This is "JC" the Kitten. His story reads backwards actually, so you may want to start with the bottom picture and read "upward" for sanity's sake.
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We took him back to JCPenney as previously arranged. We haven't heard if he's been found a home yet, I'll let you know when we hear something.
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He's attacking the tape holding together his litter pan. Anne and I were proud (and happy) to see that he instantly took to the litter pan. No messes all night! We like to think we trained him.
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This is JC attacking our bathroom cabinet door. Once he got the string he basically went berserk. Everything was a game or toy to him.
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We gave him a piece of string and he just played and played and played. He was SOOOO cute.
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We gave him food and he ate for a very long time. He must have been hungry.
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Anne and I took "JC" home for the night because the store didn't know what to do with him.
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This is "JC" the Kitten. He was abandoned with his brother "Penney" at JCPenney's yesterday.
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steve's new site

I'm trying to get some stuff done around here so this is brief. Go check out my brother's new website at www.kissingnovember.com. Make sure you use the comment form on the contact page so he knows it works ;-)

They got to her too

So Anne's taken a step out into the social networking novelty of the current internet generation. She's joined MySpace. You can see her little space here.

She didn't ask my opinion, but I gave it to her anyway. I'm not against MySpace. I just think that it's very fad-ish. I can appreciate that MySpace is one of many recent sites pushing the world wide web to a revolution (read more), but someone is going to do a similar thing in a better way and MySpace will be forgotten in a week as everyone migrates to that. I'd rather invest my time doing something more static - like blogging - which I realize is a just a tad hypocritical. (Yes that's right. I linked to my own blog to make sure you get my point.)

Perhaps I'd be less critical if MySpace did what it does better than it does it. She had been setting it up for less than an hour and was already having technical difficulties with the site. I hedged toward an "I told you so" and Anne responded with "well when are you going to write a new one?" I'll put it on my list of things to do.

I guess my other complaint is a stigma that maybe I'm alone on. I think I've heard several times from several people that MySpace was most useful for people just looking to hook up. I, for one, don't get that at all. Since when did the tried-and-true method for finding some action shift to broadcasting yourself in a public setting on the internet? What happened to attempting to meet individual people in social situations like a bar or chess club? I'm reminded of a Red vs Blue (thanks Jon) video comparing real life to internet life. Now there isn't an exact correlation within the video to this situation, but if you're intellegent you'll get my point.

Anyhow, visit her page. Click on some pictures, write her a comment, add her to your friends... or don't.

Anne and I in a little homage to our handy-work. Isn't she cute?!
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*EDIT* "She" would not be the pumpkin. "She" is Anne.

This is a shot of our pumpkins. Mine is on the left.
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Anne and I finally got to carving our pumpkins. We did it today so unfortunately it's a day late, but you get the point. Mine is on the left.
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Happiness

Happiness is finding and deleting the largest unused files on your hard drive.

Have you ever found yourself in a hard drive crunch? You may know that there are large files still hiding out on your computer that don't need to be around anymore. Perhaps you've ripped dvds to disc or done something else that takes lots of space that I can't think of right now. I've been there - today in fact. I've been hovering around 10GB of space on my hard drive and thought, "I should have more space than this. It just feels too full for what I've been doing lately."

I found a new tool called Folder Sizes which really made my day. I downloaded it on a 15-day trial, but it is fully functional even on the trial basis. If you know you've got some old files and folders around taking up a lot of space and you're feeling trigger happy with the Delete key, then I'd give this one a whirl.

It's a small download (3Mb) and unpacks quickly. Upon first run, there are several well written and placed help boxes (which I immediately clicked through). You can turn them off simply by changing a setting on each box. It works in a similar manner that you'd expect a virus checker to work. I was able to narrow my report to one hard drive right away. As the report comes back, I could see which root drive folders were largest. I picked a culprit and drilled down into the folder. Each time I did so, the report was updated with the largest subfolders and files. I found a number of installs as well as temporary files I no longer needed and in less than 15 minutes I had freed over 30GB of space.

Now there are a number of other features, but I didn't even get into them. I saw disc reports and defragmentation information. It didn't matter. I was super happy just to find the largest offenders on my hard drive and destroy them. It definitely made my day. Maybe it'll make yours.

"Doctor Tiki" Podcast

If you don't have iTunes yet, get it. I'll wait.

Ok. Now that we're all on the same page... I found this pretty funny podcast while avoiding doing other things I should be doing. It's called Doctor Tiki. It's a humorous blend of dumb antics, drinking, and hawaiian parafonalia. In short... it's an a cappella song short of a typical BCS party. The lead charcter could easily be Fetzer. I highly suggest anyone with a short attention span or a need of distractions to check out. If you have a short attention span AND a need of distra-- hey you! Focus... focus.... there. You need to watch it twice. Damn kids and their Ritalin.

suroviec's blog

Be sure to visit a fellow Dave's new blog. It's already got some fun drawings to check out. I'm sure it'll be filled with all sorts of general Dave goodness. You can visit it by directing your browsers to this url: http://davipalooza.blogspot.com/. Or you can simply use my "Friends' Blogs" section and hit up Davipalooza!

Assimilation

We live in a one bedroom apartment with some decent closet space; however, no amount of closet space is going to store all the crap we have both gathered over the past 9 years together. Anne has a vast collection of teaching references and materials - sometimes I feel like I live in a arts & crafts store. I have computer equipment and Boy Scout equipment and other general ... equipment. We both have pictures of friends and diplomas and fun trinkets to display. In all we indeed have too much stuff.

We're both are fans of a TLC show called Clean Sweep. It's a reality program (oh the reality tv) about turning horribly cluttered rooms into nice Trading Spaces-esque rooms by pitching and yard saling away much of the room's contents. (ok no more TLC plugs today) And while we're no organization professionals (you can see for yourself if you come for a visit) last night Anne and I (I think) were beginning the long road to assimilating personal belongings into "our belongings" (dun dun daaaaah).

While cleaning, I came across a number of minor epiphanies: (which I think is an oxymoron because an epiphany is supposed to be large I would imagine)

• I am a hoarder (ok that I knew way before last night)
• I have too much stuff
• I don't seem to finish things I start very easily

So after an evening's worth of work, things of hers that were pulled out are now neatly put away and things of mine are sitting in piles on our coffee table. They will undoubtedly get put back into a box or crate and put into a corner to sit and await the next day when Anne and I decided to clean house a little bit. I guess I'll never learn.

I won't lie and say I enjoy cleaning and organizing - I don't like doing it one bit. There are so many other things I'd rather do with my time ... like type in a random journal kept online for a small handful of readers. But I don't' avoid it either. I will tell myself to pull things out and tidy them up occasionally. However I don't find it cathartic like some wierdos out there who get their jollies by throwing their things out. I'm paranoid - worried I may throw out the one shred of my past that will reunite me with a fond and hazy memory. Just last night while cleaning up, I found some pictures of me when I was pretty young. (Anne says I was the cutest baby. I'll have to post a few for the reading republic to judge.) So there I was thinking about "the way it was." Now I didn't throw away pictures - that would be criminal - but I did let go of some things which had been in a trunk or crate for a long time. I don't feel any better than when I started and what do I have to show for it? One empty crate which its contents were assimilated or trashed. Now all I have is an empty crate. I still don't' know what to do with it. Oh I know... I'll just put all the crap that's on my coffee table into it and put it in a corner.

I guess that brings me to another concern. During the long process of melding properties, decisions are made. At some point some one has to decide, "Hey! Your piece of crap is not good enough. It didn't make the cut. Get rid of it. Yours is the weakest link. Go directly to jail. Do not pass 'Go.' And certainly... do not collect $200." Maybe I'm being a little sensitive to the issue, but I think that's a deeper part of it. Many people will judge you by your belongings. "Oh my God, how could she wear that?" "I've got the super-wowie-zowie newest video card in my computer." "Who's driving that Porche?" And I think trying to decide which of our personal belongings makes the grade to become our mutual belongings is also the decision that "your link to your past memory isn't good enough to stay around."

So in conlusion, since I don't know how to bring this around to a clean ending ... um ... *looking around* ... er ... LOOK OVER THERE!!! *points over there*

*runs away*

Basha Kill

If anyone reading a few days ago really wanted to know where I went hiking (the place that I couldn't spell), I've found it again. Here's a resource on the Basha Kill Wetlands. I think the father-son-dog picture here is just oh so cute too.

This picture was taken in the city of Boston the night of Jeremiah and Jen's rehearsal dinner. Heather just sent it to me. I loved it so much that I had to share it - so enjoy.
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i'm a freakin' machine

This morning I got back from a hiking trip with Scouts from Boy Scout Troop 273. That was my old troop I belonged to before I went to college. I had a great time with the younger scouts (who I had basically just met).

This was the second of two hiking trips over the past two weeks. Last weekend we went hiking to someplace I can't spell and thus cannot find any reference material online. It was 10 miles and it was good. That is all I can think of to say about that.

However this weekend we went to Sam's Point in Cragsmoor and then followed the Bear Hill Trail. Another 10 miles. It was perhaps the most challenging hiking I've ever endured. We'd climb down these steep, steep hills only to cross a stream and turn back up to get on top of the ridge. This time we stopped a 1/2 mile from our destination and camped out for the night. We woke this morning (late), packed our belongings and then head out. It was a great time. The views from Sam' Point were amazing. And we were able to visit an awesome sidestop at the Sam's Point Dwarf Pine Barrens Preserve called the Ice Caves (the picture doesn't do them justice). They are these caves created by HUGE rocks shifting when glaciers passed through and removed softer rock from underneath these larger rocks. The large rocks could not support their own weight over time and eventually cracked and created large crevices for us to walk through which we now call the Ice Caves. If anyone in the area wants to check them out, it's a 3 mile hike (quite feasible for most) round trip for some really cool sights.

In the meantime, I've shaved off quite a few pounds in the last two weeks. I hope we can get out more often because, while my feet hurt, lightening my personal load would be great :-)

I'll post pictures when available.

holy big gap since last post, batman

ok folks. I know you've been sitting very patiently with baited breath for my next post. It's been a month since my last and there has been a tremendous outpouring of concern seeking more posts on the blog. ... Actually, I'm exaggerating. There was no pouring of anything regarding anything about my blog.

But I digress...

Just a day or two ago, I got an email from our super nifty Brick City Singers super-secret alumni mailing list about the upcoming auditions for the group. (There's a not-so-super-secret super-nifty fan group here) They just put out a new video about the audition process which you can check out here. (link's on bottom of page. no direct link. don't want to anger Tom.)

I love the work done by those involved. I think it's a great selling piece for the group to potential bcs-ers. Tom was telling me that it can even be viewed on RIT's Student Government channel (15 last I heard) which is awesome. The video is fantastic at giving an informative look at what was most important to us when I was still in the group. I think it's as good a tribute to the bcs spirit as it is a sales piece. Good work!

Anne gave me props for my cooking

First off- Dave Matthews Band. "Hello Again." Great song. Get the live version with the frackin' crazy awesome drum solo in it.

Anyway, onto the meat and potatoes of the post (HA ha...)

I made this awesome dinner for Anne tonight. She and I loved it! I was a little worried while cooking it, but it tasted really good! She said I should register daveisamastercook.com. Here's a quick recipe so you can try it too:

(all hyperlinks are unique, and irrelevant ... as usual)

Chili-Orange Country-Style Ribs

Prep: 15 min; Bake 2 hr; 4 Servings

Ingredients:
3 - 4 lb pork boneless country-style ribs (I just used pork chops. Wrong cut, but it worked fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup orange marmalade (I know! MARMALADE?!?)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ground mustard
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Steps:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350.
2. Place meat in pan, sprinkle both sides with salt, marjoram & pepper. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
3. Bake 1 hr 30 mins; drain.
4. While baking, mix chili sauce, marmalade, Worcestershire sauce & mustard in small saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until flavors are blended. Stir in chives. Brush or spoon over meat. Re-foil and continue baking.
5. Bake uncovered 15 min. Brush or spoon again with sauce. Bake 10 - 15 min longer or until glazed. Serve with remaining sauce.
   

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Prep: 1 hr 35 mins; Bake 20 min; 8 Servings

Ingredients:
4 large baking potatoes (I did this with medium sized taters (creepy) and they worked fine)
1/4 to 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

Steps:

1. Pre-heat to 375. Gently scrub potatoes, but do not peel. Pierce (I know. Different spelling) potatoes several times with fork to allow steam to escape while potatoes bake.
2. Bake 1 hr 15 min.
3. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, cut lengthwise in half (parallel to the flat sides); scoop out inside into a bowl, leaving a thin shell. Scoop out potatoes using a soup spoon leaving about a 1/4 inch shell. Mash potatoes in bowl with masher or mixer until no lumps remain. Add milk sparingly.
4. Add butter, salt & pepper; beat vigorously until potatoes are light and fluffy and like a little piece of heaven. (I added that last part) Stir in cheese and chives. Fill potato shells (I like to think of them as potato boats) with mashed potato mixture. Place on cookie sheet.
5. Increase oven to 400. Bake 20 min.

The key is to start both dishes at about the same time. Get the meat in first and then wash and start the taters before moving onto the meat rub. Everything should be easy after that if you keep good time. Serve with a few orange slices on the side for some originality. It'll really match your pork.

So if you give this a whirl, let me know how it works out. Make it for your significant other. S/he'll love it!*

* Results may vary. This is not a guarantee. Void in Alaska and Hawaii.

cool link of the day

In honor of Apollo 11, Google has done something else creepy and cool. Visit Google today for their homage icon and then visit Google Moon for some awesome moon action. Be sure to zoom all the way in.

Randomness: Boston, DMV

I'm starting something new today. I don't really feel like all of this crap is worth reading in separate posts so I'll condense it into one randomness thingie and go along our way.

First up... New style, again. I wasn't feeling the other one as it broke on some posts. I opted back to a simpler style. I hope you enjoy.

Second. So excited! Sci-Fi Fridays (yes I'm a geek) return next week. I will once again have no life. It will be great. FYI if you don't know what's showing... you probably have more friends than me, but you should also know that it's Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica.

I saw Mr and Mrs Smith last night with Anne. It was a nice date for the two of us. The movie was great - if you haven't seen it, see it before it leaves theatres. Then of course we capped our night by going grocery shopping. Ah the excitement of engaged life.

This past weekend was Jen and Jeremiah's wedding. Anne and I had a terrific time in the Boston area. Their wedding was beautiful! I was one of jeremiah's ushers along with his brother Colin and childhood friend Murray. We had a great time at the reception as well. One of the nicest parts about having their wedding on July 3rd was that the next day we were in the city for Independence Day -- er i mean Independence Day. It was a really great day! We toured a little bit of the historical district. We had awesome Italian food at a restaurant hosted by a Nazi-style Italian-grandmother-esque waitress. And then there was a concert with the Boston Pops followed by the BEST fireworks display I have ever seen.

Finally I spent a good portion of today down at the New York DMV. I now officially (at least in the eyes of the Orange County Clerk) live in Goshen. *yay*

MMOs and Ad Hoc Networks

I found this interesting forum thread at gamedev.org regarding Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). It discusses (with some variation) some issues with a serverless MMOG. In the traditional sense, MMOGs depend upon a central server to send and retrieve game data. The central server would coordinate information needed from one client to be passed to another. For example, the central server would have to somehow convey that a player was passing in front of another player's line of sight.

This of course requires a lot of machines and even more bandwidth (which is probably the basis for MMOGs requiring a monthly subscription). However the thread proposes an interesting thought about removing the central server. It raises issues in security and trust, notification, scalability, and network persistence. Who would keep track of information if no one was playing? How can you trust any machine? Etc.

These issues were very reminiscent to those I dealt with in a class I took at RIT. The class was called Research in Ad Hoc Networks. We were given this scenario at the beginning of the class:

Imagine being at a sporting event - thousands of people are there. The winning score at the last second was caught by hundreds of digital cameras... except yours. You missed it. No sweat. You'll just tell your camera to talk to all the cameras in the area and get images from theirs. A network would have had to fire up without a central server. Security and trust would have to be agreed upon. And several other topics regarding this ad hoc network would need to be addressed.

Studying those topics and then reading the forum thread really felt like similar issues. Perhaps some possible solutions for ad hoc networking could be employed in a serverless MMOG. I think the topic is really interesting .. and quite daunting. But if the bulk of the reason a monthly charge exists on MMOG is due to hardware and bandwidth, this could be a possible fix for that model.

into the west

Anne and I have been dating for almost 9 years and I have never met her extended family. She's had to deal with mine from almost day-one, but I've never met hers.... until this weekend.

Anne's uncle Jon was getting married in Colorado and much of the family was coming in and getting together for the occasion. Fortunately Anne's dad Rick, Anne, and I were able to fly out as well.

It was only my second flight anywhere. And it was my first time off the east coast at all. The flying was pretty easy. On the way out, we had a layover at Charlotte. No biggie. As we landed I'm instantly looking for mountains. "Where's the Rockies? Where are the Rockies!?!" No where. It was cloudy!

We left the airport and headed to Aunt Anita's (all family references are Anne's, not mine) who was hosting the rehearsal dinner. Anne had given me a small piece of paper with a number of names and lines with relationships scribbled. It started easily enough. Rick has parents and 4 brothers with wives. Then Anne added kids. And first wives. And their kids. And then the fact that Anita is actually the bride's aunt as well... making Jon (the groom) Anita's sister-in-law as well as aunt. By the end, the scrap of paper looked more like a football play than a family tree.

So finally getting to Anita's and studied well I was ready. I met aunts and uncles and grandparents. And then I met the bride's family as well (which I was not prepared for). Rick had warned me that meeting his brothers would be a lot of "fun" for him. I was worried. I expected a bit of sophomoric pranking and humor and humiliation. They sat me down in the center of the four brothers where they began the "deee-scusion." I learned fairly quickly that the right answers were the ones that reflected their taunts, insults, and embarrassment-invoking questions with equal immaturity. Needless to say I fit in quite well.

The wedding the next day was very nice. I have never attended a Catholic wedding before, and while it was a bit longer, it was just as nice. At the reception, they served a free mimosa. Aunt Debbie unfortunately noticed that Anne and I were the first two at the table to finish ours. Oops. We slipped on that first-impression test. Anne and I had a good time dancing and such.

After the wedding, we went over to the bride's family's house for a post-reception party. It was a casual party for Jon and Lori to open gifts. Jon offered some words of wisdom in the form of jokes. And when the night was finally done, we sent them off with cans attached to their car bumper.

Sunday the Maynards got together and we continued the jokes and food. The brothers settled down a bit and caught up on happenings with each family. As they left I got several comments saying that I passed the trial and would be accepted into the family :-) Aunt Sheri said they voted and I survived. I could see how that vote would go...

"Dave"

"Someone taller"

"Dave"

"Somebody with more money"

"Dave"

... Looks like the "Dave"s win.

As the weekend drew to a close, I got to see some mountains ... which were beautiful. Colorado is a really cool place. I got to see Denver's stadiums from a distance ... which was real neat. Anne and I got some cool wedding ideas.

The flight on the way back was just fine except that we were running behind. We were on some crappy-ass plane from Pittsburgh to Syracuse which sucked, but we arrived safely.

With the weekend all over Anne, Rick, and I had a great weekend meeting/visiting her family. I hope we see a bunch of them come over for our wedding next April.

dating a developer: a female perspective

Ryan found this fun and entertaining blog entry. It's a look at dating geeks from the female side. I laughed all the way through it. I think she's got a compilation error in it (you'll see it once you read it), but her intent is in the right place.

After spending a bit too long on hacking my blog, there are some sorta-cool, sorta-new things. You'll see the NavBar up above is missing. And I've added a "Add a Comment" link right off the post - so feel free to do so. I added a "Technical BlogRoll" a few days ago in the sidebars. It's a slowly growing list of weblogs relevant to software development.

Anne and I attended a wedding for a neighbor of hers two weeks ago. Steve shot this picture of us in my backyard before going out for the night. We thought we looked hot (for once both of us look good in a picture) so I thought we'd share.
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mac podcast

Are you a mac fan? Do you have too much time on your hands? Then this podcast is for you. It's not my cup of tea, but I thought it was interesting enough to blog about for the see of readers who may be into that kinda thing.

fun weekend

Jeremiah's bachelor party was this past weekend. We had a great time. That is all I can tell you. I'm sworn to secrecy. :-D

Muse you can Use: Lite-Brite, Lite-Brite....

Muse you can Use: Lite-Brite, Lite-Brite....

I was running through a few random blogs and found this blog featuring an awesome link! I could play around with this for hours!

Eagerly awaiting Myst 5

I can't wait.
I just saw a preview of the upcoming (and supposed final) installment of the Myst series called End of Ages. I am SO excited. Apparently they had a display at E3 and I was not informed. However, GameSpy was there and did a nice preview spread on the game this week.

It's said to be a departure from typical Myst games in that it will utilize a full 3D environment (similar to a FPS) rather than 360-degree panoramas to point-and-click on. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I've loved almost everything they've done so I'm sure I won't be disappointed.

Myst 5: End of Ages is slated for a fall release and I'll be there. I've had to include a screen shot from GameSpy. I hope this doesn't make the post look crappy. Awe man!

PS: The image was too wide for my blog and the CSS they've given me doesn't conform to wide images. I've shrunk it here so you can get the jist, but I'm also linking it so you can see it as it's ment to be seen.

What I'm reading: expert c# business objects

This is your only warning, all non-geeks are likely to pass out due to boredom reading this post. Please move on or make sure you are properly seated before attempting to read on.

Did we get rid of them?
Good.

That being said, I made two purchases at Barnes & Noble's a week ago. I haven't gotten to the second book yet, but this one's a real winner. It's called Expert C# Business Objects by Rockford Lhotka.

If you work or play in Microsoft .NET (there's a really goofy pair of guys on the page when I visited it - here's the cache), I highly recommend it. This book starts at an advanced level and doesn't pander to novice wanna-be's. It attempts to cover the gap between small-time business applications and medium scale software development for businesses. I don't think this book would solve a software house's dev problems, but it would certainly handle many less involved situations.

This book has already been helpful to me and I'm only 100 pages in (out of 800). It quickly explains and shows with code included how to implement universal features of solid biz projects. It handles Remoting, n-Level Undo, Enterprise Services to name a few. Beyond discussions in each topic, Lhotka includes the source code for his Component-Based, Scalable, Logical Architecture (CSLA) which is ready to build upon with business specific logic.

I'm never very good at writing reviews or synopses so this isn't the best account of the book, but if you're in that niche and looking for a coherent place to bridge the gap that I found myself facing this is your book.

Notes:

• Thanks to Kyle for some css support from his own blog (w/o his permission :-)
• Check the sidebar links for a new addition: an old pal of mine, Ryan is now on the list.
  

shoestring budget foosball table

(Sorry for the absence. I'm sure many of you were waiting in anticipation... very quietly)

Anne and I came down from Utica (or Yucktica as Anne's friend Joe would say it) for Memorial Day weekend for a variety of reasons. On Friday, we signed our lease for our new apartment in Goshen. Yay! Today Anne and I are attending the wedding of a neighbor of hers. It's actually being held at the same church where we are getting married next April. It'll be good to see how another wedding looks in the same space. And we'll probably have a good time too :-) And finally tomorrow my family is throwing a small Memorial Day party with family and local friends. So yay to that too.

But all of this is irrelevant and has nothing to do with my post. One thing not on the agenda that happened this weekend however is the entire point of this post.

This month, the town offers one of those spring clean-up programs. You put your junk out on the curb and the town comes and takes it (and then probably eBays it for a profit). Well my brother treats this time like a free yard sale. He's out like a vulture in the night scouring for some random coolness on someone's driveway. Wednesday night before I came down Steve came across the top to a foosball table! All the players and goals were intact! It was just missing legs. Steve threw (he probably did not throw, but place) it into his new Scion xA and sped off (he probably did speed off).

Thursday night we went and got 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" beams at Lowes and some hardware at Wal-Mart. Steve went to try and find a ball for the foosball table. (Is that called a foos? Or foose maybe? Anyway...) He started at Dick's Sporting Goods. They told him that they didn't have any right now because "they were out of season." Out of season?! I didn't know there was a right and wrong time to play foosball! It seems to me that foosball is always in season. When it's nice out, you put it on the back patio (or deck) so that you can enjoy the sun. When it's crappy out (or all the time in Rochester) you keep it in the den where you can stay warm and dry. Bam! In season! No "out of season." Steve went to Modell's where they didn't have them either.

Then Steve went back to Wal-Mart. He walked in and asked someone where he could find foosballs. The guy paused at first. Steve elaborated. The guy, who now claimed to know what Steve was talking about, brought him back to sporting goods (a good start) and proceeded to hand him a canister of tennis balls. Steve was no longer amused. He didn't find any there, although I'd speculate that they may indeed be at Wal-Mart. He even went back to the house where he found the foosball table in hopes that there might be a ball on the ground.

Regardless, we went to work on our foos-less foosball table. We attached the legs using some wood screws and L-brackets as needed. After testing the height, I told him it was too tall by quite a bit. He didn't want it too low so we only cut off a few inches. We then attached small floor coasters that we hope will be able to raise and lower to level the table as desired. Finally we applied a coat of textured green spray paint so the legs would sort of match the table top.

Once dry, we leveled the table, which is actually quite level on it's own. We want to seal the paint with some sort of sealant because it's water soluable, but aside from that it's finished. We were quite proud of our work at 4:30 am on Friday morning. Mom wasn't too pleased that we were banging and drilling till then in the garage. But oh well. All totalled $25 in parts plus our labor.

Not bad for a $25 foosball-less foosball table. I'll post pictures when available.

linux pvr

So I'm not sure this PVR experiment is going to happen any time soon. I've got the plan in theory, but not the funds. I've been doing some reading and I don't think I can pull this off with the parts I have from my previous computers. This article in particular (thanks tom) indicates that I'll need a few new components. So... until I get some parts, this project is on hold. :-(

vote for the worst

Now I haven't been a big fan of American Idol in the past. I guess I'm still not, but this season Anne got me hooked on watching it. I still don't like the "results" shows on Wednesday so I usually skip them (I'm skipping one right now while writing this).

I guess I was most hooked because I "picked my horse" early to win. Just like any other reality-based competition show, I hoped that my guy/gal/team would win. For American Idol, I picked Anwar (with Constantine second).

If you follow the show, you'd know that Anwar's journey ended a while back. It's unfortunate. If you also follow the news around the show, you'd have learned that pretty-crappy-and-white-trashy-lookin Scott was charged with felony assault on his fiancee a while back. Scott is clearly (CLEARLY) less talented than Anwar, and yet Scott outlasted him. With Anwar out, I rooted for Constantine. And last week, yet again my "horse" had fallen. Constantine was out before Scott, who has now made it into the top 5. So I felt justified and glad that I wasn't emotionally attached to the show. I walked away from it last week calling it "Farce Idol." TM

However I've come across some pretty interesting information. I was doing a search on the internet because of the Paula Abdul scandal about to hit the air waves (clearly another reason AI is absurd). .... Quick side note: that story is going to be hell-a-funny. I'll have to write again once I watch it. Anyway, I came across some interesting information. It turns out there has been an underground (so underground, I've never heard of it) movement for the past two seasons to put forth their choice as the worst Idol (Google Cache - It's not as pretty, but you can read the text even though the site is down) and try to get them to win. Their horse: Mikalah. And once she got bumped? Scott. They're mighty proud of themselves. I won't go into their explanation, but I'll point you to their site and you can see what they're up to.

I think it's funny that they do this to mess with the show which drives most people crazy (trust me I know. I checked the forums). However I've got a renewed interest in the show to see if they can actually pull it off. My new horse: the underground movement "Vote for the Worst." Now I'm not low enough to vote for Scott. He's sleeze in a cheap suit. However, who doesn't like a good controversy every ... week.

ftp again...

I finally got my ftp server back up in a working condition. For those of you fans of a cappella, I hope this becomes the place to come to for your needs. I'm starting from scratch yet again so if you've had an account, you'll need a new one. Just ping me for one.

PVR experiment

I was catching up with my buddy Rod (http://rodericj.com/~rod/) whom I have not talked with in quite some time. He's doing well. I'll let you ask him for the details.

While talking to him, he mentioned that his friend had built a PVR. A PVR, for those too lazy to follow the previous hyperlink, is a Personal Video Recorder. It's a device that can record video much like a VCR. The difference is that PVRs record to a hard disc. This allows for cool features like the pausing of television. A perfect example of a commercially available PVR is TiVo. (Wikipedia loves this paragraph)

Now the problem with TiVo (corporate link) and other commercially available PVRs is the monthly charge and the near inevitability that they'll be swallowed by competition and my equipment will become obsolete. Even if they're not swallowed anytime quickly, who would want to pay for those monthly subscription fees? I, and apparently many others before me, would not.

Rod's buddy had installed a openly available PVR called MythTV. I read some pages and saw some screenshots and was instantly impressed. I always wanted a TiVo, but I couldn't stomach the monthly costs. I definitely felt the gut urge to undertake the adventure of building a similar system.

Adventure? Indeed. See, I've done some research this evening and I can go a few routes...

• No adventure & empty wallet: Go with TiVo
• No adventure & less empty wallet: Go back to my regular television and rot my brain slowly
• Some adventure & empty wallet: Buy a commercially available "do it yourself" PVR software bundle.
• Tons of adventure & less empty wallet: Get a copy of an openly available "do it yourself" PVR software bundle that is much harder to install/configure because it isn't being funded by commercial purchases (we'll argue the freeware debate another day)

While the last option will most likely drive me the most crazy, it'll probably also be the most entertaining for you readers. The frustration ... The anger ... The disappointment ... The frustration. But it'll have drama. And readers love drama.

I'll be updating (ir)regularly with the latest details of do-it-yourself-PVR-building. Perhaps I'll be paving the way for one of you to follow later on. And for those of you (thank you Tom) who enjoy my tirades about dumb topics and pointless, longwinded stories have no fear. I'll still be writing in those valuable nuggets of daily time-wasting (your welcome Rod).

Google - one step closer to really scary

I'll keep this short because this could be a long topic. Google scares me. Really. I was just starting to get over their really cool (I can almost see President Simone) and creepy (I can almost see President Bush) Satellite feature (click "Satellite" on right side of page) when their latest feature just came out. It seems like they come out with a new way to graft themselves to our lives each week. This time, Google is searching by numbers.

They can search basically any number you could think of. Phone numbers? Yes. UPC codes? Sure. Patent numbers? Uh huh. UPS, USPS, and FedEx tracking numbers? Yep. VIN number? No problem. VIN numbers? VIN NUMBERS?! They're hooked into my damn car now! DAMN! Not scary enough? How about FAA airplane registration numbers and FCC equipment IDS? Cause you can search those now too! I thought we were making a big deal about airplane/airport security. Now we're going to just give information away about planes? Why don't we just give everyone the names and pictures of the upcoming flights' pilots too while we're at it!?! I mean, I'd feel better knowing who my pilot was since I'd also know that anyone could look up anything about the airplane I'm flying in.

It would be nice to know that someone, somewhere is thinking, "Hey maybe we shouldn't make that ramp on the information highway... Maybe we don't want to make that information publicly available to the entire world. Maybe."

an odd relationship

This story is confusing and has many characters. Try and keep up. I'd also like to point out that this entry (to the best of my very hazy memory) uses the MLA format for citing sources.

Anne's mother Cathy told me that her mother was a friend of a family up in Vermont. One of the sons in this family (Ian) is attending RIT next year. It came about that Ian could email me with any RIT/CompSci questions as he needed being that I'm a recent graduate.

So in one of his questions, Ian asked if I had any people who could answer questions in Film (they have a fun little flash animation) or Physics (they have a pretty boring one) as he had friends also starting at RIT who could benefit from their knowledge. I told Ian that I'd have to look for a physics major because I don't know any.

So where do I turn in search of a physics major? The friendly (yet closed and hidden and not-so-secret-anymore) Brick City Singers' Alumni Group. I sent the guys an email explaining a short version of the story and the need for a physics major.

Tom, current member in the group, couldn't help me out with a physics member but he was able to point out that the potential relationship between the incoming freshman and the physics major would be quite funny:

“I’m the only physics major who is a friend of a friend of a former member of an a cappella group who was contacted through an email list by the former music director of that group who is an RIT alum and a friend of you.” [Guzewich]

Of course Tom only got it partly correct. I didn't include the relationship through Anne so he missed a step plus I don't think he quite got it right. I would claim it should read like this:

"I am the only physics major who is a friend of a member of an a cappella group who was contacted through an email list by the former music director of that group who's fiance's grandmother is a friend of a family who's son is a friend of yours. And thus so am I." [Campbell]

We still haven't found that physics major (so if you're one, please contact me), but I'm sure if we were able to put the two in touch it would be like reuniting long lost twin siblings.

Works Cited

Campbell, David. Thought of five minutes ago. 5 April 2005.

Guzewich, Thomas. "physics major (off topic)." E-mail to RIT Brick City Singers Alumni Group. 5 April 2005.

Steve donates his hair

My brother Steve has been growing his hair for as long as I can remember with the eventual intent to donate it to Locks of Love. The time has come just recently and he successfully dontated in the Buffalo, NY area before going back to Fredonia after his spring break. Here's a little photo-journal of the adventure. *queue sappy slow "memory" music*


Steve's hair is dreaded out into 10 inch locks.
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Steve grasping his donation after the damage is done.
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Before the razor...
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... And after the razor.
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An arial view of Steve's dome taken by the Goodyear Blimp.
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Steve and his girlfriend Ellen - post donation.
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Steve sporting the new look back at school.
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stupid crappy internet

I have the stupidest, crappiest internet. The general service has been down more than it has been up since last Monday. In addition, I have a special IP address which I use to VPN to work... which has also been down for over a week.

I thought that perhaps the system administrator was perhaps on vacation and that no one assumed his responsibilities while he was gone. That would have been plausible considering Sunday was Easter. I could understand that. But it's Thursday folks. THURSDAY! He couldn't have taken time off before and after Easter. That's unlikely.

To make things worse, the admin isn't returning my calls. I don't know why or how much longer to expect this to be down.

BTW, if you're wondering how I'm posting now the general service is back up, but my special IP that allows me to work is still not working. :-(

new bed - part two

As promised (a long time ago) here is a picture of our new bed. We got the sheet/bed spread from Kaufman's for a steal ($150).
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Here are Anne and I on our new bed. You cant see the bed much, but you can see us just fine :-)
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NOAC 5 Weekend

Why do they rock so hard? Alumni Kevin Foster and David Fetzer work out with current Brick City Singer Regan Messenger during "Fat-Bottomed Girls" at last weekend's Night of A Cappella concert
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Tom and the guys singing "Clocks." I had an awesome time at the Brick City Singer's Fifth Annual Night of A Cappella concert.
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bridal show

Anne and I put a small dent into our ongoing research for wedding vendors last week. We attended a bridal show hosted by the Meadowbrook showcased a number of DJs, photographers, florists, limos, and other bridal services. We found a few things we liked and several we didn't. Knowing those we don't like is just as important (if not more so) than finding those we did.

There was a gown/tuxedo fashion show put on by K's Wedding Center that was pretty lame (even for Anne). The dresses sucked. The bride's maids' dresses were awful. The tuxedos were standard. The models were unenthusiastic - not that they need to be Heidi Klum (hmm Heidi...), but at least smile and pose!

In all I think the event was informational and helpful. Anne and I had plenty to talk about afterwards. We may have even found our DJ.

donating to filesharing sites

Now I've never been the one to give money away. I don't typically donate to people begging on street corners. I pass when RIT hits me up for alumni money most times. I won't donate to causes that don't appropriately justify their work. I make Girl Scouts explain why I need to buy their cookies and high schoolers tell me why I need to buy their chocolate bars. So when LokiTorrent (now a MPAA billboard, bastards) declared they were being attacked by the MPAA and the site was looking for donations to mount a legal defense, I didn't cave. I didn't give a dime. Why? Because they weren't going to win. They were breaking laws and had no hope of winning. Did I take part in their thievery? I plead the fifth. But they were knowingly helping others share illegal files.

So I read on Slashdot that the whole suit may have been a hoax. While reading the allegation, written by another file sharing community, I began to think "Yep. Good call on that one Dave. If they're willing to so openly break the law they may just be scamming you on this one too."So as I continued reading I was convinced it was a hoax. I was happy. Yay.

But I kept reading on into the readers' comments. And I found the truth is probably somewhere in between. It sounds like an agreement was made quickly once the MPAA contacted the site owner. After the agreement was made, LokiTorrent then proceeded to publicly ask for donations to "mount their legal campaign." HA!

I guess what bugs me most about the whole thing is that BitTorrent sites are based on a community of (illegal) sharing. It policed itself. It supported itself with (other people's) donations to keep servers running. And when the bottom bricks began to be pulled out from LokiTorrent, the owner decided to take it out on the community by taking advantage of them. And I think that's a shame.

So I guess the moral of the story is: don't buy Girl Scout cookies. No... I think the moral is apparent. It's just a shame that things like this happen. I'm at least reassured in knowing the owner didn't make enough in donations to cover the MPAA penalty.

Carnegie Hall

February 22, 2005 will forever be remembered by me as the day I played Carnegie Hall. I didn't have a solo and my name was not mentioned in the playbill, but I was there - front row, leading the bass section. As some may know, I sing (sang) in the Middletown City Chorale. Last season we rehearsed and performed twice Beethoven's Mass in C. We did well performing it on our own with a small orchestra, but that's not the point.

This past Sunday and Monday, I rehearsed in New York City (at the Grand Hyatt New York) as a member of a larger choir, New England Symphonic Ensemble. The choir isn't really a choir as much as an aggregate of several choirs. We were actually few to be from New England. People came from Arkansas, Alabama, and South Carolina to sing as well. I made some new friends and we all talked about our varied experiences.

Tuesday was the big day. We had a stage rehearsal which went well and a lot of time in the city before call. Mom and I walked for a few hours and listened to the stage rehearsals of the two other performing groups that evening. We ate at this place called Cafe Europa just around the corner which was very clean and nice. With dinner finished, we came back and changed into concert gear - not combat gear.

In all the performance went well. I'm sure many readers probably would have fallen asleep during the performance (it's 40 minutes all in Latin), but it still sounded excellent. I'd like to go back in the next year or so if given the opportunity. It was definitely worth all of the preparation.

Valentine's Day 2005

Of course we all know and love/hate Valentine's Day. What a swell guy, Mr. Valentine, to create a day where happy lovers feel extra happy, lonely folks feel extra lonely, stressed out guys spend lots of money and get extra stressed... *sigh* I can just feel it in the air.

My V-Day went as many others do. I hadn't done much planning, so as Anne left for work I was up and getting ready for my "day." I faked the "I'm working" thing with her to see her out and then started my day long mission.

First step: flowers.
Flowers are an important part of Valentine's Day. Why? Because that's where the real cash cow is. I paid several times more for my flowers than I did for Anne's gift. I'm not totally complaining. They look very nice. I took a picture or two, maybe I'll post those. I had to fight with them outside as it was extremely windy. And once I got them into the car, they spilled while I was driving. So it wasn't the best of starts for my day. Regardless, I get the flowers upstairs and make them look nice with some pictures of us.

Part duh: the gift.
The gift is usually the easy part. If you're a real sweet guy, you'll get some jewelry or other very thoughtful gift. If you're like all the other millions of guys, you listen well enough to know there's something she wants and that's what you'll get. (I fall in that category, I got her the Shark Tale DVD) However, if you're like all the other other guys (mostly made of RIT students), you got her what you wanted to get her and not necessarily what she wanted... lingerie and underwear. 'Nuff said on that. I think I just offended a lot of people (mainly RIT students).

Letter three: the candy.
Now the candy is a tricky one. There's a hidden message behind the candy. Get too much candy and your significant other (politically correctness is next to godliness) could possibly be thinking "OMG! Does he think I'm some kind of pig!?" Don't get any candy and you may hear "Where's the candy? Do you think I'm fat?" So the safe bet is to get a nice low dose of sugar and chocolate. Especially when you know she loves M&Ms. (Anne does) (btw, Anne didn't say or think any of those things)

Next: the card.
Kevin James (I just learned from IMDB that it's Kevin James III) has a very funny comedic commentary on greeting cards. I'll defer to him on this one. Get one. Write her name in it. