Blue Skies

-Two headsets

-Apartment’s air conditioner (thankfully fixed)
- Printer

- First computer

- XBox 360… twice (disc drive first time, Red Ring second time — since replaced by Microsoft)

- Backup XBox 360 (still works, but cannot play sound or connect to net thanks to power surge)

- Second computer, modem, and router, all thanks to a power surge

- Scanner/printer

- Truck windshield

- Graphics tablet (was old)

- Oven’s heater coil

And the year’s only half over.

Brandi and I have decided that in August, we are officially going to start trying to have a baby.

The enormity of the decision hasn’t settled in yet, and probably won’t for quite a while.  But there it is — the next big step in life.

Whew.

That figures. I finally get up the creative “oomph” to start making weekly comics again, and then I go and get terribly sick. So much for keeping IG’s Friday updates, at least for this week. Oh well… guess I’m off to rest, then maybe later I can pick up some pen and paper and do something.

This one totally caught me off guard, but as I was looking around on Amazon, I saw that the new Sarah Brightman album was out!  I loves me some Sarah, so I downloaded it on the spot.  I’m listening to it right now over the television — it’s great that I can stream a ton of content from my computer to the Xbox.  So far, the album sounds great, but that was to be expected.  I’m really hoping Sarah sets out on tour soon, and makes a stop here in J-ville.  She did a show three years ago, and it was well worth the cost — one of the best concerts I’ve been to.

Also, I got a new computer last week.  This one’s called “Heart of Gold” — hope you get the reference (just think about the Improbability Drive).  It’s nothing fancy, though.  It’s an Acer, with an Athlon  64 DualCore processor, a gig of DDR2, and a 260 gig HD.  I was just going to buy the tower and nothing more, but I snagged a great deal that got me a sweet 19″ widescreen LCD screen for just $50 more.  The only downside is… Vista.  So far, most everything from my old setup works just fine, except for my scanner.  I probably spent an hour scouring the net, installing various drivers, and generally doing everything I could to get it to function, but no luck.  Right now, the work-around is connecting it to the old PC (the aptly-named “Phoenix”, for all the times it would just die and then restart about an hour later), scanning whatever picture there, and using a thumbdrive or SD card to port it to the Heart of Gold.  I’d love to get a new scanner, but finances will be tight for awhile as Brandi is quitting her job in just over a week.

Though, that’s a move I fully support.  Having worked in an office environment once long ago, I know just how soul-crushing it can be.  I’m proud of her that she lasted this long, but it just reached a point.  Luckily, we won’t be poor, but until she lands a new job (soon, hopefully), we’ll have to cut out the excess spending and such.

Huh.  There’s a song on the Sarah album where she’s singing a duet with Paul Stanley of KISS, of all people.  At least it’s not Gene Simmons… that guy just screams “assdouche” every time I see him.

Okay… back to the Call of Duty 4 review I’m writing for WotG.

In just over a week, Brandi and I will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary (on the 21st, to be precise).  Now, the only problem is deciding a way how to celebrate.  Last night, I suggested we take a trip to Orlando to go to Universal Studios (which we both greatly enjoy), but she said that we were already planning on going in the next couple of months with her sister for their Mardi Gras shindig.  Oops, forgot about that.  So… maybe we can go to Disney, then.  But then again… it’s Disney.

Today should be fun.  We’re going out to TGIFriday’s later for lunch, then over to TinselTown (a movie theater so beloved that the entire couple of surrounding blocks is known as “TinselTown”) to watch Juno.  For a movie without any explosions or kung-fu fighting, it looks like it’ll be okay.  Seems a bit too,  “everybody is too quirky and witty in their speech for their own good”.

And to top things off, the long awaited game between the Jaguars and the New England Patriots.  The Jags are going to lose, more than likely, but it should still be a great game.  Even if they do, I’m not the type of fan who gets all butthurt when a team I like loses.

Off to enjoy another beautiful winter day — sunny and 73 degrees!

The Jacksonville Jaguars are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC wildcard game tonight.  It’s halftime right now, and so far, the Jags are whoopin’ up on the Steelers, 21-7.  I hope they keep it up, ’cause I really want to see them play the Patriots next week.  That’ll be an awesome game.

SO… probably going to get the new computer next week, Friday perhaps.  I’m more than likely going to get a pre-built machine from a store, so I’m going to end up with Vista.  I’m not too thrilled with that, so I may look into some of the alternative OS’s that my Way of the Geek brethren are always talking about.

I couldn’t think of a proper title, as this post doesn’t really concern anything.  Just thought I’d pop in.

Just posted the new InnerGeek, which really isn’t new at all.  I feel kind of bad for letting the comic slide, but with UPS getting its annual avalanche of shipments for the holidays, I’ve not had the time or energy to devote to it.  At least the paychecks are looking quite good — nothing dulls the pain of a sore back and knee like 11 hours of overtime on a check.

Brandi (the missus) has requested a “romantic day” as a gift for Xmas.  Now, I’m a loving and caring guy, but I’m not a romantic.  Like most guys, I’m a practical thinker.  That’s why I bought her a new 80 gig Ipod for Xmas, since her Nano is acting screwy.  That’s how I show I care.  Roses, chocolates, candy?  It totally escapes me, but I’ll fix things around the house and get her things that serve a purpose.  You might as well ask a dog to meow, but I guess I’ll research and try and figure something out.

Geez… I’m just a little more than a year away from being thirty years old.  How’d the hell that happen?  I still feel like a punk kid sometimes.  Hell, I feel more like a kid these days when I was actually a kid, as I can now appreciate all of the cool stuff I can do.  Go figure.

Time to go to bed.  Gotta work on a freakin’ Saturday….

Poor lil’ bloggie, I’ve forgotten all about you, haven’t I?

Moving to the new apartment, the busy holiday season, and far too many good video games have really taken up a lot of my time recently.  At least with the games, I’ll have review material for Way of the Geek.

I recently got a Gamefly account, too, so I shouldn’t run out of games in the near future.  The price of one new game equals three months at Gamefly, and I get to have two games out at any moment.  I definitely think that’s worth it.  Right now, I’m going through The Simpsons Game, and should be receiving Rock Band any day now.

Hoping for a new computer for Xmas.  My current box is becoming unreliable, and last week it shut itself off right in the middle of recording WotG’s podcast.

So, here’s to keeping the blog active!  Now, I just wonder if anybody’s still reading…

Every Monday, I expect to get an Email saying that it’s my week to work on the Kids Book Project.  If you don’t know how it works, here’s the skinny.  Nearly sixty top webcomickers have been recruited to work on a book, whose proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  When the project started, one person made the first page, and the other made the last page.  There are no scripts or any other direction, it’s all up to the artists.  The next week, another duo would begin work — one make the second page, and the other making the second-to-last page.  And so it goes on, and each duo only has access to the page that came right before them.  So, once completed, the story is going to be seriously out there.

One “lucky” person, though, will have the task of bridging the two halves of the book.  As the weeks go by, the feeling that I’ll be the guy who gets to take on this unique challenge grows.  If I am, it should be fun trying to bridge the gap, as I’m sure the beginning half and the ending half will be worlds apart.  Mostly, though, I just want to get my assignment so I can stop worrying about it!

Lastly, it’s been a fun 10 days, but it’s back to the world of the working tomorrow.  I didn’t do much, I played a hell of a lot of XBox, and I probably put on a couple of extra pounds, but that’s what lazy vacations are all about!

Even though I was less than a hundred bucks from having enough to get my new TV, I caved and bought it anyway. I bought a 26″ Sanyo LCD for about five-hundred at Wal*Mart. I got home, hooked it up, and after a bit of set-up, I got it up and running.

I don’t have any HD channels, but I didn’t buy it to watch TV, really. Nope, this baby was meant for the 360. After getting that hooked up (that took a bit more trouble-shooting, but nothing difficult), I turn on the console, change my settings to Hi-Def, and load the BioShock Demo.

OH. MY. F’ING. GOD. The game looked gorgeous running on 15 year old tube, but on HD… I’m tellin’ ya, if my wife wasn’t there on the couch with me, I probably would’ve tried to make love to the TV. That just further added to my desire to get BioShock on Tuesday. Brandi even said, after she watched a bit of the gameplay, “You need to get that game”. The girl’s got taste, even if she did marry me.