents a new take on the vampire genre. Sure, lots of the classic stuff is there: drinking blood, immortality and practically invincible. But this book delves more into what creates a vampire.
The first in a trilogy, The Strain is well written and captivating. I'm not often so drawn into a book that I can't put it down, but with this book, I started and just couldn't stop.
Not sure you want to give vampires a chance in this age of "Twilight"? Just give this book a shot, and you'll see it's not the same. The story is much darker, and definitely aimed at a more grownup crowd.
Unfortunately, the 2nd book doesn't come out for several more months, so you'll be stuck waiting. Impatiently, if you're like me. In the meantime, check out The Strain, I highly recommend it!

Lots of Bowling This Weekend

2010-05-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

Bowling is a funny thing, because when people ask me about it, I tell them that I'm "OK." I'm not great, but I am pretty competent. Of course if I say I average around 200, they tend to think I'm crazy to not think I'm really good! Probably part of my mentality there is that a lot of the people I am friends with are a lot better bowlers than I am (think averaging 220 and higher).
In recent years I've watched my average drop from around 200 to under 190. It doesn't seem huge, but it's a big hit on the confidence. A lot of it was mental, part of it was just having more on my plate (graduating and getting a real job has its effects!). But in the last year or so, I've been able to pull myself back up, and especially in the last few months, managed to get a book average of 200. Still short of my peak, but getting back to what I know I can do.
A few months ago, my confidence was at a peak. I had some new equipment, and I had been bowling some of my best scores in well over a year. Then came our trip to Nationals (click here to see the blog post on that). At Nationals, I bowled the worst I have in years. I honestly can't remember how long it has been since I did that bad.
Afterward, my bowling confidence was understandably shaken. I did realize that bowling at Nationals was a tougher situation than bowling at home, but I was still down.
Fortunately, I was able to pull myself out of the funk over the next few weeks. I took a trip to Modesto to bowl their Mini Peach, a 5-game scratch tournament. After 3 games, I was in 7th place, then tanked one game. I just couldn't find my shot, and I dropped to 23rd place. I came back the last game and bowled decently, to finish in 21st. Unfortunately only the top 17 moved on to the next round. I was disappointed, but proud that I had made it through the one bad game, and got myself back on pace the last game.

Now all of this finally brings me back to this weekend. I had considered bowling the San Joaquin Bowling Club's "Last Chance" tournament. It's the last tournament of the season leading up to the Tournament of Champions. I hadn't bowled any of the tournament before, so I couldn't move on to the ToC, but I wanted a chance to get more experience in tournament settings. I got talked out of it, then talked back into it. In the end, I decided to bowl.
The tournament was 6 games of qualifying, with the top 5 moving on to a stepladder final. I felt like I bowled OK. Not great, not terrible. In the end, I finished 9th, and the top 10 cashed. I was excited, especially since I hadn't thought I'd done that well. But apparently it was enough. And beyond cashing in the tournament, I learned a few things about my shot, and how to adjust in a tournament.
After the tournament, there was talk of traveling up to Modesto to bowl a scratch 6 game tournament, which would be on the Professional Bowlers Association's Viper pattern (http://www.pba.com/OilPatterns/Pattern/2). I knew it would be challenging, but eventually decided to go with them and try it out. In my head, I had hoped to cash and make a good showing, but in the end all I got was experience. But that's not a bad thing! I learned a few things about my shot, specifically a few things I do when I get off my game, and ways to relax myself and just get back to doing what I do, rather than forcing things.
I do think I probably wasn't helped by bowling 12 games in two days, when I've generally been a "3-game-per-week" kind of guy. I was definitely exhausted, and I'm still feeling the effects, now I know where I am physically, and I know what I need to do if I want to bowl at this level again.
Although I know I am not quite at the same level of some of the guys I went with, I do know that on any given day I can compete with them. I might be deceiving myself, but I do believe it, and maybe I just need to keep telling myself this to force myself to keep trying.
So what's in store next? First, a little time off from bowling. Then in June, we start up a new league, quickly followed by State Tournament in Bakersfield, then back to Modesto for The Peach at some point, and hopefully a few more events scattered in the middle.
I'm just glad I've got a wife who supports me, not just by saying "You can do it!" and meaning it, but also just being there to help pass the time on the travels. I know that watching bowling is not the most exciting thing in the world, but I know she'll always be there to watch and cheer me on, so at least I've got that consistent thing going.

Earn Money Back When You Shop Online

2010-05-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

We're all looking for a way to save a little bit of money. We shop discount stores, we shop online for the best deals, and we go to auction sites to save a little bit of money. Online shopping is one of the best ways to save money, you've got access to tons of places to compare deals, you often times can save on tax, and it's such a competitive market that everyone wants to give you a deal.

So why not get a little bit more out of it? What's the best way to do it?

The answer is simple: EBATES

Ebates is a on stop place to find coupons, and get money back when you shop online. The steps are simple.

1. Setup a free account with Ebates.
I've been using this program since 2008, and I can guarantee you that there is no fee to sign up, and no fee to use the site.

2. Shop online through links found on Ebates.
You simply login to your account, and follow the shopping links through the site. Whatever you spend, you'll receive a portion back.

That's it. Two simple steps. Just shop online through the links found on Ebates, and once your account has built up $10, they'll send you a check in the mail.

It seems too simple to be true, but it is. When you follow the link through Ebates, they earn a referral for sending you to shop there, so whatever you spend, they're getting a credit for that, and they just share it with you. So if you're already going to be shopping online, why not get an extra 1%-25% back?

And if you're worried that Ebates only gives credit on obscure sites, you're wrong! Some of my favorite places to shop through Ebates are eBay, Newegg.com and magazines.com.

Other popular websites to shop at through Ebates include restaurants.com, NFLshop.com, VictoriasSecret.com, Target.com, Walmart.com and Overstock.com. Overall, there are over 1,200 websites to shop through.

I will vouch for this site, I've made over $125 through Ebates, and I just got notified that I have another check on the way. And it's all from shopping I would have done online anyway!

So give it a shot! It's free, and you can earn back money for the online shopping you're already doing!

