I blog about the pool cage place not billing me and who do I get a call from at work, the pool cage place. The lady asks if I could cut them a check for the bill and I said I never got a bill and to send me one. She asked if they could fax it to me and then come pick up the check and I said no, I did not have my check book with, mail me a bill. For some reason she seemed quite uptight about this like all of a sudden it is crucial that they get the check TODAY. I asked her why they neglected to send a bill. She said Gerald (the owner) planned to drop one off but has been too busy to do so. Oh well, that’s not my problem spend 39 cents on a stamp and send it. It’s so weird that they called me today……
We had a good weekend. One of the things on the docket was the monthly cleaning duty which for August was the spare bedroom/hobby room. This was the same room that we did the bug removal on the weekend prior so it helped cut down on what had to be done yet. We pulled almost everything out of the room, dusted, vacuumed, sorted, threw out and put the stuff back in with care. The room once again looks habitable.
It’s funny to compare the carpet in that room to the rest of the house that sees heavy traffic. The carpet in the main living area is beat down and stained all over from various pet excrement accidents over the last 5 years. In this bedroom that hardly sees a footprint the carpet looks nice and fresh like the day we moved in.
As we were putting stuff back in the closet I took a minute to notice what was hanging in there, basically coats. I have a 6 year streak of never wearing a jacket since I moved to Florida, even on days when it was clearly foolish to go without one. It’s just a thing I have going. Well anyway among the coats I saw in there was my favorite jacket of all time, my Reading Rugby jacket.
My dad played rugby for many years, he started in his early 30’s and played well into his 40’s. I never played but attended a number of games. Well one year they had these awesome, professional looking jackets made that were black and had READING RUGBY printed on the back in big, you can’t help but read me letters. My dad got me one. I wore that jacket as much as possible. I loved it and seeing it hanging there in my closet almost made me yearn for a climate where I could adorn it again on a semi-regular basis. The once big letters on the back are starting to show considerable fading, chipping and wear as the entire jacket is but I would still wear it all the same.
I think wearing the jacket made me feel like I was an athlete, it called attention to me in some way that I liked. It also was the cause of my only adult physical altercation. I am a tall guy and during the last 10 years or so a tall and beefier guy so generally people don’t want to F with me. When I am in public I sort of carry an almost grumpy, disinterested aura with me. Well one time my favorite jacket overrode all those factors.
My 1st wife and I had just left the Spectrum after watching a monster truck show. Yea I was a real motorhead in my younger days and stuff like that really appealed to me. (It still sort of does) Well you can imagine the crowd was filled with true white trash rednecks, drunk ones at that. Well as we are walking along I hear a voice yell out “Reading Rugby PUSSY!” I instantly spin around, spot a shorter guy with a “yea, I just called you a pussy” look on is face. Instantly the switch flips in my head and I give him a look of hate as I return with “F*ck you asshole” Well then it was on, the gauntlet was thrown down and he had no choice but to escalate the situation or else be deemed a pussy himself.
He comes over and gets in my face, we are exchanging insults back and forth and then all of a sudden his buddy steps in. He is more normal sized and actually seemed calmer. He and I tried to talk things down all the while the little man was off to the side ranting and raving. I told him that his buddy initiated the conflict and asked him if he would do anything different if he was me. He agreed and I thought that he was going to shuttle his buddy away and that would be the end of it. By now there was a crowd around us because even though we were calmer, it was still loud and you could cut the tension with a knife.
Well out of the corner of my eye I see the insitigator take a few steps towards me and then in a blink of an eye I am down after he plows me in the face. Instantly one of the guys that was standing by jumped on the little f’r and separated us. My wife was hysterical and had started running towards the lot. I made a split second decision to go after her instead of trying to get my hands around the neck of that little bastard. The shot to the face hurt a bit but nothing I couldn’t shake off. I got to my wife and calmed her down. I did the “reasonable” thing and we just went to the car and left. I often regretted not going back and evening the score, however it just would have lead to more badness. I have nightmares sometimes about me being in a fight with someone and my rage gets uncorked. So anyway, I like the jacket.
Saturday night we went to dinner at my favorite place, Carraba’s. I figured a rainy Saturday night, it could be pretty full but luckily we only had to wait 10-15 minutes. I hardly had time to enjoy the 2 for 1 happy hour. Ali and I had some enjoyable dinner conversation, more in depth than normal. I lamented that the waiters that had worked there for a long time were no longer around. Ali explained they probably moved on to bigger and better things. I reluctantly agreed.
After dinner we went to see Talladega Nights. I’ve heard time and again how funny it was and indeed it did look funny from the clips. However just like about every Will Ferrell movie I have ever seen, it disappointed. Yea it was amusing and funny at parts but overall it just fell short for me. Maybe I am just picky when it comes to comedies. It gets a C.
Ali recently has joined my mother as a psuedo regular blog reader. She even chimed in with her own comment on last Monday’s entry. I encouraged her to comment whenever she likes, it will add a different viewpoint to a situation. Her comment on this one was pretty funny.
Our Sunday was low key. We got up and busted out what had to be done yet in the hope that Ali could spend the afternoon just hanging by the pool. However less than a half hour after she got out there, the big clouds rolled in and it rained for the rest of the day, bummer. Ali spent a lot of time grabbing stuff for her Ipod. She was about to buy a bunch of stuff on Itunes when I suggested to her that she let me try to find the stuff and save us the money. I finally got off my ass and listed a shitload of stuff I had laying around the house on ebay. I put 10 things up and already 4 things sold. Not for a ton of dough but at least it is out of my hair and not cluttering the house anymore.
We are now a good 7 weeks or so past the installation of our pool cage and I have not yet received a bill for the balance due. I talked to Ali about it and asked if I should feel guilty about not paying a bill we did not receive, yet one that I know I am responsible for? Should I be the one to call them and say “Hey you didn’t send me a bill for 12,000” The answer we came up with is NO. The guy sat on 5 grand of my money for 7 months to do a job that took exactly one day to complete. He completed it 2 months later than he said he would, f it. If he is too disorganized to bill his customer that is his problem not mine. He has my address he has my phone number. That being said, the 12 grand sitting in our account earmarked for this expense will never be spent in eternal anticipation of that bill appearing in our mailbox same day. Well maybe if it goes like a year or so I would feel safe, dunno. Feel free to chime in your opinion on this. What would you do?
This is how my office looked for about 2 and a half weeks. On top of being wedged in the middle of my office furniture, I got to enjoy the enjoyable waft of ammonia and paint fumes for hours on end.
Yesterday I finally got a chance to get everything back in place. I really like my new layout. It gives me more usable space.
Plus now my desk faces the door instead of being jammed against the front wall. I think it is more professional. I also have a chair in front of my desk so visitors can sit in front of me like I am a psuedo authority figure. It’s funny how something like a coat of paint and rearranging what you already have puts a whole new spin on your environment. I feel better about things. One more pic.
I have ben trying to be more fiscally responsible. An example occurred yesterday. My 15 + year old mountain bike that I use to follow Ali round on as she runs had a flat front tire. I told Ali I would stop and price a tire and a new bike. My reflex instinct was “Hey the bike is 15 years old, it’s time for a new one.” I saw some comfortable looking, 3 speed cruiser style bikes for about 100 bucks, pretty cheap. I looked at the bikes for a good long time, imagining how it would be nice to have something new and unblemished. However then I looked at the parts and saw I could get a new inner tube and the tool needed to change it for less than 5 bucks. Hmmm 100 bucks and new bike or 5 bucks and the grunt work to change the tire? After some internal back and forth discussion, I spent 5 bucks. The bike is perfectly fine otherwise, why spend 100 bucks if you don’t have to?
Different people have different strengths, some people are good talkers (not me), some people are great leaders (not me), some are naturally funny, entertainers, etc etc… My biggest strength is I am a problem solver. Give me a problem, I will fix it. The bike tire thing was a perfect example.
The problem was this, Ali was doing her run last night after work but my chase vehicle had the flat tire. So I loaded up the inoperable bike and brought it along anyway and devised the plan to make Ali’s run happen. I picked up the inner tube and tools in the morning. Then I dug out an adjustable wrench and vise grips from the tool box at work and took it over to Ali’s work at 5. I knew Ali had supper duty so I had at least until 5:30 until she would be done. So using the wrench and visegrips I remove the front wheel and after some futzing around, figure out how to use the tire tools to get the old tire off. I pull the old tube off, put the new one back on, throw the tire in the back of the Sentra and drive to the gas station to fill the tube. I fill it, pop the tire back on and drive back to the nursing home, it’s 5:20. I discover I have to remove the brake pads to get the tire back on so I hurriedly remove them. The tire goes back on, is locked in and the bike is back on it’s wheels at 5:29. I am on the road with Ali and the tire completes 7 miles without issue. Problem eradicated.
The funny thing is when I have projects to do or problems to fix, I am use a very ad-lib method to do them. Many people like to work off of plans or write down or draw up what they will do. I just sort of make things up as I go. I pretty much work out of a blueprint in my head that is liquid, always changing. I built the deck in Nicki’s area that way, I built the ramp for the shed that way, I even laid the tile in the house that way. However using this method also makes me shy away from really BIG things that require you to plan and write and draw, if I can’t do it out of my head alone I probably won’t do it.
Ali ran 7 miles last night, I’m very proud of her. I wish I was running with her. My knees are definitely improving. Yesterday at the gym I did my most serious leg workout post injury and felt no pain.
Congratulations to my good buddy Rich, his wonderful wife just gave birth to their first child, Brodie early this morning.
It feels weird to me that Rich is a father now. I know Rich as my vball playing, nickname making, weight lifting partner that always has a way of making me laugh. So many of my friends and family members have become parents over the past few years. I am still one of the lone hold outs. I suppose I can experience parenthood by proxy through them.
My vball partner I play with down here has had to find other teammates since I am on the shelf this season. This past week they won BB over a team that had another guy we both know. He came up with this to give to them after they lost in embarrassing fashion. I have to give credit where credit is due, in the realm of rubbing a team’s face in it, it doesn’t get much better than this. Be sure to expand the image to full size so you can read it. 🙂
I’ve had Tivo for 4 or 5 years, it is a truly awesome device. It really does change how you watch TV. Back when I bought mine it cost around 300 bucks. With the competition from cable company DVR’s Tivo has been steadily reducing their prices. Right now they are running an awesome deal. You can get a 40 hour refurb Tivo for nothing. All you do is sign up for service which costs like 12 bucks a month. Once you get Tivo you will wonder how you went without it. TV shows literally take a third less time to watch as you can zip by commercials in seconds. You are no longer obligated to stop what you are doing at 8pm to catch your favorite show. If someone calls you while you are watching some thing you can simply pause it and begin again when you are ready.
It is very intuitive to use, even a technotard can operate it. After some time Tivo will get an idea of the sort of shows you like to watch and will look for similar shows to record for you when it has nothing else to do. See something on TV you want to see again? No problem, rewind it and play it again. If you have a home network, the Tivo can plug into it and allow you to do a huge list of things over the net.
It’s a great deal, jump in. The only favor I ask is if you do snag one, mention my email address (duf@duf.net) during check out as I will get a spiff for the referral. Tivo rocks, plain and simple.
Last night when I was taking Nicki out I was startled by a tiny snake that was on the lanai. When the light came on it scrambled towards the screen. I watched in amazement as it squeezed through a small gap in the framing. I need to get out there with some silicone and seal the pool cage up.
My office at work is still not done. Two + weeks of sitting in the middle of a mess. It’s getting old.
We got our 2006 property tax notice. Down here they reassess every single year which is absolute bullshit if you ask me. Since we bought the house in 2001 the assessed vale on our house has gone up 300%!! Yea I guess if we were going to sell and move out of the area it would be nice but since we aren’t, the astronomical assessments basically traps you in your house. If we would want to sell and move closer in we would lose the Save our Homes benefit which caps the amount of increase you actually pay each year at a smaller percentage. If we sold our house and made a lateral move into something appraisied at a similar value our taxes would be more than 6k. The people that bought our neighbors house next door live out of state and are not eligible for the Save our Homes discount meaning they are paying the FULL rate so they just got a nice several thousand dollar surprise in the mail.
It is total bullshit. There are articles weekly down here about the lack of affordable housing and how it is becoming more and more difficult to get employees to do everyday jobs because they can’t afford to live here. Yet the county has no problem with ridiculous yearly assesments where they can raise a property value more than 50% in one year (happened to us each of last two years) which cripple the ability of homeowners to move. Pile insane property taxes on top of home owner insurance rates that have doubled in one years time, auto insurance rates that increase drastically each year due to all the uninsured drivers in the state (mexicans) and sprinkle in 3+ dollar a gallon gas you have a situation where very few people can get by. Something has got to give.
One of the big appeals of moving here was the lower cost of living. That advantage has evaporated and now it is MUCH more expensive to live here than it was in PA. Over and over again I hear stories of how people are cashing in their equity here and buying homes in Arkansas/Tennessee/Georgia/Carolinas cash and restart thier lives mortgage free. If I didn’t appreciate my job as much as I do I would strongly consider it.
There was an article in the paper about the small child population in the county (under 5 years old) the other day. It said out of the 19,200 children, 9,000 were hispanics, 7,600 were white with the rest being other. It’s something that is a compass for the future, yep we will be the minority, soon. I’m no racist but I can’t help but be annoyed by our nation being flooded with people that are here illegally that are having unprotected sex and as a result are crushing a system that is already overwhelmed, resulting in the legitimate citizens having to pay for the load. Of course it all has tie ins to global warming, population increases racing out of control, yada, yada, yada… The idea that our top elected official is more interested in capitalizing on this epidemic to garner more votes instead of curbing it is just another one of the wheelbarrow full of reasons I can’t stand the man. Yep, more bullshit.
When I go to the gym I do specific body parts on each day. Some I enjoy more than others. I like chest day the most, it is the scale on which I judge my overall strength level. If my max bench is going up I deem myself as getting stronger. The only downside of some chest work is that some of the exercises need a spotter if you want to be safe. Getting stuck with heavy weight on your chest during a bench press is both embarrassing and painful. Even so I enjoy chest far more than any other body part.
Next in line would be bicep/tricep day. They are smaller muscle groups so they tire faster than chest. But your arms are normally one of the most visible parts of your workout routine so it is important to hit them hard. Bicep work is tough on my elbows but I still enjoy it somewhat.
Shoulders would be third on the list for me. Shoulders are somewhat visible and for my build I can do a decent amount of weight with shoulders. Shoulder work is pretty painful for me, especially lateral raises.
Back/Ab day would come in 4th. Back is low on the list just because it is something that you don’t really see. I realize it’s importance though in supporting all the other muscle groups so I hit it religiously. I dislike doing abs just because I hate the burning feeling in my gut doing them. I don’t do as much abs as I have in the past. Like back, having strong abs helps with everything else.
Last on the list is legs. I never have liked doing legs. Doing squats is about as uncomfortable as any exercise I do. Having that much weight on my shoulders just feels bad all over. Plus having bad knees lends itself to light legwork. If I have to miss a day at the gym during the week, legs is always the thing that gets dropped from the routine. That being said, having suspect knees ironically requires strong legs. I need to keep the supporting muscles in the legs as strong as possible to minimize knee problems. I have started to ratchet my leg work back up finally a month and a half after screwing them up at the Rumble.
Yesterday I saw a woman that does news on the local Fox News station working out. I wondered if anyone else recognized her.
I don’t think anyone rates my posts but me and that isn’t a very objective vote. 🙂
The weekend had nothing major on the schedule but somehow turned into a very busy one anyway. On Saturday I told Ali I wanted to finally get the extra computer desk and chair out of the spare bedroom and take it to the women’s shelter store to donate it. I tried selling the stuff twice in the paper and got no action. So I loaded the desk, the chair and a few other things we didn’t need anymore in the back of the truck. I put a few things that weren’t worthy of donation out by the road which were snapped up by the end of the day.
After we unloaded the stuff Ali asked if we could stop by the sneaker shop so she could get new running sneakers. We had Nicki with so while Ali went in while I stayed outside with the pooch, waiting. As I sat there on the bench I saw 5 or 6 other people go into the store. It’s a one man business so I knew I would be waiting awhile. After maybe 30-45 minutes of just sitting around I get up and walk Nicki around. I figure the walk would help me work off some of the frustration of waiting so long. Ali has never been very good at doing things fast, ya know, get in, accomplish goal, get out. Well as we came back from the walk Ali finally emerged from the store.
I still had two more stops to make, Home Depot and then Subway to grab some sandwiches for lunch. What I thought would wind up being a couple hour trip doubled in length and we didn’t get home till after 2 in the afternoon.
It was hellishly hot Saturday, the thermometer topped out just below 97 degrees. I really think I know what it would feel like to be in a broiler somedays. Well it was too hot and late in the day to have Ali mow so instead I dug into other outside work. I weeded, treated some brown spots in the lawn in Nicki’s area and then decided to try to skin one of the cabbage palms.
Skinning a cabbage palm is when you remove the cross pattern remains of dead fronds and “skin” it down to the smooth wood underneath. Doing this cuts down on the maintenance of the tree as those little fern things can’t grow on them and vines won’t climb them when they are skinned. I’ve heard time and again that mexicans skin these trees using nothing more than a machete so I figured I could do the same. I bought an 18″ machete at Home Depot, it will double as a home security device.
So I first start just pulling at the dead wood to remove the pieces that were already loose. Immediately the first pull reveals a huge nest of carpenter ants that are living inside the decaying wood. The ants are scrambling everywhere, picking up ant eggs and running for it. I feel bad ripping into the ants home but iit doesn’t stop me. I keep ripping away and soon wield my mighty machete and start hacking away. After only a few seconds I realize this is not as easy as I envisioned. The machete does not rip right through the wood and requires a lot of chopping. After a few minutes I already opened up a blister on my hand from the barrage of blows I was administering to the dead fronds. I quickly dismissed the idea of skinning a tree using only a machete as lunacy. I got out the electric chainsaw.
I dug into the tree with vigor, sending armies of ants flying. The chainsaw worked better but I had a hard time determining where the dead wood ended and the inner bark began. I also discovered that the bar oil resevoir was practically empty so I had to stop before I burned up the saw. I called it quits and left the tree in a half shaved state. I picked up all the wood I removed that was covered with ants and dumped it in the ditch. With the heat I was covered in sweat, rotting tree fibers and other assorted organic material, lovely.
I hopped in the pool to cool off and then went inside to find Ali involved in another project, cleaning out the spare bedroom/hobby room. This was the room that had the extra desk and chair in it so now that they were removed we had some room to move. Ali had complained before about how there were some dead bugs in there. I dismissed it as some dead gnats or whatever. However once she started digging into the stuff in there she found that whatever it was reproduced. We found dead bugs everywhere, in bags, in drawers, all over the place. It was f’in gross. We threw a bunch of stuff out and did a lot of sweeping.
Sunday we had to mow and do some more inside chores. Plus for fun we washed the dog, Ali gave me a haircut and did some more miscellaneous stuff. Bottomline was our weekend became much more busy than either of us had hoped.
One of the things we did for fun was I taught Ali how to play chess. Over the 2 days we played 4 or 5 games. Ali did well for a beginner however I don’t think she likes it all that much because it requires some substantial thinking which she doesn’t like to do when she is not working. It’s too bad, she is very smart and I’m sure she would make a formidable chess player.
Well that brings us to this morning. I had an 8:30 dermatology appointment so the plan was to drop Ali off at work and then go to the appointment. It didn’t take long for things to take a turn. As we were waiting to make a left turn I glance to my right and see a smaller brown dog come trotting into the road. I glance behind me and see a wall of traffic approaching. I say to Ali, “Oh my God that dog is going to get hit.” The dog was oblivious to the danger it was facing and kept trotting out. Luckily the one car saw it last second and slowed just enough to miss it. Ali said “What should we do?” Not knowing of any other options since I didn’t want to see it become roadkill, I said “Go get it…”
So all Ali had to do is open her door and call the dog. It comes running over and leaps into the car. It appeared to be a pit bull, less than a year old. He was very friendly and immediately planted himself across both of us, half on me, half on Ali. The first thing I noticed was the stink coming off this dog. It was horrible, he smelled like he took a roll in a dead animal and then finished off by jumping in shit. I immediately turned the fan speed up a couple notches to have a steady stream of air hitting my nostrils.
I asked Ali what we were going to do with this dog and she said we would just drop him off at domestic animal service where he can be claimed or adopted back out. The dog had no tags, a shabby collar and a bunch of scars on his head and back from fights with other dogs we assumed. We also discovered he had fleas as Ali picked off at least a half a dozen of them. Surprisingly Nicki made very little fuss about our canine hitchhiker.
Despite the stink the dog was cute as hell. He just snuggled up on Ali and then later came over and sat on my lap as I drove. Whenever you interacted with him his tail would wag wildly with excitement. I felt so bad for him and couldn’t believe someone would leave a dog with such a loving personality tied outside. There was a guy there when we arrived and he loaded the pooch up in the van and caged him up. The little guy sat there at attention just looking at us as the door slid shut. I felt bad and wished for a moment we could adopt him ourself. Well at least he will get cleaned up and have a shot at a better life with another owner.
So I look down at my paints that have dirt all over them from the dog and the smell that surely is embedded into them and comment to Ali how it is an exciting way to start a Monday. I dropped her off at work and headed for my appointment.
I stopped on the way to vacuum out the car in hope of removing and fleas that may have jumped ship. So I hop out, turn off the car and vacuum it thoroughly. I hop back in, turn the key, and get the dreaded CLICK CLICK CLICK. NO. I calmly turn off all things that pulled power in the car and tried several more times, no luck. Son of a bitch.
After my last attempt a guy pulled up to the gas pump in a pickup truck. I asked him if he happened to have jumper cables which luckily he did. Once I connected the cables it fired right up, awesome. I thanked the guy and headed up the road. I had a new problem, I knew I had no time to get a new battery before the appointment and I didn’t want to cancel it. So I quickly devised a plan. On the way to the doctor I stopped at a CVS and picked up a pair of work gloves and a pliers to do the swap. Then when I arrived at the doctor’s office I locked the car and just left it running. Brilliant huh?
Well of course my 8:30 appointment didn’t start until 9:05. This appointment was supposed to be a follow up screening just to make sure I don’t have anything else popping up on my skin. I was a bit put out when the nurse came in and asked what I was there for. I explained it to her. Then the doctor and another nurse came in. He wasn’t sure what he did to me before and what I was there for either so I explained to him that I had 2 things cut out of my head and this was supposed to be a followup screening.
So he looked at the 2 areas and said they looked ok. Then he asked if I had boxers on and I said yes. He told me to take off my pants and shirt so he could do the screening. The nurse was standing there in the corner the entire time. I’m not shy to disrobe so I quickly did it and stood, sat, and turned as instructed. When he turned me towards her to examine my back I didn’t look at her, I didn’t want to exchange any awkward glances.
The exam took all of a couple minutes and I was done. I went back out to my still running car and called work to tell them I had to go get a battery. I roll into the Walmart right next to work and begin the battery removal process. Even though it was only 9:30, it was already hot as hell. The sweat soon started soaking my shirt as I awkwardly used the pliers to loosen the tie down bracket and bolts that attached the wires to the battery. Thank goodness for the gloves, I would have been even more of a mess without them.
I scoot inside and get Walmart’s best battery for 65 bucks, and throw the new battery back in. The car fires up like a champ, mission accomplished. It was quite the start to my week. Hopefully things settle down from here.
Instead of playing a lot of WoW during my downtime this weekend I did some more video work. I uploaded a bunch more up to YouTube including the classic clip where I get six packed. I even created some brand new content. It is something different from my typical volleyball videos that have over the top transisition and video effects. This one is very simplistic yet might be one of the most entertaining. Click it and check it out.
My office has been getting renovated for the past week and a half or so. It’s been frustrating. They do work for a day in here and then it sits for 3 days, some more work and then sit for another 4 days. All they are doing is painting it. I have been working in here the entire time with all of my stuff stripped from the room and me sitting in the middle of the office with all my furniture sucked in around me.
I made videos out of some funny voicemails I have been keeping forever and stuck them on You Tube. When I worked at Entre/Ameridate/GE, voice mail was a big source of entertainment. We would always be passing funny voicemails around and making funny ones ourselves. I took some of the best ones and uploaded them. You should check them out. There were some classics over the years that were unfortunately lost. I wish I still had them today. Believe it or not, we don’t have voicemail here. The boss doesn’t believe in it….
The weekend should be low key. Do the housework, chill out by the pool, not much more. Sounds good to me. I’ve played very little WoW this week. The grip on me that was once vise-like is more like a firm handshake at this point.
I started digging around my computer last night, looking at my video folders and stumbled across all sorts of stuff I forgot I had. (I also discovered that my external hdd backup hadn’t worked since 2005) I found a folder of clips from a volleyball tourney a couple years back that never got put into anything, I found the 99 Turkey Bowl footage, the loud frogs tape, RC plane movies and much more. I upped a bunch of it to You Tube last night and have much more to go through. Alot of it just needs to be converted from avi to wmv format which is easy but time consuming.
I looked at some of the original, dvd quality versions of my volleyball highlight reels. They look soooo much better than what is online right now. When you run the video through a media encoder what comes out is a pixelated mess that is very hard to see online. I actually have a few dvd’s that have the original movies on them, if you want one let me know. 🙂 With some of the video filters I used, certain clips look right out of NFL films, minus the football, professional athletes and deep voiced commentator. Just on an appearance basis, the actual clip looks like something from a movie.
Anyway, I have found that the key in YouTube is to have short videos on there that get right to the point. One of things I discovered were the individual chapters of some of my original vball movies which are much better quality than the entire flicks that are out there so I am uploading them as time permits. Anyway I will post as more silly things come available.
Here is an example of a quick hitting clip of the famous Yohan the Explorer and his sidekick, Jiglet!
Last night we went over to the neighbors for a short notice birthday celebration. Before we went over I had a few pieces of raw broccoli from a vegetable tray we had. Over there I had a diet coke, vanilla cake with icing that was about and inch thick and vanilla ice cream. What a nutritous meal. 🙁
It really does change how you watch TV. Back when I bought mine it cost around 300 bucks. With the competition from cable company DVR’s Tivo has been steadily reducing their prices. Right now they are running an awesome deal. You can get a 
working in here the entire time with all of my stuff stripped from the room and me sitting in the middle of the office with all my furniture sucked in around me. 
out what celebrity this is?