Tree Trimming

They're putting in a new sidewalk out front within the next couple of weeks. It really sucks to have to dump nearly $1,000 into something so unexpected, but it certainly does need it. Today I spent about an hour trimming back the enormous evergreens along the sidewalk. I didn't really want to do it, since they form a nice barrier against idiot drunkards stumbling into our yard. Unfortunately, they need the space to work, so I trimmed them back. I think after they've finished with the walk, we're going to put up a privacy fence along the tree line. It should make it look a little nicer. There's a pretty massive pile of branches from the trimming that I had planned on shooting, but it got dark a lot quicker than I had expected. Look for it later.

Fall Cleaning

The last couple days I've spent about 2 hours or so cleaning out the garage. As many of you know, this can be a major pain, but a necessary one. In the winter, Steph likes to keep the Scion in the garage. The garage is big enough for both our vehicles, but it's better to have one side available for storage instead on trying to cram everything in there. As you can see, our garage is a pretty old construction. Old wood, no drywall or insulation, it often lets the elements in year round. As a result, there's always a lot of dirt blown in under the door and through the walls. Luckily, last weekend the town had its annual clean up day, so I was able to get rid of some of the bigger things we'd accumulated over the last year. Now all that's left is organizing the smaller things and cleaning up the dust. It should look a lot better once I'm finished.

All Screwed Up

What a day. I stayed home from work Friday, so I decided to try to go to bed early. that way, I could get up much earlier than usual, and get some things done around the house. Well, I certainly did get up earlier. I went to bed around 4:30am, and I woke up at 8:30am. I don't have any idea why, but I just woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. So here I sit, technically it's Saturday morning, 2:40 am and struggling to stay awake. I'm really afraid of going to be too early, getting up incredibly early again, and being all screwed up Sunday night when I return from work. I'm sure I'll be okay, but these sleep patterns are really annoying.

Revolutionary Results

As you all know, our cats have been having some flea problems as of late. We've used a carpet spray, vacuumed frequently, and medicated the cats. After reading several very positive reviews online, I chose Revolution for Cats for the treatment. Revolution not only kills fleas, but is also a treatment for heartworm, ear mites, hookworm, and roundworm. Yeah, it's good stuff. I've been checking Punkin about every day, and I often find one, if not several fleas on him. That was the same tonight, only the four fleas I saw were dead fleas. This is a really good sign. Hopefully the carpet spray did its job, and no new eggs will be hatching to replace the fleas that are being killed on the cats.

Favorite Shots #16: Thinking About California

I'm an uncle again! Monday night my sister Kathie gave birth to their second child, Ava Mae. She was born at 8:38 pm, at a healthy 7lbs 4oz. All these babies all over the place! My sister-in-law Melanie is also pregnant, so there will be three kids in my family separated by only a few months. All this thinking about Kathie and California got me looking through our vacation photos again. this is probably one of my favorite shots from the trip. On our last (non-travel) day there, we drove down the coast to see these massive elephant seals. We've done this before, but there were far more this year than any time before.

Today we had an appointment for another ultrasound with Steph's doctor. The appointment wasn't until 10:00am, but I wanted to go anyway so I could see baby Roach for myself. Unfortunately, the doctor decided to push the procedure back to next week, so I guess I'll have to wait until then.

Spraying

A few days back, I put an order in for some carpet spray for our reported flea problem. Every review of this stuff I read said that it was highly effective, but it's a bit costly, and you need to do it every two weeks. Add to that the cost of an effective flea medicine for the cats themselves, and it gets expensive. We bought something called Revolution, which has also reviewed well, so hopefully in a few weeks the infestation will be a thing of the past. Ah, the joys of pet ownership....

Hiding Places

Every since our cat Chloe has been having health problems, we've been forced to give her antibiotics twice a day. This is not a pleasant experience for her. It's a bitter, stinky liquid, and we have to hold her tight and force the dropper into her mouth. She's learned that we give them to her at specific times, so she's become very creative in finding places to hide in the morning and the evenings. A couple weeks ago, we were unable to find her for about three days running. We were late getting her to an appointment because she was so well hidden. Her latest, and by far the cutest, hiding spot is in this wicker basket on top of our kitchen cabinets. She's so little, that when she lays down inside it, you can barely see her. Little stinker.

