Proof that God is a vengeful bastard

We get an absolutely beautiful day here and I'm stuck in the fucking
office!

How long does it take to get a Bluray via Netflix?

The movie Jumper has been in my queue since it was just a 'saved' title with no release date. Once it got a street date and was transfered to my queue I bumped it up to the top.

That was sometime in May. It's street date was June 10th.

Since then it been listed as "Very Long Wait" at the prime spot of my queue. Sadly, Netflix isn't getting enough Bluray discs to meet their demand (at least in Chicagoland) so the movie didn't ship to me until TODAY! August 25th.

Now, I have no idea why it would take so long to get a Hayden Christensen movie, and I fully expect it to be a 3 star movie but come on... According to timeanddate.com, 76 days!

6,566,400 seconds or 109,440 minutes or 1824 hours

And it's not the only movie with a wait...

Vantage Point has also been in my queue since before it was given a street date and it still listed as a Very Long Wait. Its street date was July 1st.

More near the top of the queue...
21 - Very Long Wait
Harold and Kumar...Guantanamo Bay - Short Wait
10,000 B.C. - Short Wait
Category 7: The End of the World - Long Wait
The Bucket List - Short Wait

Get your shit together Netflix!!

Missing Pics

As I'm sure some of you noticed... I didn't renew my .mac account in January. I may at some point join Apple's new 'Mobile Me' but in the meantime all of my older posts that had pics linked to them will not work until I edit every post and upload the pics to google. As I have almost 500 posts, this will take some time.

Fuck you WLS!

A BIG thumbs down to WLS 890 AM this morning for revealing the results of the Women's Gymnastics Balance Beam Final which won't be aired in the U.S. until this evening! I didn't even have a chance to avoid it. My alarm went off at 7am and at that very moment they spoiled it!

Assholes!

Another one I found amusing...

FAIL

Has anyone checked out the Fail Blog?

Some seriously funny shit there!!












This one gave me the giggles!

There's only one Bob Rohrman....

I guess to start my week off with a bang Bob Rohrman's Nissan decided to do something special for me after my Sentra was brought in for a recalled Master Cylinder and an oil change.

Click on the pic to enlarge. Yes. That's oil over EVERYTHING!!

They apparently didn't make the service dept. oil changers take "Oil Change 101" because one of the first things they'd learn is... MAKE SURE YOU PUT THE OIL CAP BACK ON!!!!

Lost Boys 2...

"Build a man a fire, and he's warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Edgar Frog

Better than I expected. Glad to see Edgar back.

I give it 3 stars on the Netflix scale.

A few days with the 3G...

A walk back through time shows my list of what I wanted improved in the iPhone v2.

After a few days with the iPhone 3G and almost 2 weeks with the iPhone 2.0 software, I've decided to update this list...

Apple To-Do List...
* Safari STILL needs to run FLASH and JAVA
* COPY/CUT/PASTE REALLY (Is it really that hard to program??)
* Video recording (Where the hell is it??)
* Sync "Notes" back to iTunes or something to save them off phone (cause it's STILL completely worthless to me otherwise)
* Turn keyboard sideways in any mode that requires a lot of typing... (E-MAIL)
* MMS messages
* Ability to change the "alert" sounds for incoming E-Mail/SMS (custom sounds)
* Ability to send pics from camera via e-mail at FULL res! (why the hell is Apple limiting this?)
* Ability to tether as a modem via bluetooth and/or USB
* PDF viewer needs bookmarks + searching
* Mail count indicator for multiple email accounts
* Allow iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store use via 3G

Non-Apple related...
* Gmail Push (I assume Google is working on this and it will be up when Apple fires up their Notification Service)
* Google Calendar App
* Google Reader App
* Google Talk App
* Google Mail App
* Google Docs App
* Google Notes App
* SlingBox app (SlingMedia is currently working on this)
* NetFlix app (To manage the queue)
* NetFlix On Demand app (To play their on demand library via the iPhone)

And of course I have to include these for the iPhone v3...
* LARGER STORAGE (64GB+)
* Memory card support (will never happen but a man can dream)
* User-replaceable battery (will never happen but a man can dream)
* Higher Quality Camera (3-4 megapixels seems like a nice bump)
* Notification Light for new e-mail, SMS, MMS, etc. (like the blackberry)

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Washington D.C. ban on handguns!