Click here to get started

Chrome For Critters in Clovis

2010-05-14T11:59:00.001-07:00

In the Fresno or Clovis area, and looking for something to do this Saturday? Check out the Chrome for Critters fundraiser to help build the new Clovis Pet Adoption Center.

“Chrome for Critters” Pitches In for Pet Adoption Center

The North Fresno CAL Harley Group is revving up for tomorrow’s (5/15) “Chrome for Critters” fundraiser that starts with breakfast at the Clovis Rodeo Grounds for poker run participants at 7 a.m. Then, it’s off to collect the best hands they can as they wind their way through the foothills and back to the Rodeo Grounds for lunch, a Clovis Police Department K-9 demonstration at noon and the music of the popular local band “Midnight Run” at 1 p.m.

A live auction for items like Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton signed guitars, a trip for two in the Fresno County Sheriff’s Eagle One helicopter and a week’s stay for six in a private home in Mazatlan gets underway at 2 p.m. A silent auction will continue as the band takes to the stage, again, to entertain the crowd.

At 3:45 p.m., Clovis Mayor Harry Armstrong and Police Chief Janet Davis will accept a check from the North Fresno CAL Harley Group to help fund a new Clovis Pet Adoption Center facility. And at 4 p.m., get ready for the moment of truth as Mayor Armstrong draws the winner of a brand new 2010 Harley Davidson Street Glide valued at $25,000.00. People donated $10 to the Adoption Center for a chance to win the coveted bike.

Friends of the Clovis Pet Adoption Center and the Clovis Police Department’s Animal Services Division thank “Chrome for Critters” Chairman Bryan Porter and his associates for considering the Clovis Pet Adoption Center as a benefactor for their organization.

Ryan Mathews Jersey

2010-05-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

I've got my season tickets ordered for this fall's Fresno State Football season, and I'm thinking of getting a Ryan Mathews Jersey for the games. I like the one below, I just haven't decided whether to get it or not.

The problem is I want to get his Chargers jersey when it comes out too, so I guess it's just a decision of which one to get first, since I'm pretty sure both will end up in my closet at some point!

Today I Got a Bag of Crap

2010-05-10T20:01:00.001-07:00

Shoppers at woot.com will understand my excitement when I got home today and found a woot! box with my bag of crap waiting for me! This is the first bag of crap I've been able to get from woot, and the fact that it was here was even more exciting because the package tracking was apparently messed up and showed the package as being in a different city, with expected delivery 3 days from now.

For those who don't shop at woot, let me give you a brief overview. Woot.com has one deal a day, sometimes it's new, sometimes it's refurbished, but it's always a good deal. It ranges from computers to baby seats to roombas, and pretty much anything in between. The bag of crap is at least 3 random things sent to you, and you only pay $3 plus $5 shipping, so it's a crapshoot, and it always sells out fast. Like I said, this is the first time I've managed to get a bag of crap, and this video shows what I got!

To summarize, there was a mini tripod, a camera bag, a pair of kid sized headphones, a slinky jr, an action figure, and a fleece baby blanket

My Favorite Places to Eat in Fresno

2010-05-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

As I prepare to start a new site about places to eat and things to do in the Fresno area, I thought I would put together a list of some of my favorite places to eat in the Fresno/Clovis area. While this isn't necessarily a list of the best places to go, and more just what I enjoy, I did make a couple of rules:

Can't be a national franchise or chain

As much as I love eating at Red Robin, I just can't count it

It has to be somewhere I've been

Physically. So I can't count Charlotte's because I've only had delivery from there. And I can't count Iron Bird Cafe since I've haven't been yet.

So here is my list of my favorite places to eat, and roughly where they are. Hopefully I'll get that other site launched soon with more information about each place.

Thai Gem - Shaw/Willow - Clovis

A tiny little Thai restaurant hidden away behind the military recruitment center

Doghouse Grill - Shaw/168 - Fresno

Across from the Save Mart Center, you get big portions and a fun atmosphere

Yosemite Falls Cafe - Various - Fresno/Clovis

Two locations in Fresno and one in Clovis, Yosemite Falls has great lunch and dinner specials

Pho 2006 - Clovis Ave - Clovis

In the barnyard shopping center, pho is the specialty

Fernando's Taqueria - Herndon/Cedar - Fresno

Just down from Fibber's, this little Mexican restaurant has awesome salsas and a great staff

In the future, I'd like to write a little more about each of the places, and get out to try some more local eateries. In the meantime, what is your favorite place to eat?

Ryan Mathews is a Charger - And Why He'll Succeed

2010-05-07T09:52:00.001-07:00

Those of you who know me, or who follow this page, probably know by now that I'm a big San Diego Chargers fan, and a big fan of Fresno State (being an alumnus and all!). So as the NFL draft approached, and rumors were circulating that the Chargers were interested in Mathews, my excitement grew. Rumors had the Texans taking Mathews at pick #20, while San Diego sat at #28. But there was still a chance that GM A.J. Smith would trade up.

Unfortunately I was driving the carpool home that afternoon, so I couldn't follow what was going on, but one of the guys in the carpool kept me up to date that San Diego had traded up to #12. I figured they were targeting DT Dan Williams. I'd read that if they traded up, that's who they were going for, and would probably pick up a RB in the 2nd round. But no, Mathews was the pick! From a fan's perspective, what better pick could there be?

And like any other fan, I need to be an armchair analyst and present why I think he'll succeed.

Philip Rivers
San Diego has one of the best Quarterbacks in the NFL. And it's not like he's throwing to chumps. With Vincent Jackson and Antonio Gates as targets, I could succeed as an NFL QB (ok, maybe not, but you get my point)! When Rivers took over as the QB for the Chargers, teams stacked the box against LaDainian Tomlinson and challenged Rivers to beat them. He proved that he could, and developed into one of the best leaders in the game. Teams will have to respect the pass, and can't stack the box against Mathews, giving him more opportunities.

Darren Sproles
While a lot of people don't feel that Sproles has the build to be an every down back, he is definitely a great change of pace back and third down back. He can catch the ball out of the backfield, and he hits maximum speed in no time. He's already proven that he can pick up the blitz, despite his small size. At least early on, this should help relieve some of the pressure from Mathews in big third down situations.

