The Freezer

I’m so tired of this snow already. Granted, we haven’t got it near as bad as the northeast but it’s all relative. I’m ready for some good 75 degree days and 60 degree nights. The best thing for a snow day is a good video game. The one I’m currently hooked on is Dante’s Inferno. Being a fan of the horror genre, I’m really getting into the atmosphere of this game. It’s all very dark and organic. Most textures resemble some sort of body tissue. The sound is just as gruesome as the graphics with haunting screams and orchestral rhythms that change with the action. So far the ONLY complaint I have about the game is the difficulty. Some enemies dish out numerous cheap shots that make battles frustrating at times. But overall, the game presents the journey through the rings of hell in a style that’s both unnerving and intriguing.

This coming week is the annual “all nighter” job at the company I work for. The job isn’t really an all nighter any more though. It’s more of a long couple of days. I work in the data processing / digital printing department so it’s my job to process the data list, setup the letter forms and manage the printing of the letter. We use 8 HP Laserjet 9000 printers and they’ll be running for about 15-20 hours straight. It raises the temperature of the room by about 5 degrees and leaves a rhythmic noise in your head for a couple days. There will be 3 or 4 people in my area at any given time loading, emptying and tubbing up the printed letters. While it’s a hard couple of days, we always have a good time and with all the layoffs and business failures that are going on now, it makes me more thankful then ever to have a job that I enjoy doing with people that are great to work with.

My wife and I love animals. And our love shows more and more as we keep bringing new animals into our extended family. The latest adoptees are a pair of brother rats named Alphi and Ralphi. They are already twice the size they were when we brought them home and are finally big enough to move into their nice multilevel cage. But not to leave any of the others out, here’s a quick rundown (in no particular order) of what we “currently” have.

2 mini schnauser/jack russel terrier mix male dogs (Squirt and Baxter)
2 jumbo rats (Alphi and Ralphi)
1 veiled chameleon (Ryland)
1 schneiders skink (Konami)
1 albino corn snake (Albi)
1 dumpy tree frog (Avec)
5 firebelly toads
1 pickerel frog
1 american bull frog
1 grays salamander
2 fish tanks with assorted guppies/snails/shrimp
and a yellow canary named Punky.

It’s really not as bad as it looks. We love each of our pets for different reasons.

Alright, this is getting old. Another day at home with this stupid cold/flu/whatever. It must be on the way out now though because I woke up covered in sweat (fever broke) and I can finally take a full breath in without the need to cough up a kidney. I guess it works out well because my company’s annual “all night’er” job is coming up and we HAVE to be there for it. This year will be especially taxing because we’ll be doing two large jobs back to back so it’s a weeks worth of 12+ hour days. Fun times…

I finally got my blog moved to a REAL hosting service thanks to my mother and father in-law. They gave me the money as a Christmas gift so no more hosting the site on my home PC. Now I just need to get in the habit of posting the day to day details of what I’m up to. I’ve been making small changes to the layout/design of the site so I figured it was time to post SOMETHING and finally have an entry in the year 2010. One thing I have yet to find is a good WordPress plugin that displays Xbox Live information, so I may try and write one soon.

Tomorrow is Christmas eve! It just doesn’t seem like it’s that time of year. I’ve talked to quite a few people that feel the same way. What’s the deal? Is it the weather? The economy? Beats me. But all I know is I have 4 days off to visit with family and friends. 4 days of good food and great company. And yes Seth, we will definitely get some gaming time in.

Emily and I went to see Avatar this morning (the 8:30am showing) at our local iMax theater. This was my first time seeing an iMax feature or a true 3D movie and it was everything my wife had been telling me it would be. The 3D was not overwhelming but added an element to the movie that I found my self relying on as the story progressed. Usually when watching a movie, I focus just at the center of the screen picking up the surrounding events with my peripheral vision, as I’m sure most people do. But if you add two or three more layers to ‘keep and eye on’, it becomes more of a challenge to keep the characters in your sites while focusing on the other events happening on screen. It was a very cool experience. So, now that the 3D impressions are out of the way, on to my thoughts of the movie itself. The best single word for the movie is INCREDIBLE. Avatar is a great movie even without the 3D feature. It’s well developed characters make you bond with them and do a great job of pulling you into their world. My wife and I are kind of nature nuts so there were points throughout the movie that made us quite emotional. We will most likely see it again before it’s gone from the theaters.

Eat a lot of food and relax but remember to take a few moments to think about all you have to be thankful for. I wish anyone who reads this a happy thanksgiving!!

Emily and I were invited to a Halloween Zombie party tonight. I wanted to make sure I took pictures of our costumes. I liked this picture with it’s weird flash and ghostly view of Emily in the background. We had fun. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

I thought it was time for a refresh on my layout. So far I like the new look even though it IS a little graphics heavy. Also noteworthy is the addition of a photos section. Right now it is pulling in all of my Flickr images but eventually (and hopefully soon) it will be full of all my photos.