JohnA lifeBlog

JS : you know a vote not for mitt is a vote for terrorism
Me : He does have quite the presidential hairdo.
JS : its a harido i can trust!
Me : That so needs to be his campaign slogan. Mitt Romney. A Haircut you can trust.

So, I ordered a Kindle tonight. I have no idea when it’ll ship, but I figured that I owe it to myself to try it out. I read far too many books and even more blogs to not try out something like this.

Help support my addiction by clicking on my affiliate link and buying a Kindle and / or other general Amazon crap. KTHXBAI!

Hot off the presses: Judge Dale Kimball has issued a 102-page ruling [PDF] on the numerous summary judgment motions in SCO v. Novell. Here is what matters most: [T]he court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare Copyrights.

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I know, I know.

You are all sick and tired of hearing me blog about my new receiver, the Outlaw Audio 1070.  Guess what?  I don’t care.  With a product as unique and amazing as this, I fully intend to keep blogging about it as I discover new and exciting things about the product.

Tonight, I picked up a european bootleg DTS version of Moby’s I Like To Score to evaluate how well the Outlaw amp reproduced pure multi-channel audio.

Here is the deal… I have, simply put, never heard audio with such deliverance and grace.  The soundstage disappeared, and all I could do is simply close my eyes, and be enveloped in all directions by the content.  I cannot express how different this was from any other trial I embraced.  With other products, I was completely aware of the sound field being created, and it distracted me.

In the case of the 1070, I couldn’t tell where reality starts or ends.  The end result consumed me, making me long for more.  I didn’t care how large the woofer was, or what the tweeter was made of.  I didn’t think about any of those things.. I was, simply put, entranced by the quality and beauty of the audio output.  I didn’t want to leave the disc… I just wanted to keep playing “God moving over the face of the waters” over and over again.

I know, I seem like a zealot… but in a way, I am.  This receiver has changed the way I apporach movie viewing and how I approach entertaining.  I have no idea how it will change your life, but the truth is that there has never been a better chance to “step up” without breaking the bank.

Saturday was my first full day in Vegas.  I was staying in the best kept secret in Vegas… a secret so awesome, I’m not going to write the name here.

Anyway, the day started with a run to the grocery store… I bought some basic supplies, as well as an unhealthy amount of Sugar-Free Rockstar.

After breakfast and a nap, I took the shuttle to Harrah’s Casino, where I proceeded to lose like $150 on blackjack.  On the plus side, I got to know Clara (my cocktail waitress) really well, and she even gave me her e-mail address… and she’s on MySpace, but you’ll never get her address from me.

After a few hours, I was sufficiently sloshed, so I headed back to my condo and took a nap for a few hours.

I got a call around 7pm from Mom, saying that they had one hell of a travel day, and would just meet me at the MGM Grand.  We met up in the lobby, and then we all went to see the Rolling Stones concert.  While Mom & Scott thought their Austin performance was better, I had a lot of fun.

After the show, we gambled a little bit in the casino, then hired a town car to take us to the Marriage License place.  It turns out that they changed their hours, but not their website, so we were greeted with a security guard telling us that the place was closed.

That pissed us off nicely, so we asked “Zee”, our driver, to take us downtown to see the Fremont Street Experience, which was over by the time we arrived.

The saving grace was our $2.99 steak & eggs breakfast at the Golden Nugget.  It was delicious, which was surprising, as I was expecting a Waffle House style steak.

So, as you may have noticed, I’ve worked seriously on losing weight over the last 2 years. The bottom line is that I look great.

Tonight, I was out shopping, and I ran into someone who was an acquatence about a year ago. She worked at the local Quiznos’, and I ate there at least twice a week.

I ran into her and her son at Food4Less tonight. When we recognized each other, she gave me a hug. Then she proceeded to put her hands on my hips, and kept saying “WOW! You have lost so much weight”

She wouldn’t say anything else… she kept saying how good I looked. Obviously, that made an impact, and I allowed her to pursue that path.

I asked her for her phone number, to which she replied, “I so wish I could”. I asked why she couldn’t. She pointed to her son, and said “I’m with someone for him”

We smiled, and laughed, and then, *poof*, she was gone.

Will I see her again? Probably not. My last encounter was a year ago, prior to her having a new beau.

Sigh, at the very least, it gave me the confidence to ask someone special out.

So, truth be known, I’m stuck in this backwards lame town for a while.  I won’t go into details, but the truth is, I am here for at least a few years.

After watching my neighbor play in a jazz band in the local bistro, I realized a new idea.  Too many people think that there is no nightlife in the downtown area.  I mean, the town can now claim as its own the first new UC campus to open in over 40 years.

Anyway, I had an idea.  I thought it would be a great thing if I could visit the downtown establishments that have something to offer past 7pm, and give them a venue to share what they offer, and to show that there is much more at night in downtown than simply the local movie theater.  From this idea, the concept of Merced After Dark was launched.

On Friday, I went to several establishments to take pictures of their night life.  A number of the venues were excited. I was able to take a number of pictures that showcased the town’s available venues.  We had fun…

…Until I went to Starbucks.  I went inside, and asked permission to take the pictures of several couples that were there enjoying a late night drink.  They all agreed, and even asked to take my picture.

Things were going great, until a minimum wage paid employee told me that I was harassing the customers.  I replied that I asked their permissions first, and that they all agreed.  She then said I had to leave immediately.  I replied, I asked their permission.  They said yes, and that I was doing this to help bring business back downtown.  This teenage employee then said that I had to leave or that she would call the police.  I was pissed at this point, and told her she was a closed-minded bitch.  I then chose to left the premises, and talked to the CHP officers who were there buying a drink.  The agreed that I had behaved properly, leaving when asked, and not trying to make a scene.

So, here is what I ask my readers.  I am calling Starbucks corporate tomorrow.  I am going to share with their PR department that they need to better train their employees. I am spending my own time and my own money trying to promote their business, and am greeted by an ignorant minimum wage employee who has no real grasp of the big picture.

So, call Starbucks corporate.  The only number I can find for “customer relations” is 1-800-211-8307. There are probably better numbers, and hope that if you find one, you’ll post it as a reply.

As you can imagine, they will NOT be included in my new web site trying to boost the downtown economy.

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.