JohnA lifeBlog

Right now, I’m posting this entry from the town square on my MacBook. I can actually see my home access point, so I have full connectivity.

Anyhoo, each Thursday, the town holds it’s weekly “street fair / farmer’s market”. Here is a crappy iSight photo of the event:

As you can imagine, the entire event, as usual, is overrun by high-school aged emo kids. But it’s still a nice way for me to get out of the house, if even only for one night a week.

Oh, another nice plus. My neighbor plays Bass, and I mean a REAL BASS, in a local Jazz band, and they perform right off the square each week.

Right now, the music is being interrupted by the sound of the train and its airhorn.

There is something to be said for small-town living.  Oh, and one more pic for the road:

This video reminds me of how much I enjoy investigative journalism. Watch as multiple Jiffy Lube locations scam the investigative reporting team of one of LA’s television stations.

Seems that coupon you get in the mail isn’t such a great deal after all…

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I know, I’ve not posted very frequently on either this blog, or my movies blog, but there is a good reason.

I’ve been working with several of my friends to launch an all-new blog, focused on insightful political debate by a variety of everyday citizens from a wide variety of political leanings.

This new project is called CitizenBlogs.com, and to my surprise, it’s taken off like a rocket.

If you have a political opinion, and are not scared to share it with the public, let me know, and I’ll add you to our growing list of contributors.

Okay, so most of you know what a nerd I am. If you do not, here’s a start… I bought two unique pieces of technologies… First, I bought the first DVD player ever marketed in the USA, the Toshiba SD-3100. Aside from lacking the ability to play DTS streams, it was, by far, the best DVD player I have ever owned…

…fast forward to today… I own the second HD-DVD player ever released to the North American market, the HD-DVD A1 player. Research shows that the player is really a complete computer running a custom version of RedHat Linux.

Yay for open source, but the truth is, the player is among the worst pieces of hardware I have ever owned. I use NetFlix, and no matter what HD-DVD I rent, it ALWAYS comes with a miniscule scracth or smudge, and it ALWAYS causes the player to fail. When I complain using their automated channels, I receive a non-HD version of the film. When I complain about that, they offer me an extra movie allocation. Um, neat, thanks!

I don’t want a credit… I want to watch movies that are HD on my native resolution HD projector costing almost $3,500. If I wanted upscale DVD, I could buy a $1,000 plasma at Costco… But alas, we always have to have the best, right?

JohnA

Okay, I’m moving from Blogger to Wordpress, so expect some glitches until I get it all sorted out!

Kthx.

“The present is never our goal: the past and present are our means: the future alone is our goal. Thus, we never live but we hope to live; and always hoping to be happy, it is inevitable that we will never be so.” -Blaise Pascal

I hate my past. And it seems as though lately it keeps popping up. I hate who my past made me become. And I hate the destruction my past left in its wake.

Pascal was right. At least there is hope.