Norv Turner Wants to Keep Him Fresh
Norv Turner has stated that Mathews can expect to see 250 carries and 40 catches in his rookie season. This seems to be pretty reasonable. Pretty much right in line with some of the top backs in the league in their rookie season.

So Ryan Mathews is going into a good situation in San Diego. The Chargers did give up a lot to get him, but A.J. Smith felt that Mathews was far better than the next level of running backs, and this team did need a quality starter. Only time will tell whether or not he was the right choice, but I do know that this choice has left me super excited for next season!

And just for fun, check out some Ryan Mathews highlights:

Green Day Rock Band Is Coming!

2010-05-05T18:41:00.000-07:00

I saw that Green Day: Rock Band is coming out next month, and I can't wait! I'm a big fan of their music, and a big fan of the game. I plan to get it when it comes out, but the bad thing about games is that they are expensive. For a new release on XBox 360 or Playstation 3 you're looking at around $60 or more. So I did a little research on finding the best deal.

One key to this game is exporting the songs. Green Day: Rock Band comes with 47 songs, and you can export them all to play them with your existing Rock Band or Rock Band 2 game. Similar to Lego Rock Band, you have to pay a licensing fee to export the songs. If you preorder the game from Gamestop, you get a code to export the songs for free.

However, if you order the game from Amazon.com, you save $2 off the retail price and get a $10 gift certificate toward your next video game purchase, so you basically get the same $10 off. Of course Amazon offers the preorder guarantee, so if the price goes down before the game is released, you get the lower price. So Amazon saves you a couple dollars, and possibly more, so that's where I'm heading to order the game.

Note: There is also a Green Day: Rock Band Plus which includes the export code plus a code to get the other 6 Green Day songs already existing in the Rock Band Store, so go this route if you haven't downloaded them yet!

The New Friskies Commercial

2010-04-26T21:44:00.001-07:00

I've seen this commercial a few times now, for Friskies cat food. And every time I see it, all I can think is that this commercial must be what it's like for a cat if it was on drugs. Enjoy!

2010 NFL Draft

2010-04-21T20:53:00.001-07:00

Just a random thought. I'm incredibly excited about this year's NFL Draft. What sets this year apart? Simple, the running back who was starting at my alumni has a good chance to be drafted by my pro team. I got to see Ryan Matthews running in a couple of games the last few years at Fresno State, and the guy is good. And my San Diego Chargers are looking for a new running back. Will he be there at 28 when they pick? Maybe. I'd love to see him in San Diego. But it's just all anticipation now

Tax Day Deals, 2010 Edition

2010-04-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

April 15th is upon us. That means your taxes are due. In recent years, many places have begun offering discounts or freebies to their customers on April 15th, and here are a few that you can get this year! (Some discounts were found at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Smart-Spending-Free-treats-apf-2189519641.html?x=0)

Starbucks
Go into Starbucks and get a free brewed coffee if you bring in a reusable mug. Free coffee, and you get an early start on Earth Day.

Cinnabon
Get two free bite-sized cupcakes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at participating mall locations as part of "Tax Day Bites!" Flavors include Chocolate Passion, 24-Carrot Cake, Vanilla Bliss and Cinnacake Classic.

Maggie Moos
Get one free slice of ice cream pizza -- ice cream with red frosting to look like sauce and white chocolate to look like cheese -- at participating locations from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Boston Market
BOGO! Buy one meal and get one free! Just use this coupon (http://bostonmarket.fbmta.com/members/ViewMailing.aspx?MailingID=34359744918&StoreCode). Good Thursday through Sunday!

P.F. Chang's
Get 15% off, not including beverages, alcohol or happy hour.

McCormick and Schmick's
Playing on the Form 1040, they will have specials for $10.40, and gift certificates in this amount for their bar guests. And professional tax preparers can get a free dessert and a $10.40 gift certificate on Friday if they show a business card.

Knewton Test Prep
Visit http://blog.knewton.com/2010/04/12/tax-day-discount/ to receive a discount on GMAT and LSAT courses.

There are many other regional and local discounts available, so be sure to check your local paper and blogs.

Do you know of any other Tax Day discounts?

Crazy Flooding in Clovis

2010-04-12T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today there was a crazy thunderstorm that went through the Fresno area. On our drive home, which was a good couple of hours after the storm had passed, we ran into a little flooding. Lots of rain in a really short time for this area.

A Trip to Reno

2010-04-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed off to Reno for the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Open Championships (Nationals). We were there with my normal Tuesday night league team, Team Fugly. The trip was definitely a lot of fun, and here's a little recap of how it went.

Saturday
This is the first time I've been to Reno as an adult, so I was looking forward to it. We left early Saturday morning to head to Reno. We left around 6 in the morning, with the goal of making it by noon. We had checked ahead, and it turned out that the Fresno State Softball team had a double header against Reno that Saturday. Since we are all alumni of Fresno State, and all of the bowlers were on the Fresno State Bowling Team together at some point, we decided to get tickets to the games. It was a really pretty afternoon, just a few clouds in the sky, and really comfy. Fresno State won the first game, and lost the second, but we all had a great time. I guess the big downside was that most people got a little sunburned since we were stuck out in the sun.

After the game we headed over to the Silver Legacy to check in. We got checked in and showered and cleaned up, then headed downstairs to meet up with the team. Now this part of the story needs a little explaining. Our bowling team has a little tradition. When we're bowling, if you miss a spare, or if everyone except you strikes, then you owe a quarter into our pot. In the past, we used the money to go to dinner, or just divided it up and used it to pay for bowling. This time, we had about 2 years worth, and it added up to around $130. We decided to put it all onto one hand of blackjack. So Josh sat down to play, we all watched in anticipation...and he won! So we doubled up our money, and used it to pay for a nice dinner for all of us at the international buffet.

After dinner, Erin and I wandered around a little bit, playing some slots (since I'd already tried some blackjack with the team, and quickly lost what I had). We didn't last long, maybe until around 10. That's about when it hit me that I'd been up since super early and driven half the day. So we headed to the room and crashed for the night.

