Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Steph and I finaly got the chance to go to the movies tonight to see Harry Potter. We're both really big fans of the books, and we also enjoy what they've done with the film adaptations. Unlike the last movie, I really felt this time the pacing was far better. In the last movie, The Goblet of Fire, I really thought it was so rushed, that the entire movie went by in a flash. This time it seemed they hit all the important points, and there was a lot of subtlety there that those of us who read the book could really pick up on. Ever notice how Ginny looked at Cho Chang whenever they were in the same scene? Stuff like that, while they didn't spend time on in the films, is really helped by these subtle things. I also thought the magical battles were amazing. Up to this point, you really didn't see anything like that in the other films. This time, we had actual adult wizards battling, and the results were spectacular. Needless to say, we both enjoyed it very much. Great movie!

Back to New York / Crazy Penguin Thoughts

Here we go again. My DS Lite is once again making the trip to the big apple for repairs. The left hinge has cracked again, and I really don't know why. I haven't dropped it, and I treat my hardware well, but these things just seem to be defective. The customer service rep assured me that this is an isoltaed problem, abd they may send me a new system. I guess we'll see in a few weeks when I get it back.

I wanted to take a sec to write about Crazy Penguins. This place is awesome. 20 networked Xbox 360s, 2 networked PS3s, 3 Wiis, 20 networked PCs, giant projection screens for games like DDR and Guitar Hero, and a room specifically for retro systems like NES, SNES, and N64. This place really is a gamers paradise. The 360s dominate at this place, and the setup is awesome. A large room with 16 of the 360s, 20" LCDs on the walls for each system, and a comfy chair with surround sound built in and rumble in the chair as well. They have tons of games for all the systems, and at roughly $3 an hour, or $15 for an entire day pass, you can't complain about the price. I'm seriously considering trying to gather a large group to go there together and just spend an entire night there (they're open until 2am!). If anyone's interested, send me an email, and let me know if you could get any of your friends to go too. It really is an awesome place.

Crazy Penguin

Tonight before work, I'm meeting Cory and Steve (a guy I work with) at a place called Crazy Penguins. Crazy Penguins is a business in Cherry Valley that can only be described as a gamer's paradise. Not only do they have a number of computers networked for gaming, they also have Xbox 360s networked, Playstation 3s networked, and they even have pool tables! I've really been wanting to check this place out for a while, but I haven't had the chance until today. The majority of places like this really have a hard time staying open. It's really difficult to make money renting out something that everyone has in their home already (computer). However, I think that Crazy Penguins has one thing unique going for it- the networked consoles. No other place I've ever been has made an attempt to have multiple gaming systems networked together in one place. That's something you don't have at home. Granted, you can play games online from your home, but there's something uniquely enjoyable about sitting in a room with a bunch of friends, playing together. I would love to get a group of 8 or so people into this place to play Xbox for a night. Anyone interested?

Third Shift Annoyance #7: Never Enough Sleep

I've had some serious difficulty sleeping lately. Goung to sleep hasn't ben a problem, staying asleep has been. I find every day that at some point during sleep I have got out of bed and done... something. Today, when I woke up, I was dressed in the shorts and tee I usually put on when I get up. Most of the time, I usually go downstairs or just stand in the bedroom, trying to figure out if I'm supposed to be awake or not. It's pretty frustrating at times, but most days it just makes me feel like I didn't get a lot of sleep. I know this just comes with the territory working this shift, but it sure is annoying.

Trying New Things

When I first started 3rd shift, I had real difficulty getting to sleep with light streaming in through the windows. I solved that problem by buying a sleep mask to help me go to sleep. It worked quite well, but unfortunately it was so poorly made, it has already fallen apart. For some reason, when I originally went looking for these things, I didn't even check Amazon. This time, however, when looking to replace this bad one, Amazon's selection blew me away. I ordered two different masks, and I just received the second today. These thing may look goofy, but believe me, they work. Now if I could just stay asleep....

Amazing Video

I saw this video this morning and I had to share it with you all.


"I'll never in my life be as good at anything as I am at killing people"

I have three brothers in the military, and this brought tears to my eyes. Amazing video.

Oily Mess

Well, it looks like we've lost our mower. Today, while Steph was cutting the grass, the mower started spewing oil everywhere and smoking terribly. It looks as if there may be some major blowout of a seal or gasket, but I'm certainly no mechanic. I'll likely take it to a small engine repair place, but since we really didn't pay very much money for it, I don't know if it would be economical to have it repaired. It may be cheaper to buy a new one.

Favorite Shots #13: Illustrator Work

A couple years ago, I took some graphic arts courses at a local community college, Rock Valley College. Mostly I did this to improve my photography, but I had hoped eventually I'd be able to earn an associates degree in their graphic art program. Since I've changed jobs, I've been unable to continue classes there, but I hope eventually I'll be able to go back.

One of the classes I took was an Into to Abobe Illustrator. I really enjoyed the class, and the final project was to re-create a photograph in Illustrator. The photo I chose I took while Steph and I were in Vegas, and it's from the New York New York Hotel. If you've never seen it before, it's a hodge-podge structure, seemingly assembled from fragments of the New York cityscape. It's pretty tacky.... Anyway, I chose the above shot as my subject, and here's what I ended up with:The drawing is on the right side. I know this is far from professional quality, but it literally took me days of work, and I was pretty happy with the results.