Read the Opinion Here.

Godspeed George...

The world has lost a comedic genius. :( I've been a BIG fan of Carlin for MANY years. I have several of his books...
Brain Droppings
Napalm and Silly Putty
More Napalm and Silly Putty
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?
... from audible.com... Since he reads them, it's like a LONG stand-up routine.

I noticed that age was catching up with him on his recent HBO special and knew his time (at least doing stand-up) was short.

I regret not spending the $95 for a personalized signed photo.

So long George... you will be missed.

Today may be a day long remembered...

...at least by me. :)

Steve Jobs should (in less than 90 minutes) announce the 2nd Gen iPhone. No idea what it will be called... iPhone 2.0, iPhone Pro, or just plain iPhone but I'm SUPER interested to find out its specs and price points.

USA Today speculates that the new iPhone will cost around $199. If that is true... that's FUCKING AMAZING!

Things I expect to see... 3G, GPS, 3+ megepixel camera, hopefully 64GB+.

In other news... (also VERY exciting to me) it is confirmed that Sling Media is working on a SlingPlayer for the iPhone!

I'm in the 100% Club...

...all that means is that I spent a LOT of time playing GTA4 and obtained 100% completion on it.

For those who haven't tried it... it's a FUN FUN game!

The Brave One

The female Death Wish.

Jodie Foster plays Erica Bain, a New York City Resident. A woman who apparently has never really considered that New York is a cesspool and law abiding citizens are sitting ducks and cannot legally defend themselves with a firearm from the large amount of bad guys in the city.

The opening setup for this movie is something every anti-gun woman should see.

Jodie and Sayid from "Lost" are walking their dog in Central Park and they are stopped by three thugs. The thugs proceed to beat Sayid to death and beat Jodie to within an inch of her life.

After physically recovering and mentally trying to deal with the loss of Sayid she decides she needs a gun for defense and peace of mind. Clearly, the reality check she received has made her realize that law abiding citizens are basically sheep waiting for the slaughter and that law abiding adults are responsible for defending themselves. Unless the police are RIGHT THERE to stop the situation all they can do is make a report and investigate AFTER the fact. Not a lot of good that does for Sayid huh?

Anyway... She goes to a local gun shop and soon learns that there is a 30 day waiting period after she gets a license. This will not help her goal of feeling safe in a scary city where lots of bad things happen.

A guy at the store privately sells her a 9mm pistol. Now I don't remember if they dude was just in the gun store or worked for the gun store. If he was just another customer I think the person-to-person sale could have been legal. If the dude was an FFL then I think what he did was illegal.

Legality's aside, she bought a Kahr 9mm pistol with a box of cartridges.

Carrying concealed (illegally since you can't carry concealed in NYC) she finds herself shopping at a bodega where a pissed off ex-husband enters the store and shoots his cashier wife to death. Unfortunately Jodie's cellphone isn't on vibrate and when the Ex hears her phone ringing he's alerted to the fact that he's not alone in the store and proceeds to try and find and kill the witness.

She doesn't give the killer the chance and she shoots him a few times in self defense, killing him. Since she broke the law (carrying concealed, possible illegal gun, etc.) she leaves the scene. Stupid gun laws aside, I believe it was a righteous shoot.

Later she finds herself on a subway with some hoodlums. They steal some dude's iPod and threaten her with a knife. She shoots the two of them dead. Again, I feel a righteous shoot.

Driven by anger and grieving her loss Jodie's character slowly becomes a vigilante. Again, the legalities of that aside, this story would have been completely different if Sayid had been carrying a gun around like he does on Lost. It could have been a legal drama with focus on the 2nd Amendment. Though, Sayid would have been alive.

Not that I'm advocating vigilantism but it's better to be judged by 12 than carried by six.

I gave it 4 stars out of 5 on the Netflix scale. (It looks really good on Bluray by the way)

Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Would you survive a zombie attack?