Sunday
Sunday started nicely. We got up and met everyone at the cafe in the hotel for a nice breakfast. Honestly, had to be the best Steak and Eggs I've ever had. After breakfast and a little bit of time relaxing back at the room, it was time to head to the National Bowling Stadium to get ready for our team event. Fortunately, it was only about a block away, so we just packed up and walked over to the stadium. Once we were all checked in, it was time to bowl. I was really looking forward to this. I had recently picked up some new equipment, and had been bowling my best in at least a year. It didn't take long to learn that this wasn't going to hold up, however. I managed to post the lowest series I've shot in years. I honestly cannot remember the last time I bowled so bad. The most frustrating part was that I was missing simple spares. Ten pins, 6-10's, things that shouldn't matter where I am, I should be picking it up. Josh put it a great way though. His theory was that you get thrown off by the shot on your strike shot, so you start trying to force things, which just messes you up.

I could blame it on other things. Finding out on the Friday before we left that my ball was illegal and having to make a modification to it, which changed how it rolled. I could blame it on the new drill I had on my spare ball, which left me feeling a little uncomfortable with my shot. But in the end, I just did far below what I know I'm capable of, and now I'm just that much more determined to do better next time.

After bowling, we made our way back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We met up at a restaurant in the hotel next door, and used the rest of our funds from the previously mentioned blackjack hand to pay for everyone's dinner. After dinner, we sat down at another blackjack table, and I ended up there for a few hours. Things were going well, and I was able to cash out ahead before heading back to the room.

Monday
Things did not go any better on the bowling front on Monday. Monday we were set to bowl at 7 AM, so we had to be there at 6 AM. I set the hotel alarm for 4:30. At some point I knew it had to be getting close, so I rolled over and saw that it was 6:59. WTF? Somehow I had managed to not turn on the alarm. Great. I quickly jumped up, changed, splashed some water in my hair and brushed my teeth. As a habit, I had my cell phone off, so I grabbed it and saw 5 missed calls, several text messages and a voicemail. As I ran out the door, I found out that Andrew had grabbed my bowling equipment out of my car and brought it in. As I got to the top of the stairs at the bowling alley at 7:10, I was thinking I might have made it in time to get in before practice had ended. I guess my clock was a little different than the center's, as everyone was nearing the end of game 1. I managed to find my team on the fist pair of lanes, and got in for the rest of the day. Another relatively dismal showing. The last couple of games, I did manage to bowl near my average, and scored at least as well as I knew I could, even on the difficult conditions.

We finished up, got checked out of the hotel, and headed back to Fresno.

Wrap Up
Overall, this trip was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with people I like and enjoyed myself. I bowled terrible, but this was my first trip to Nationals, and I'm determined to do better next time. I know I can.
The trip ended up being very cheap. I didn't really keep track of how we did gambling, but I do know that counting food for 2 of us and sidepots while bowling, I spent about $50 on the weekend, so I know I came out ahead in the end. Credit card points paid for the hotel room, so that was no extra expense.

So that is the gist of our trip. A little fun, a little drama, but definitely worth it, and I look forward to the next time!

Yoostar on YouTube!

2010-03-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

Looks like Yoostar has been doing some work to make their videos more accessible, and they recently setup a YouTube channel. Apparently they're also working on making it possible for users to upload their videos to YouTube, which will make them a little more available to viewers. For now, check out my "First Honest Acceptance Speech" on YouTube:

Catching Up On Old Videos

2010-03-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was going through old videos on the computer, and decided to upload a few. The first couple are of Dublin and London (well, you can't see London, but she's there!) when they were still little kittens. I forget how small they used to be!

And the third video is of the mice we had before the cats, Moo and Molly. They were good little mice.

Dublin:

Dublin and London:

The Mice:

Yoostar Acceptance Speeches

2010-03-07T20:18:00.001-08:00

In honor of the Academy Awards, Yoostar gave their users a couple of backgrounds to make their own acceptance speech and I made a couple. This first one is a little more heartfelt than the second one.

And of course this makes no sense unless you've seen the actual award winning clip, so to make things easier for you, I've included it here:

And now for my second acceptance speech. I like to call this one, "The First Truly Honest Acceptance Speech." You know plenty of those guys want to go on stage and say this, but are afraid of the public relations problem it would cause!

Bioshock 2 Review

2010-03-06T11:34:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to write about Bioshock 2 since I started playing, but I wanted to finish up at least the single player game before writing. I'm going to try to avoid any sort of spoilers, or at least not anything that you'd learn in the first 15 minutes of playing. So if you haven't played yet, don't worry.

To sum up the game: holy crap, it's awesome!

As a background, I played the original Bioshock on PC, and got Bioshock 2 for XBox, so seeing everything in it's full Hi-Def glory was a treat.

If you don't know already, you play as a Big Daddy in this game. Or more specifically, you play as the original Big Daddy, the prototype for the others you had to fight in the original game. You start out the game a few years after the original ends, and once again various characters are leading you throughout Rapture, seeking out Sophia Lamb, who is now in control of Rapture.

In many respects, this game is very similar to the original. You still have vending machines where you can buy items and ammunition. As nice as it would be for this to be different, it wouldn't make sense in the timeline of the game, so I'm glad they kept that the same.

The developers definitely fixed up a few things in this game. First is the hacking of machines. Rather than having to link the pipes in the mini, a needle pops up, going back and forth over different colored bars. You need to stop the needle over the green or blue to hack the machine, the other colors will either damage you or set off an alarm. It's a little easier and less stressful in my eyes, but it's still not easy. Once that screen pops up, the game doesn't stop. If a splicer is attacking you, he'll keep doing it while you try to hack the machine, so stay focused.

A second thing that was nicely fixed is that both of your hands are on the screen at the same time. So if your Eve runs out, and you've switched over to your manual weapon, you don't have to switch back to the plasmid hand to refill your Eve. Just a subtle difference that makes fighting a bit easier.

The biggest change is obviously the addition of the multiplayer game. The multiplayer action takes place before the original Bioshock, right at the downfall of Rapture. You can choose a splicer to play as, and you go out into various games. There are different games, like survival of the fittest (everyone is out for themselves), civil war (you are on a team, taking out the other team), capture the sister (like capture the flag, only with the Little Sisters) and others. The characters don't seem to have any advantage over one another, but the things they say vary, so it's up to you the personality type you like.

At the end of each multiplayer match, you earn Adam. The amount you earn is based on various aspects, including the number of kills you get, picking up Adam vials in the game, killing a Big Daddy and your ranking at the end of the game. And here is where the multiplayer game gets ridiculously addictive (kind of ironic that the Adam that the Splicers all want is what the player ends up wanting so badly!).

As you earn more Adam, you move up in ranks. At each rank, you get more powerups. At each rank, you might get access to a new weapon, or an upgrade to a weapon, or a new plasmid. This only makes you more powerful, and opens up new trials for you to complete. An early trial includes killing 30 enemies with a specific weapon over time. Once you do this, you earn an extra 75 Adam. And with each rank, you just get more things to do, and more things to do it with, which keeps the interest in the game that much stronger.

To top that off, if you're playing on XBox, there are achievements to earn when you reach Rank 10, 20, 30 and 40. And to keep that competitive edge strong, you can go look at your statistics and how they compare to your friends.

So I definitely recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed the original Bioshock, or anyone who likes first person shooters that might just be a little spooky and full of mystery.

Random Act of Kindness

2010-03-04T19:51:00.001-08:00

Last night a friend and I went to the last Fresno State Women's Basketball Game. We had just got into line to buy our tickets when a guy comes up behind us and asks, "Are you buying tickets?"

"Yes, we're buying tickets."

"Just the two of you? Do you want some suite tickets?"

"Umm...no, we're ok. We like the regular seats."

"You don't have to sit in the suite if you don't want to."

"Well, are you sure?"

"Yeah, I won 4 tickets but I'm just here by myself."

"Wow, thanks!"

My first reaction was that this guy was trying to scalp some tickets, but no, he just wanted to give away some extra tickets. He was just being friendly. Maybe I shouldn't have immediately assumed he was up to something fishy, but I was so glad it just turned out to be someone doing something nice. Kind of makes me feel a little bit better about the world.

My cat likes to play fetch

2010-02-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

Don't believe me? Check out the video. That's right, video proof!

If you're curious, her name is London. Not named after the city though. She's named after Staci London, from "What Not to Wear." My wife came up with the name. She's all black, with a little patch of white hair on her chest, kind of like how Staci London's got the one streak of white hair. Anyway, enjoy!

The Shot Heard 'Round the World Follow-up

2010-02-26T09:49:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, I asked everyone what they thought of when they heard the phrase "The shot heard 'round the world." I got a wide range of responses, ranging from the American Revolution to a famous baseball game. And in a way, everyone was right. But in another, more specific way, the people who said "The American Revolution" were really right.

Don't feel bad everyone, I was wrong too. I had always associated that phrase with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, leading to World War I.

But according to Wikipedia, the term first came about in the poem "Concord Hymn," by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The poem was written in 1836 for the dedication of a monument to the men who gave their lives at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first battle of the American Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concord_Hymn).

Seems that most people remember this because of the "Schoolhouse rock" cartoon about the topic, as seen below.

Of course, to many, "The shot heard round the world" is associated with "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"

Maybe it depends on your age, or where you live as to what you associate the phrase with, but it's still interesting to see what different things people think of when they hear the same thing.

The Shot Heard 'Round The World

2010-02-25T18:16:00.001-08:00

So somehow the phrase "The shot heard 'round the world" came up the other day, and I quickly discovered that my wife and I have different events come to mind when we hear that phrase. Both events make perfect sense, so I decided to check it out online. I found that there are three largely accepted events for the phrase, and apparently it is used to refer to other events.

Without looking it up, what do you think of when you hear "The shot heard 'round the world"? I'll post later what we both thought, I don't want to put any ideas into your head.

Leave a comment with the event you think of when you hear "The shot heard 'round the world."

A Crazy Weekend in Fresno State Sports

2010-02-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had the opportunity to attend a few Fresno State Athletics events, and they turned out to be pretty exciting! And fortunately, I was able to get some video!
First up, we went to the Baseball season opener at Beiden Field on February 19, 2010. We were opening at home against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska got out to an early lead, and held it throughout the game. Fresno State did battle back a little, but found themselves down 3-5 going into the bottom of the 9th inning. Fresno managed to get a couple of runners on base, when Brennan Gowens hit this double, driving in the tying two runs!

After the double, the game was tied, and we were assured at least getting a chance in extra innings. But up next was Jordan Ribera, who basically said, "Screw extra innings. I wanna go home," and sent this pitch over the right field wall. The two-run walkoff homerun ended the game, allowing Fresno State to start out the season 1-0.

The next night, we headed out to the Save Mart Center to watch the Fresno State Women's Basketball team take on the Nevada Wolfpack. Lots of things on the line in this one. Jaleesa Ross was 3 3-pointers away from setting the school record. Fresno State could clinch the WAC regular season title with a victory. Unfortunately, Ross only hit one 3-pointer, so that record is likely to come at one of the upcoming road games.

This game was pretty similar to the baseball game. Fresno State did not start out hot, and ended the first half down by 12. But The Bulldogs obviously got something figured out at halftime. Rosie Moult scored 14 points in the 2nd half, and the Bulldogs came roaring back to win by 11 against Nevada, clinching the 2010 WAC title in the process! I got this video at the end of the game, capturing a Joh-Teena Filipe 3-pointer, and the end of the game, followed by the band playing the Fresno State Fight Song. Goooooo 'Dogs!

Overall, this was a very exciting sports weekend. I read that Fresno State Baseball beat Nebraska a second time on Saturday. The Fresno State Softball team lost to Illinois at the Stanford Nike Invitational, but then beat UC Riverside. The Baseball team is set to play Nebraska again on Sunday and Monday, and the softball team is scheduled to face Sacramento State and Stanford on Sunday. Should be exciting to see what happens!

Carl's Jr. Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger

2010-02-18T18:27:00.001-08:00

I was heading into work today, and heard an ad on the radio for the Carl's Jr. Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger. I've seen the ad on TV, bunch of tough guys at a diner, getting their steak sandwiches, one of them is making eyes at the hot girls at the next table, but then the waitress brings him his grilled cheese sandwich and seems disgusted by him. And the girls lose interest, because, after all, what kind of loser would order a grilled cheese sandwich?

