.Ok, I officially LOVE my HD TV. I know that sounds goofy but it’s true. You never really know how much standard def sucks till you watch it on an HD TV and see HD right next to it. My new HD cable box/DVR came in on Monday and, while it’s certainly no Tivo, it does have some nifty features. The main one being that I can record 2 things at a time, both HD if I want. This comes in handy as Heroes and 24 are in the same timeslot and both are broadcast in HD. I am also taking advantage of the “new cable box syndrome.” You know how when a new box gets hooked up for the first time, all of the pay channels are active for a short period? Well, HBOHD and ShowtimeHD had some good movies playing so I had the DVR record them. Problem is that they tend to take up quite a bit of space.

One of the things I will miss is the ability to pull things off the Tivo to archive them on my PC. See my PC has a metric crapload of space and the Tivo allowed for transfers. While I still have the Tivo in the bedroom, it’s not the same. Ah well, maybe I can save up and get one of the new Series 3 HD Tivo’s. Right now they are just too much. In the meantime, I am going to need to hit the store sometime this week to stock up for Sunday. This will be the first time I have seen the Superbowl in HD!! Super Sweet!

Finally back to the daily grind! I know this sounds kind of funny, but after all of the holidays and travel and everything else that was going on, it’s kind of nice to get back to the norm. Don’t get me wrong, I love extra days off, but when you are trying to get some work done that you know will be taking a few days, a short week kind of un-motivates you. So no more worries about that! Things are folding back to the standard daily routine.

Andrew has started guitar practice at one of the local music stores. He really seems to like it and says that he is getting chords down pretty well. He tries to explain the transitions from A to E to C and some other things, but most of that goes over my head. I do drool over some of the drums they have in the store though. He also should be starting up with Little League again here soon. In the meantime I have been on him pretty hard about school and getting decent grades

Our recent trip to FL went really well. Both Andrew and I got to visit with Emily and see some of the local sites. We even made it down to St. Augustine to visit the main downtown area and see the Fountain of Youth. Yes, I took a drink, and no, I don’t think it’s working. I am still pretty crotchety. One of the things that I know Emily and I were both looking forward to was to just relax and spend some time together. We squeezed in a few movies on the couch and even picked up the first season of “How I met Your Mother” for her to see.

Speaking of Seasons of shows. I have recently become addicted to “Scrubs.” I am not sure why it’s taken me 5 years to find this show, but it is chocked full of funny! Katie (friend from work) has the first 4 seasons on DVD and has been loaning them to me. Sadly, I polish off all three disks of a season in usually 3 days. So if you happen to have me on your Xbox 360 list and see me “Watching a movie”, it’s probably me watching more scrubs.

On the subject of the 360, I have stepped into the 21st century! Now you know I picked up an Xbox 360 a while back. And the 360 looks great on my 32inch Sony Trinitron. But it doesn’t look Awesome. I had been wanting a new TV for a while and finally saved up the money (and found an awesome deal). Microcenter had a sale on HDTV’s and I found a 37inch LCD that fit my price range. The quality is amazing and I did quite a bit of research on it before picking it up! Even better, I paid cash! No putting it on credit! So now I am truly in the Digital Age. I got to watch “Heroes” in HD on Monday night and it was amazing. To all those people who say they can’t tell the difference, Come over, I will show you the difference!

One movie that I can’t wait till it comes out in HD is Pan’s Labyrinth. I went to see this in the theater and I was stunned. It was truly one of the most amazing films I had seen. The effects were simple yet amazing. And the story was the same. On the front it was just the story of a war and a girl, but it had so many underlying tones that I was riveted. This is a MUST SEE, but keep in mind a few things. 1: It is a Spanish film so there are subtitles. 2: It has a number of scenes that get pretty graphic. I was cringing and hiding my eyes a few times. This one is not for the kids. It goes beyond your average slasher/horror (because it’s neither one of these) but the violence is very realistic and very graphic.