Sunday Rush Hour

Sundays lately have been seriously rushed. With 3+ hours sitting in front of the tube watching football, and work forcing us to come in 2 hours early every Sunday, it seems on these short weekends as if I don't even get a day off. They used to ask for volunteers on Sunday night, but after two weeks of not getting enough people, they started making it mandatory for third shift to work 10 on Sunday night/Monday morning. The only positive is the first three hours of the night are double time.

Saturday Night: Burning Time

One of the very worst parts about working third shift is the nearly complete lack of things to do in the middle of the night. I mess around on my computer, watch a movie or play Xbox, but that's about it. There are so many nights that I'm tempted to go to bed about 3 or 4, but I know that if I do, I'll get up really early Sunday and completely mess up my sleep schedule. I sleep badly enough as it is, the last thing I need to do is completely louse it up. I really don't think I'll ever get used to working this shift, but it's far better than working 2nd shift. At least when the baby comes I'll be able to take care of it on the weekend when Steph's asleep.

Major News!

Okay, I admit it. I didn't take this photo. What you're looking at is the very first photograph of our unborn child. That's right, we're having a baby! We've known for a few weeks now that Steph was pregnant, but since she hadn't told anyone at work yet (except for dad of course), she asked me to hold of blogging about it until she did. So now you know! Steph had her first appointment a couple days ago, and also the first ultrasound. She's about 8 weeks along, and the due date is May 1st. As I said, we knew about this a couple weeks ago, but it hadn't really hit me until I saw this picture. I guess it was just hard to believe it was true, but there's no denying it now. It's been in my thoughts so much for the last few weeks, but for the aformentioned reasons, I couldn't really "discuss" it here. It's just a relief to be able to blog about it now.

I'm Watching You....

I'm sure at some point, you come to the realization that in a way, reading someone's blog is a truly voyeuristic experience. You really get a peek into that person's life, in a completely anonymous way. Little did you know, while you're watching me, Google is watching you! Before you lapse into paranoid delusions about "Big Brother", let me explain what I mean. Google Analytics is a free add-on for websites that tracks the traffic and gives you more information than you could ever want. Things like geographical location of users, number of hits and unique users, and even the web browser and operating system that person is using: Google tracks it all. This may seem a little intrusive, but all the data it collects is completely anonymous. It doesn't show who's viewing the site, but it does tell everything else. It's pretty amazing technology, and even more amazing is it's free!

I dropped my bad tire off this morning at Lou Bachrodt in Cherry Valley. The guy called me this morning and said they did indeed find more metal in the tire, and that they have fixed it. THANK GOD. This is the third place I've taken the damn thing, and frankly, I'm a bit annoyed that the other two places failed to find the problem. I guess I should be grateful I don't have a bent rim. That could've cost me up to $200 to replace. Good thing I don't have a car payment anymore....

Pick-Ups, Drop-Offs

I had a busy afternoon. We received a call today from our local Farm and Fleet, informing us that our mower was repaired and ready to be picked up. It's been about a week and a half since I dropped it off, and needless to say, the yard is really ready to be mowed again. I decided to make the trip to Rockford to pick up the mower. After having a cup of coffee and taking a quick shower, I was ready to go. I went outside, looked at my truck, then realized the tire I've been having problems with was completely flat. Great. On top of the mower, I now have a tire I need to drop off somewhere to be fixed. I put on the spare, then decided to just drop the tire off in the morning. After having two different places look at it without locating a leak, I think I may have a bent rim. I'll be dropping it off at the dealership in the morning, so if it is the rim, I can have a new one ordered. The mower repair was only $18 , so that was a nice end to the night. The replaced the parts, did an over-all tune-up, and cleaned it thoroughly. It looks like a brand new mower!