But it's Carl's Jr. to the rescue! They're going to make a grilled cheese sandwich that a real man can eat without being ashamed!

I couldn't help but think, isn't this just a cheeseburger? So I decided I had to test it at lunch. I went into the local Carl's Jr. and ordered the double Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger. Apparently you can get the single patty, a double patty, or the Six-Dollar Burger version. Here is what I got:

So immediately I could tell a difference between this and a cheeseburger: this one has some sort of bread on the outside instead of a bun. But I couldn't see any other difference. Maybe a little bit more cheese?

My conclusion? This is Carl's Jr.'s version of the Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger from Jack In The Box. It was definitely tasty, maybe worth the price if I hadn't upgraded to the criss-cut fries. Multiple types of cheese, the burger, and the bread was good. Bacon was fine, but I could really handle a version that did not have the bacon. But don't expect anything fancy, or really even resembling a grilled cheese sandwich, since that should really have bread and cheese.

Just a head's up if you choose to get one, it comes with mayo on it. I'm not a fan of mayo, but I can handle it. But there was nothing else on there, so that's a plus.

Overall, I'd recommend this if you enjoy a good cheeseburger. And before you go, print out this coupon for $1 off the combo from Carl's Jr.'s website:
http://www.carlsjr.com/promotions/coupon/one-dollar-off-gcbb-combo/

Yoostar Valentine's Day Contest

2010-02-17T21:49:00.000-08:00

So Erin and I got in a couple entries of our own for the Yoostar Valentine's Day contest, and managed to get second place! Check out the full list of winners here:

http://yoostar.blogspot.com/2010/02/2010-valentines-day-video-contest.html

And here is the video that we made:

Bowling a nearly perfect game

2010-02-17T21:41:00.000-08:00

A buddy of mine bowled his highest game of his career last night: a 298. Join in with the excitement with this video of the 10th frame:

Shot February 16, 2010 at AMF Rodeo Lanes in Clovis, CA

Yoostar Valentine's Day Contest #2

2010-02-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

In another of or entries for the Yooostar Valentine's Day contest, we see what happens when movie villains like Jigsaw from "Saw" and Ghost Face from "Scream" bump into each other on vacation.
Personally, I think this is one of the funniest clips we've done on Yoostar. Enjoy!

Yoostar Valentine's Contest

2010-02-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

So the folks over at Yoostar are having a Valentine's Day Contest. Here is one of our entries for the contest, where we see Jason Voorhees finding love.

Tim Tebow's Super Bowl Ad

2010-02-08T18:25:00.000-08:00

So leading up to the Super Bowl, I heard lots about Tim Tebow's ad, how it was supposed to be very pro-life/anti-abortion. I don't know the full story, but my understanding is that his mom had some complications with his pregnancy, was told she might die if she went through with the pregnancy, but went through with it anyway.

Now I heard a lot about how it was very controversial that this commercial would air during the Super Bowl. I don't know how upset people actually were, or bothered by the idea, but I certainly saw lots of headlines about it.

Now that I've seen the ad, all I can think is, "Really? That's it?" I mean, I half expected him to be firebombing an abortion clinic or something the way people were carrying on about this. But the ad was very simple, with Tebow's mom telling a little story, and him running in to "tackle" her, adding a little humor to the scene.

I don't support "Focus on the Family," I do think a woman should have a right to decide what to do, especially in the case of her life being at risk as well, but really, this ad was no big deal. I don't know what the big deal is or was about it.
So good for Tim Tebow, standing up for what he believes in, even if some might find it controversial. And again, what was the big deal?

If you haven't seen the ad, here it is. This is the best copy I could find:

Auto tune the Coaches

2010-01-26T21:50:00.001-08:00

Awesome remix by DJ Steve Porter of NFL coach rants:

Cindy McCain shows support for gay marriage

2010-01-22T23:17:00.001-08:00

Opponents to California's Proposition 8 are welcoming support from Cindy McCain, the wife of Republican Presidential candidate John McCain. I do tend to agree that maybe Prop 8 wouldn't have passed if more big names had come out against it ahead of the election. Seems like there were a lot more people coming out against the proposition after the gay marriage ban had already passed.

Read more from the LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/01/proposition-8-opponents-cindy-mccain-same-sex-marriage-ad.html

Random Thoughts

2009-12-18T15:07:00.001-08:00

These are not my own. I got them from a friend, who emailed them from another site. So if this is your stuff, sorry. But it is pretty funny.

I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can
think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell
my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves
me.

Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to
have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and
sticks when they've invented the lighter?

Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're
going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to
be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the
direction from which you came, you have to first do something like
check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to
yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're
crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

That's enough, Nickelback.

I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This
recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never
be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't
work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically
fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all
know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards
or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

There is a great need for sarcasm font.

Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and
suddenly realize I had no idea what the f*ck was going on when I first
saw it.

I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually
becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting
90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's
laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little
bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the
only one who really, really gets it.

The other night I hit a new low at an open bar. I had already hopped
on highway blackout when, inevitably I had to find a bathroom.
Eventually I decided it was probably on the other side of the bar so I
tried to walk over there, but ran into a guy coming the other way. We
played that, Both go left, Both go right game to no avail, so I
finally put out my hand to guide myself past and that's is when I
realized, yup, that's a mirror I just tried to walk through. And the
guy on the other side is me. Even cats can recognize their own image.

How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than
take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear
your computer history if you die.

The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the
spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

Was learning cursive really necessary?

Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron
test is absolutely petrifying.

My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads.
Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired
about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us."
Classy, bro.

Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all
I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod
and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up
to prevent a d*ck from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in'
examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete
idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and
said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and
instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I
know how to get out of my neighborhood.

I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the
shower first and THEN turn on the water.

Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty,
and you can wear them forever.

I would like to officially coin the phrase 'catching the swine flu' to
be used as a way to make fun of a friend for hooking up with an
overweight woman. Example: "Dave caught the swine flu last night."

I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

Bad decisions make good stories

Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their
profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got
the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if
I do!

If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would
probably just be completely invisible.

Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go
around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly
nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be
a problem....

You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work
when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything
productive for the rest of the day.

Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't
want to have to restart my collection.

There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are
going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me
if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I
swear I did not make any changes to.