63%

My flaw apparently is attempting to get to my family. But I'm confident that unless it was a Class 3 Outbreak or above that I'd at least have a sporting chance of making it especially if I planned to go shooting after work (lots of guns & ammo with me)

Sonic coming to Chicagoland...

Just an FYI to those in Chicagoland...

From Crains Chicago:

Sonic Drive-In, the fast-food chain with a 1950s flair, complete with roller-skating carhops, is coming to the Chicago area.

From its headquarters in Oklahoma City, Sonic Corp. has rapidly become the fourth-largest U.S. fast-food chain after McDonald's Corp., Burger King Corp. and Wendy's International Inc. Sonic has 3,300 restaurants in 35 states. Its Illinois sites include Downstate Springfield, Pekin and Mattoon.

Sonic is scouting restaurant sites and is close to deals in suburbs including Algonquin, Vernon Hills and Lake Zurich. Company officials confirm that the first locations will open here by summer, with as many as a dozen over the following two years. For now, Sonic has no plans to come into Chicago.

"We're already inking deals for real estate in metro Chicago, and we expect to break ground on our first store by April or May," says Drew Ritger, Sonic's senior vice-president of development.

"Chicago could hold a number of stores for us, but for now, we're going to build them just one at a time. We have no target number," Mr. Ritger says. He did note that Sonic has more than 250 in metro Dallas alone.

Sonic's menu encompasses burgers, chicken, hot dogs, fries and onion rings and an extensive lineup of beverages and desserts. Sharon Zackfia, an analyst at Chicago-based William Blair & Co. who follows Sonic, swears by the company's breakfast burritos, tater tots and cherry limeades.

"I don't see any reason why Sonic won't do well in Chicago," she says. "Their breadth of beverages is far superior to what other restaurants already here offer. Items like their tater tots are simply craveable."

As my brother pointed out, the Algonquin deal is done and construction will begin soon (if not already). That will make my nearest Sonic around 10 miles instead of the 220ish miles my nearest one is now.

Edited to Add: If they do build one in Lake Zurich and they put it on Rt. 12, odds are that I will pass it every day on the way home from work!

GTA 4 Rules!!

From CNN...

It's official. Grand Theft Auto IV is a video game blockbuster, with gamers around the world buying up more than 6 million copies of the gritty, urban action title in its first week of sales.

The dual figure of unit sales and revenues makes the launch the biggest ever for video games, and one of the biggest opening weeks in all of entertainment.

Sales of the game generated more than half a billion dollars, the publisher, Take-Two Interactive, said.

"Grand Theft Auto IV's first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date," said Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick.

Analysts had long expected a solid opening for the game, which hit the stores on April 29, but none ventured sales of this magnitude.

Grand Theft Auto IV's sales surpassed those of last year's best-selling title from Microsoft, Halo 3. That title established a new, single-day sales record of $180 million dollars.

Take-Two estimates that on its first day, GTA IV sold 3.6 million copies and generated $310 million in sales, far surpassing Halo 3's performance.

Full article here.


This game's a TON of fun! Though I'm aggravated that I haven't unlocked "Algonquin" yet, I had a lot of fun stealing cars for Brucie last night. Especially the one right in front of the cops. FUN FUN FUN!

Gas Mileage

After perusing a couple Nissan forums I've read some tips on how to great the best gas mileage out of my new Sentra.

According to the sticker I should be getting...

City: 25
Highway: 33
Average: 28

I'm going to strive to get as much out of the car as I can. The Sentra has a built in computer that calculates the average MPG based on your driving. You can reset this at any point so you can calculate certain legs of your trip if you want to.

After filling up ($50) this morning I reset the AVG MPG and drove to work. Roughly 17 miles.

Here's that trip...

Obviously the less you gun it, the better mileage you'll get. But you can also gain more MPG if you try to keep the RPM's lower than you normally do. I try to keep my RPM's under 3,000 in a normal commute (parts fast [highway] parts stop & go [city])

Periodically I will post some images via my iPhone to show how well I can do.

We're near $4.00 a gallon here and that SUCKS!!

Say Hello to Sentra...

You know when Leap Year sucks?

When you're on salary and you're basically working for FREE today!