So now that things are back to normal, I need to take a look at my own daily routine and see what is in my line-up. The next big event will probably be Farpoint. This would mark my 3rd Farpoint! It’s weird to think about being here for 3 years so far. With the whole military things I was always moving close to every 2 years. 2 in Okinawa, 1 in Korea, 2 in Denver, and The Pentagon had me for just about 3 years. I was also reminded of my daily (or I should say weekly) routine of pool playing yesterday. Every week I go play pool at Bungalow Billiards during lunch. This is usually on Tuesday. I almost always have the same Waitress as well, Laura. Well, I have been doing this for about 2 of the 3 years here and I was told that I was Laura’s oldest longest lasting regular that had been around the longest (there is no real easy way to phrase that)

Not sure where I was going with that run. Anyways, with the routine coming back, I will try and get back into the swing of posting more often. Oh, on that posting thing. We just passed 300 posts!!! The first post was made on January 23rd 2004! Happy 3rd year!

finally!
Originally uploaded by wizzer2801.

Snow!

It took a little work but this is how it should be! Bikers Rule!
Originally uploaded by wizzer2801.

It took a little work but this is how it should be! Bikers Rule!

You know how when you first start out in a relationship, you see everything that is wonderful about the other person? You end up spending all night talking with them and then the next morning when you wake up you remember that you were talking all night with them, but can’t really remember what you were talking about? Not that it matters much because what ever it was, it was wonderful. It’s kind of like when you just get a brand new puppy. They are so cute! The wiggle around and make cute faces, you make cutsie faces right back at them while making goo goo eyes and fuzzy wuzzy talk. (Of Course, that’s what a less than manly person would do, not me of course. Of course I wouldn’t do something like that. Did I say Of course too many times?) This is the initial phase of the relationship. Everything is puppies and kittens.

Then, before you know it, the ensign taps a control on the panel and you ware 3.7 light years from there diving into the next phase. Puppies grow out of the cute fluffy stage and start peeing on the couch and eating your good shoe. You start to notice the little things that may start to grate, and of course you, no doubt, start doing tons of little things that grate right back. This is probably one of the most important phases. The trial and error phase. It’s called that because you will no doubt try everything you can to not make any errors. The reason this phase is the most important is because this is what sets you up for that all important stage, the comfort stage. But we aren’t there yet. (cue rewind sfx)

During that first phase, all of your charm comes out and you use your natural instinct to court your mate. You say all the right things, you glace over to the dresser and all those miniature figurines of ducks all seem to be sitting daintily in a row. (Figuratively speaking) The second phase, you suddenly have it thrust upon you that you are in fact (dun dun dun dun) a human being. In learning so, your body suddenly begins to sweat, body odor becomes apparent, and instantly you have about 15 blemishes on your face that you could swear weren’t there before. But this, as much as we would like to believe, is who you really are. As much as you would like to sit in puppy stage, you advance into that awkward stage where you limbs don’t do what they are supposed to and you trip around a lot.

Even as an older puppy though, it’s still fun to get pet, you still enjoy lying on the sofa with someone you care about (even if they swat your nose again). And growing into new stages means new things. You gain a new respect for the other person because of the subtle intricacies that make them unique. You find that, because you spent all the time with them during the first phase, when they aren’t there involved in your life, you miss them. There is still a learning that goes on of course, but it’s a deeper learning. The first phase is for getting to know someone. The second phase is for learning to love someone. Yeah, it may be awkward at times, but think of all the things you have experienced in your life that was awkward. When you look back on them and how they affected your life, you realize that, you are who you are because of them. (Ok so maybe that drunken incident at my sisters wedding could have been forgotten, but that’s beside the point) The second stage is important because this is where you learn the bond that initially brought the relationship together in the first place.

Sometimes you get through the first stage slip through the second with out another glance, jumping into the comfort stage without looking. Then you realize that you never really got to know the person you are so comfortable with. They realize it too and you learn to just walk away. Other times you jump out of the first phase and hit that second stage like a ton of bricks. No matter how hard you try to make things work, they just don’t work out. Sometimes, though, just sometimes, you venture into that second stage willing and ready to learn and love and grow, and that is what makes the whole relationship worth while. The fact that even after the first stage is done, you get a random memory or thought, and it makes you smile. You think of how you would be without that someone, and it makes you sad. You wish time would fly by so that you could see them again, then you wish time would stand still so you can spend as much as possible with them. Puppies and kittens don’t stay that way forever. They grow up, and become dogs and cats. And in doing so, they become closer to you, and you never want to let them go.