"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching
TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge
me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching
this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the
room. Will we still be friends after this?'

While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China
and USA. No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that
when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?
Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and
goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone
and run away?

I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing
anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she
hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light
internet stalking.

I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle,
then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising
speed for pedophiles...

As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers,
but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not
know what time it is.

It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to
answer when they call.

I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, I
find out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from
the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.

Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

It really pisses me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the
link takes me to a video instead of text.

I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they
drive behind obeys the speed limit.

I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or
Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw
they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words,
someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think
about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people
eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by
myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat bastard
before dinner

Playing some DJ Hero

2009-11-22T15:16:00.000-08:00

A video of me playing a little DJ Hero.

Kevin Goessling Game Winning Field Goal

2009-11-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

Fresno State Kicker Kevin Goessling hits a game-winning Field Goal as time expires against Louisiana Tech at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, CA on November 21, 2009.

Hungry, hungry kitties

2009-10-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

I was feeding the cats last night, and they just couldn't wait to help me clean up!

Performing Psycho on Yoostar

2009-10-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a clip of me performing as Norman Bates in a clip from "Psycho," using the Yoostar system:

Heads Will Roll (iPod & iPhone app)

2009-10-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

So a friend recently told me about this game called "Head's Will Roll" in the Apple app store. It's only 99 cents, and she said it was fun, so I figured a dollar was worth a try. In the game you start with a head with various different faces to choose from, and it just falls down. You tilt your device back and forth to make it roll different directions, and go through the openings to continue falling. You get points for each level your head falls down. You lose when your head is caught at the top of the falling screen. You can collect extra heads to get more points, and give yourself that extra head in case one gets caught at the top. There are clocks you can tap to slow down the game temporarily, and bombs that explode the levels so you fall way down and get a bunch of points.
Probably the best part for me is the leaderboard. There is a worldwide leaderboard, but you can also narrow it down geographically. At one point I had the highest score within 375 miles. So it makes it easy to keep track of your nearby friends high scores.
This game reminds me a lot of a program I had called "Falldown" on my old TI-86 that I would play during class. Definitely worth the dollar it costs to buy it. Go check out "Heads Will Roll" on the App Store.
http://www.gamespot.com/iphone/action/headswillroll/index.html

Shameless Self Promotion

2009-10-11T18:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in a long time, and I want to get back to writing some random stuff. Although I tend to just post lots of videos and other various garbage. Guess I might as well just keep that up! So for my first new post in months, here is a video that my buddy Jerry and I did on Yoostar the other night. It's a scene from the movie Saw II, and we were averaging around 500 views per hour for the first day, but that's slowed down, so I guess let's get this circulating a little more!

Update: Not sure if the embed code is working or not, so here is the address directly to the clip:
http://www.yoostar.com/performanceView.html?id=2622

A small video I made

2009-02-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

Nothing special. Just a little silliness!

It's a dog humping my computer!

I am voting NO on Proposition 8

2008-10-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

...and I hope you will too.

Why? For many reasons.

Proposition 8 discriminates against same-sex couples. The California voter's guide (http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/title-sum/prop8-title-sum.htm) states that Prop 8 "Eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry." Gay marriage is currently legal in California, this proposition seeks to amend the state constitution to take away that right.

Proposition 8 has nothing to do with education. This proposition only has to do with amending a part of the State Constitution. California already has a law giving parents the right to opt out of health and family issues being taught in class. This happens every year when sex education is taught in schools and parents are given the option to remove their kids from this section of classes. The same is already true with regards to marriage teachings in school.

Proposition 8 does not affect the tax-exemption status of churches, and it does not have an effect on people being sued over personal beliefs. Again, same-sex marriage is already legal in California, and people are not being sued over it, and churches are not losing their tax-exempt status.

Same-sex marriage in California has to do with civil marriages, recognized by the State. Religious officiants are not required to perform a marriage which goes against their religious beliefs. Proposition 8 has nothing to do with religious marriages.

Proposition 8 is opposed by various ACLU chapters of California, the major newspapers of California, the California NAACP, the Japanese Americans Citizens League, the Anti-Defemation League of Southern California, the California Nurses Association, the California Teachers Association, Service Employees International Union California State Council, Catholic Democrats of California, and various Espiscopal, Presbyterian, Jewish and Lutheran churches and groups, to name a few.

This Tuesday, I hope you will exercise your right to vote, and I also hope that you will join me in voting to protect equal rights for everyone by voting NO on Proposition 8.

I know for many of you I am preaching to the choir, and if so, I would hope you will send information to your friends and family asking them to vote to protect equality in California.

More information regarding some of the claims floating around about Proposition 8 are available at http://www.noonprop8.com/about/fact-vs-fiction

Loving the Olympics

2008-08-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Something about this years Olympics has had me mesmorized. Maybe because I'm getting older, maybe because I just enjoy sports more than I did when I was young, I don't know. But I've watched most of the Women's Volleyball matches (well, the US anyway), all of Michael Phelps races, and spent plenty of other time watching other events (including a good chunk of the women's marathon).
I'm not sure if it's the story lines, or just that the US has become fairly dominant in a few events, but it's something. Perhaps because people like Phelps, or May-Treanor and Walsh are so good, that you just have to watch. And stepping away from the US, Usain Bolt is inhuman. That guy is ridiculously fast. I'd love to see what he could do if he truly finished out a race instead of letting up.
Anyway, the Beach Volleyball finals should be on soon, so I'm off to go catch that!

We got engaged

2008-08-17T21:41:00.001-07:00

Yep. This weekend I proposed and Erin said yes. So with the house
purchased, we are now one step closer to really being a family. And
that feels good.

Sent from my iPod

Paying To See The Dark Knight in IMAX

2008-08-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

So we just got back from seeing "The Dark Knight" in IMAX. Movie's still awesome, IMAX was even awesomer.
But today told me a lot about what I think about this movie. I don't pay to go to the theater to see a movie. Unless it's something I'm waiting for (Yes, I will go to the theater for the next Harry Potter movie), I generally wait until it's out on DVD to see a movie. Well, that's the plan anyway. I usually end up waiting until it shows up on Fox or USA or something. Or I never see it.
So the point is, I don't like to pay and go to the theater for every movie that comes out (we do make it probably 6-8 time per year still), so it says a lot that we've now paid both matinee price and IMAX price to see the Dark Knight.
And I will most definitely get it when it's out on DVD.