Thank God for iPod

To say my job can be tedious is a bit of an understatement. I work at the Chrysler plant in Belvidere, and as many of you know, it's an assembly line. The benefits and pay are great, but the work is pretty boring. Luckily, they allow their workers to use portable devices on the line. You wouldn't think something like that would make much of a difference, but believe me, it really does. I use my iPod 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. It's an absolute life saver. If I couldn't keep my mind occupied during those 8 hour shifts, I think I'd go bonkers. I listen to podcasts and audio books primarily, but occasionally I listen to music too. The privilege of using my iPod makes an ordinarily tedious job not only endurable, it actually makes it enjoyable at times. Right now I'm listening to The Bourne Identity on audio book, and I'm really digging it.

Forced Maintenance

Today we received a letter from our town president, regarding the sidewalk in front of our house. The bar next door received a complaint about the condition of the sidewalk after stepping into a hole making a delivery. The town has taken it upon themselves to get two quotes to replace the entire stretch of sidewalk on the East side of the street. No problem, right? Well, after approving one of the estimates, then then passed an ordinance requiring the residents adjacent to the construction to pay for half of the cost. Turns out our portion is going to run about $1,000. Needless to say, we weren't happy. Granted, the sidewalk does need to be replaced, but I have serious questions about the legality of the newly passed ordinance, and the timing of the whole thing. It just seems like they passed it simply to push some of the costs to the three properties and away from the Village. Unfortunately, to hire a lawyer to try to answer these questions just isn't an option. It would likely cost us far more to fight this than it would to just pay what they're asking. I just have to try to look at this from the bright side, and think how it will improve the "curb appeal" of the house when we hopefully sell it within the next couple years.

Coffee: A Tired Man's Best Friend

It's days like today that I'm grateful that I have a taste for coffee. I slept badly today, waking up about three of four times over the course of the morning. I woke up around 2 so I could watch the game, but even had I tried to slept later, it never would have happened. It seems every hill-rod in this podunk town has some sort of off-road vehicle, and they find it necessary to drive them on the road. Unfortunately, the bar is a natural destination for these people, so this afternoon was like an off road rally right outside the bedroom windows. Fun. To top it all off, we're starting early tonight, 9pm, and going 10 hours. Meh. Bring on the coffee!

Time of Year... For Beer!

I love this time of year. Most smaller brewreys are coming out with their fall brew or Octoberfest brew, and as far as varieties go, it's by far my favorite. Sam Adams Octoberfest has been my beer of choice in the fall for the last few years, but it may be facing some stiff competition this year. My favorite brand the rest of the time, Goose Island, now has a fall brew that I'm itching to sample. The only reason I didn't buy it tonight was because the Sam Adams was in the cooler, while the Goose Island was not. Last year I bought 2 cases of the Sam Adams, just so I could have it after they stopped shipping it. I was drinking it until January! I may have to do the same this year. It's a shame they don't have this variety year round.

Impatient Kitty

And now, in honor if the Unhappy Kitties, I give you the Impatient Kitty:

Unhappy Kitties

This afternoon I took yet another trip to the vet with one of our four cats. Today it was Bear's turn, but in the last few weeks we've had Chloe there three times, and Punkin there once. Cotton is the only lucky one that hasn't had to go, and that's probably for the better. Cotton, the sweetest cat you'll ever see, turns into an absolute psychopath when he goes to the vet. They all get a little crazy when you shove them into a little plastic box. It turns out Bear has a flea problem, which means they all have a flea problem. Punkin is the only cat that goes outside, so it's highly likely he brought them in. Let me tell you, it's fun to have pets, but the can be really expensive. Our vet gives us a discount sometimes. I feel like I'm buying in bulk or something.

Back For More

It's that time of year again. The baseball season is winding down, and as usual, the White Sox failed to go to the playoffs. I'm really starting to look forward to the football season starting, and I don't have long to wait. Tonight was the opening game, but the Bears first game is Sunday afternoon. After the disappointment of last year, I'm ready to start clean and feel good about my team again. This year I hope they finish the job!