That’s what love is….

Right?

Best title ever! So we made it through the holidays! Finally. Now we are on our way through 2007. With any luck, 2007 will be a much brighter and shinier year than 2006. Not to say that 2006 was bad at all. I always hope that every year is better than the last year. As I stated in one of the earlier posts, a lot of things happened. I am only going to touch on each one as writing a full dissertation would be a tad much. So, to expand on a few of the before mentioned things:

Emily came to visit over the holidays, sort of. It was before Christmas so we had our Christmas early. We also had to divide up some time as it was also her brothers Graduation ceremony from Marine Corps OCS (Officer Candidate School). He is a full up 2LT now so a huge congrats out to him! I also got some time to spend with her family and visit so that was good as well. Emily was kind enough to accompany me to my company Christmas party where she got to meet a bunch of people from my work. This is a good thing as they can now put a face to all of the stories. That Sunday we woke up and had our own little Christmas where she gave me a very cool scarf that she knitted herself! She also got me a new Jack Skellington shirt and a super cool Nightmare before Christmas Poker Kit. I got her a new locket and a camera so she can take pictures down in FL and send them.

Our actual Christmas was somewhat un-eventful. Andrew had gotten grounded right before so it kind of set us up for a less than happy mood, but I gave him a minor reprieve during Christmas day. He got a nifty new remote control helicopter, and we both got some games for the Xbox 360. Later on in the day we went to see “Night at the Museum”. It was a cute movie and didn’t get too obnoxious. After Christmas day, he went back to being grounded and I went back to being the bad guy. Aren’t teenagers fun?

Speaking of the Xbox 360. See, it was going to be a Christmas present. Really it was. I bought it a month early because I wanted to make sure we could get one, what with the console war being what it was. Apparently Microsoft made sure there were enough 360’s around to back fill the people who couldn’t find PS3’s and Wii’s. As much as I think it would be cool to get a Wii (and they do look cool), there aren’t that many games or accessories out for them yet and the market is still young. The 360 is seasoned and broken in. Not to mention the capabilities! Videos, Demos, Games, Accessories, Camera Conferencing! Needless to say, I caved in and cracked it open before Christmas. Most of the games (nearly all) stayed wrapped so I was stuck playing demos and using the media features. With the Zune software it can stream MP3’s and Videos to the TV. Anyways, if you want to find me, add gamer-tag Wizzer2801.

New years was not too bad. Over the weekend we watched all of the Evil Dead movies. That’s a right of passage every father should do for their son. Andrew was a little scared of the first movie, but once the second one kicked in, he was all about Ash. We spent the evening of New Years upstairs with Don and Jen. Andrew won at “Simpsons Life” and we proved that we all were bad at Trivial Pursuit. The next morning we watched the Rose Parade so we can see one of the most amazing things ever. 200 troopers from the 501st Legion marching in the 2007 Rose Parade! All done under the guidance of one George Lucas. Mr. Lucas actually put out a call for all of the Legion to audition marching videos for selection of 200 troopers. He then flew everyone from all over the world and put them up for 7 days in LA. Millions of viewers got to see the 501st marching in all her glory! It was indeed a proud day for the 501st. And on that note I have to say to Albin, How does it feel to know that you have changed the world? Seriously! Not many people can say that they have done something in their lives that sparked that kind of change, but you have planted a seed that has grown and taken root, and that seed has had an impact across the globe.

Now here I am, back at work and back at the grind. Things are returning to normal with the holidays past. I am looking forward to January 12th. Andrew and I are flying down to Jacksonville to visit with Emily on her own turf! While I have been to Florida before, it’s only been to Disney World. From what I understand, that’s like it’s own little state inside FL so seeing some actual parts of the state will be fun. Not to mention I will get to see it with Emily! Did I mention the Emily part? So that should catch you up! Sorry for the winter break in posting, I’ll try and get back to a normal routine.