The View From Our Seats

2008-07-30T08:19:00.001-07:00

And I found out that the Chargers will be wearing the Powder Blue Unis when we're there!

"The Dark Knight" Was Lame

2008-07-26T16:25:00.001-07:00

Do you hate me yet? Ok, so it was a really good movie. Had lots of
moments where it seemed like the movie was going to end, and I was
diappointed because I wanted it to keep going. The movie definitely
did not disappoint and was definitely worth paying theater price to go
see. So go check it out.
The type of movie I will most likely go spend the money to get the DVD
later.

Chargers Vs Patriots

2008-07-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

October 12, just got tickets to go! Woohoo!

Fresno State Wonderdogs!

2008-06-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Fresno State baseball is 1 win away from a national championship! Wednesday at 4 PM Pacific Time versus the Georgia Bulldogs!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/baseball/recap?gameId=2817602781

Making Money Online

2008-06-19T20:11:00.000-07:00

Here are a few methods which I have personally used to make a little bit of money online. None of these are going to turn you into a millionaire (unless I'm doing it wrong!), but you can make a bit of cash back.

The first and easiest is just to save your own money! Many banks now offer online-only savings accounts. These accounts are FDIC insured, and pay a much higher interest rate than your bank probably does. The only catch is that you have to access it online, you can't go into a bank, but if you're trying to save, that's OK! ING Direct offers an account currenly paying 3% interest. If you open an account with an initial deposit of at least $250, they'll give you $25, and if I refer you, I will also get $10. Email me if you want a link!
jhobolt85 at yahoo dot com

Survey are a fairly effective method to earn some money. I use 3 different programs:
SurveySavvy pays you for surveys, and that money builds in your account until you request a check. So far I've cashed out $93.50 from them. To join follow this link:
https://www.surveysavvy.com?id=2437857&action=join

The second I use is the Global Opinions Panel. Each of their surveys gives you points, and those points can be redeemed for gift cards to major retailers. I recently joined, although Erin has gotten about $40 in cards. If you want a referral to the program, email me
jhobolt85 at yahoo dot com

The third is American Consumer Opinion. They just send you a check for each survey you qualify for. I've made about $10 from them so far.
Visit http://www.acop.com/

Another I recently joined is called Ebates. This site basically is full of links to online retailers, and when you sign up, you shop through their links, and you get cash back on your purchase, up to 25%. They have lots of places like Amazon, Expedia, Orbitz, Barnes and Noble, tons of places! I just recently signed up, and haven't made any purchases yet, but it has lots of potential as I do use several of these online retailers. Sign up, and we each get $5 when you make your first purchase.
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=GEKh2U2JANeCUw%2F5rQ2mVg%3D%3D

The last site is called MyPoints. Similar to Ebates, you can shop through them, and earn points that you can redeem for giftcards. Personally, I'd rather shop through Ebates and get the cash straight back, but you can also get points just for reading a daily email, answering short surveys, and things like that. If you'd like a referral, just email me at jhobolt85 at yahoo dot com

And that's all for now. I'm thinking of doing a post soon on the pros/cons of credit cards, specifically points/rewards cards.

Healthy Air Living Week

2008-06-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here in the central valley, the local air district is starting a new program aimed at helping people change their lifestyle as a way to help reduce air pollution. As a part of the launch of this new Healthy Air Living program, they will be giving away a new Priua. To pledge to make changes in your lifestyle and enter the drawing, please visit www.healthyairliving.com
You can enter multiple ways: make a personal plede or get your employer to make a pledge for your business.

Mario Comic on Cyanide & Happiness

2008-06-06T14:23:00.001-07:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Movie Review: Sweeny Todd

2008-05-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

I'm too tired to put together a good review right now, which probably means I should do it later. But Erin and I watched this movie based on a recommendation from a couple of good friends who had seen a performance of the play in San Francisco, and I have to say: See this movie! It's awesome! I am a bit partial to good musicals, but this one was very well made, the music is excelent, the parts were well cast. We even ended up going out to buy the soundtrack. And that does not happen very often. So basically, go see this movie, it's very dark, but very well played in all areas!

The kittens!

2008-05-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

The black one is London, and the gray one is yet unnamed!

Our new kittens!

2008-05-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we don't have them yet, but we are getting them soon! Another week or so and they'll be big enough to leave their mama!

"Greening" the House

2008-05-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

My ultimate goal for our home is to have it be environmentally friendly. For a lot of things, I'm not going to go spend money just for the sake of it. For example I'm not going to rip the carpet out and put in bamboo floors just because it's "green." I think that is a bit wasteful since the carpet is already in there. However, I am going to go that type of route when it comes time to replace the carpet (which may not be all that far off). So what have we done so far?

*When we moved in, the walls needed new paint, so we used low VOC paint throughout.
*I have replaced most of the lightbulbs with CFLs, although I'm holding back on a few spots because we might be replacing the lighting fixtures. One of the fixtures uses a dimmer, and the other has small lights, so I don't want to spend a lot of money buying these replacements, only to possibly end up with different needs later on.
*We recycle just about everything. I don't even bother to take the trash out to the curb every week because we generally only have 1 bag of actual garbage.
*I just took our lawn mower into a metal recycler and ordered a new electric mower.

When we moved in, there were a few things already in place:
*All of the windows are double-paned, and the insulation is awesome (the house is only 8 years old), so the house stays nice and cool. So far we've turned on the ceiling fans a handful of times, and have not used the air conditioning at all, and hopefully it stays that way!
*Almost all of our appliances are gas-powered.

I'm sure there are other things, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head right now. What are the goals for the future?

*When it comes time to replace the carpet, I know Erin wants hardwood in a lot of places, so we'll look into an environmentally friendly approach to this.
*When the hot water heater is ready to go, I want to put in a tankless heater.
*Solar panels on the house.

Obviously that last one is considerably more expensive, and we can survive without it, so it will probably have to be a ways off.

But that's where we are right now, and kind of an idea where we'd like to head in the future.