Now, the bad stuff. Every day that goes by, it looks more and more likely that I'll soon be bumped back to 2nd shift. With all the movement that's been going on, all the people transferring to the Paint Shop are requesting preferred shifts, which is forcing the so called ETE employees to the bad shift. Three people were bumped last week, three more this week, so now that leaves about 4 people ahead of me. I'm likely looking at another 2 or 3 weeks on 3rd before I'm bumped. Fortunately, after I'm moved to assembly, it looks like I'll be able to return to 3rd. I just have no idea at the moment when that will be.

Prime Rates

Th Nintendo Wii launched in November '06, and since that time there hasn't been one game that I've been compelled to run out and buy. All that changed last week when they finally released the third game in the Metroid series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The first two games were released on the Game Cube, and were widely considered to be two of the best games of their time. Unfortunately for the underpowered Wii, the third in the installment simply can't hold up graphically to the competition. That being said, this is the only drawback I can see. The game is brilliant. Traditional Metroid game play is in abundance, and the new controls featuring the motion sensing Wii Remote are superb. It does take some adjustment at first, but now I can't imagine playing a Metroid game without them. If this is any indication of the quality we can expect from first party Nintendo titles, I'm really looking forward to future releases.

Favorite Shots #15: The River Walk

Back in 2005, Dad and I took a trip to San Antonio, Texas to be there for my brother Justin's graduation from basic training. He's in the Airforce, along with his twin brother Jon, and it was nice to be able to be there on that important day. I was really impressed with the city of San Antonio. It's very clean, and has a nice mix of the modern and traditional that is unique to that city. One of the city's major attractions is called the River Walk. It's really a series of shops and restaurants situated on the banks of the river, that flows through down town San Antonio. There realy wasn't much beyond restaurants down there, but it was a beautiful area nonetheless, and I really enjoyed the time we spent there. This particular area was a little outdoor theater we discovered on the far end of the River Walk area. There wasn't that many people this far down, but this was probably my favorite area. It was very peaceful and scenic.

Deflated

I've been having issues with this tire for a couple of weeks now. It has an incredibly slow air leak, so every few days I have to refill it. I took it in to have it patched after I noticed the problem, but the rocket scientist working at Wal-Mart (nothing else is open at 7am!) couldn't find the leak. I've decided that this week I'll have to wait an hour or so after work and take it into Farm & Fleet to have it patched. That way, I can drop off the busted mower to have that fixed as well. It's just so damn hard to do things like this when you sleep all day....

Labor Day, Wii Play

Tonight Steph and I had dinner at her Sister Melanie's house. The dinner, cooked by Melanie's husband Joe on the grill, consisted of the traditional fare: Brats, chicken, burgers, and all the trimmings. Before the party, Melanie asked Steph if we would bring the Wii. I thought it would be fun, but didn't think anyone would really get into it too much. Man, was I wrong. We played Wii Sports: Bowling for probably about 3 hours. Everyone from my brother in law, to Steph's mom and dad, to my 4 year old niece were playing it and having a blast. By the end of the night we pretty much convinced everyone there that they had to have one. I'm really starting to understand what Nintendo has done with this thing. They've created something totally accessible that people in any age group can really enjoy. It's no wonder they've sold 10 million of the things.

You can see the rest of the pictures I took here.

Co-Op

Okay, I admit it. I took this last night. This is the first time I've done this, but I had a lot of fun last night, and since it was the last day of the month, I was unable to blog about it. It's my blog, I make the rules, right? Right.

One of the best features of the new generation of gaming systems is the online component. For many of the newest Xbox games, you're able to play them over the internet with people all over the world. My dad bough a 360 a while ago, and lately has finally connected it. For the first time last night, he played Gears of War with me online. What fun! I have done this many times, but seeing through his eyes, it was like the first time all over again. I think he spent about an hour and a half laughing. It really makes me appreciate the lifestyle technology affords us in this country, and the pastimes we're able to enjoy.

August: In Review

Today was a big day: The end of August, the first of three days off, and some other things that I'll be talking about later.... Since this is my month in review post, I'll save some of the things that happened today for later. Guess you'll just have to keep reading! Anyway, we're looking at about two more weeks until I find out my fate at Chrysler. Every part of me feels like after September 15th I'll be a full time employee, but a lot can happen in two weeks.

The (second) best part of this month by far was being able to spend a little time with my sister Kathie and her son Noah. They were only here a couple weeks, and I didn't really see them for long, but with them being so far away, I really cherish the small amount of time we do spend together. Some other events this month:

• I got the dreaded Red Ring of Death
• The mower met an untimely demise
• My truck broke down and was then repaired
• I got some nice photos on a short walk

All in all, it was a pretty busy month. I think we'll look back at this month as a big one.... Here's my favorites for the month:

Minor Surgury

Today I received three packages from my UPS guy. One contained an DVI to HDMI cable that I will use to connect my Mac to my TV, one was my replaced DS Lite, and the last one held the 2 GB of memory I bought for Steph's new laptop. I must admit, I was a little leery of trying to upgrade a laptop. I've done it many time with my desktops, but laptop architecture is totally new to me, and I really didn't want to screw it up. My fears were completely pointless. It literally took me 5 minutes. Open the panel, remove the old memory, install the new, close the panel. Easy as that! I love how computers are designed now to be easily upgraded by even the lowliest Luddites out there.

Different Views

It's fun to play around. On those ordinary, average days that I complain about so much in relation to this blog, it's a lot of fun to try and take everyday objects and shoot them in odd ways. We bought this plant a few weeks back, and I was looking at it tonight, trying to see how I can make it interesting in a photograph. What I eventually decided was to set the camera inside the pot looking up. It really makes these relatively small trees look enormously tall. It's a nice technique that can be used in a lot of different ways to make boring shots (or boring days) interesting.

Pooped

I only think it's fair that since Bear is the only of our cats that has not been featured on the blog, he should at least get on there once. It's fitting, since how he looks is how I feel today. Some days when I wake, it feels as if I hadn't slept at all. Today (and yesterday for that matter) was one of those days.

When we bought this couch a few months back, it was as if it was made for these guys. The back cushions are really puffy, and they can sink in and make little nests for themselves. Bear, since he's a little on the big side, tends to hang off a bit.

Bioshock

If you're not a gamer, look away now. Move along, nothing to see here. There's your warning, don't say I didn't give you one.

I think I may have finished one of the greatest games ever. No exaggeration. I've played a lot of games in the last 20 years, so I think that's saying a lot. the game in question is called Bioshock, and it may just be one the most influential games of this generation. Set in the underwater city of Rapture, the game begins with one of the greatest intros since Half-Life, thrusts you right into the action, and never lets up. Everything about this game is nearly perfect. The voice acting, the story, graphics, pacing; all flawlessly executed and totally immersive. This is as close to art as a video game will ever get. I'm not much of a reviewer, so I'll keep it brief by saying if you own a 360 (or a decent PC) there's no reason that you shouldn't be buying this game. If you don't own a 360, this is a damn good reason to go get one. Here's a far better review than I could ever write if you're interested.

Flooded

Last night,on the way home, I drove through a small town called Kirkland. Kirkland is about 10 miles to the west of us, and has a population of roughly 1,500 people. The reason I mention it, is because these photos are from that town. Like most of the Midwest, they've been hit hard by storms and the resulting flooding has been pretty bad. Keep in mind these photos are from today and is hasn't rained in two days. The water has receded somewhat, and the level is still high. From what I can see, there hasn't been any significant property damage, but there are some streets that are impassable. I found this out passing through at around midnight last night. If I hadn't seen someone up ahead in my lane, I likely would not have seen the water until it was too late, plowing into it at 60 mph. The signs were not out far enough to warn you in time. Today they have that street entirely closed. Here's a couple more shots: The light was pretty low when I took these, so they're not the greatest quality, but I think they get the point across.

Beautiful Day

What a gorgeous day. The long, gray days have gone and today the sky was bright and blue. The past week I've driven past these wildflowers every day, and every day I've told myself that I needed to come and shoot them. Since the days have been so gray and colorless, I was happy to see this amazing blue sky today. The sun and the blue sky really make this shot.

Favorite Shots #14: Whoah!!

This is a shot I took while visiting California in July. I haven't shown this to anyone yet, because at the time, this was a pretty traumatic experience for my sister Kathie and little Noah. The next wave coming in behind him nearly went over his head, and the surf actually began to pull him deeper down the coast. At the time it was pretty scary, but I really love this shot. The look of surprise on his face is just priceless. I felt a little ashamed because by the time I realized he was in trouble, I had snapped a couple pictures already. I really should have been in the water helping my pregnant sister, but it happened so quickly, I was taken completely off guard. He was obviously alright, and now I feel enough time has passed for me to show this to Kathie without her freaking out again. Love ya sis!

De-Bogging

From the minute I turned on Steph's new computer, it reminded me fully why I chose to make the switch to Mac. Don't get me wrong, considering what we paid for it, it's a perfectly usable computer. It needs a memory upgrade to run Vista effectively, but we've already ordered 2 GB for it, and that should make a huge difference. It just really irritates me how PC manufacturers find it necessary to bloat your system with a bunch of terrible software that you will never even consider using. I spent nearly an hour uninstalling HP software, trial versions of things I've never even heard of, toolbars for Internet Explorer that are totally unnecessary, and desktop shortcuts to web pages I'm afraid to visit. I guess it's the money from these companies that make computers so cheap, but it still irritates me to no end. It's unfortunate that most tech people suggest the first thing you do when you buy a new computer is format the hard drive and do a clean install of Windows. Since I've removed all this bloat-ware, the system runs about twice as fast as it did out of the box. Thanks HP.

Overgrown

Sometimes I let things go too long. Between the breakdown of our mower last week and the almost daily rain we've received since then, the yard ha become an overgrown mess. Thankfully, we have a backup mower, but it doesn't help much if it rains every day. This is probably the wettest August I can remember in a long time. There's flooding everywhere. Most years, the late summer usually means no more mowing. The grass burns up, and I get a reprieve from a ton of yardwork. Not this year.

Switching Back? Not quite....

No, I didn't already lose faith in my Mac and chuck it out the window. I did, however, buy this PC laptop this afternoon. Not for me, but for Stephanie! I've been talking to her for a while about getting her own system, and thanks to a pretty good deal this week at CompUSA, we pulled the trigger. I initially wanted to get another Mac in the form of a MacBook, but the cheapest MacBook is nearly $1,000. Considering how infrequently she'll be using it and for what it will be used, a more affordable PC was the way to go. Since it's running Vista, we'll have to upgrade the RAM, but other than that it was a pretty good deal! After rebates, it was $399. $400 for a laptop is pretty affordable.

Railroad, Rust, and Strays

Days like today, when I'm at a loss for something to write about and shoot, it's sometimes good to go out and just walk. It's amazing the things you see looking through the camera lens that you would never normally even look at. Tonight I took a walk down the alley alongside our house, and was surprised by what I found. It's interesting little things like this that make living in a small, old town pretty interesting. It makes me wonder how long this box has been hanging on that telephone pole. When was it put there? When was the last time it was opened? Was is its purpose? Something like this I wouldn't normally give a second glance, but looking through the lens can make it interesting. Here's a couple more:

Diverging Tastes

When it comes to food, Steph and I are really different. I think this photo illustrates that so well, along with the uneasy look on Steph's face as I'm seperating the meat. Since I work 3 out of 4 Saturdays a month, we have been buying groceries for two weeks instead of one. Being a vegetarian, Steph will buy large amounts of veggies and cut them up for the week. Not being a vegetarian, I will ofter do the same with meat, buying in bulk and freezing for later use. Since we eat at completely different times, it works out nicely. I can cook my brats and steaks, Steph can cook her tofu and hummus. Mmmmm..... hummus.

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.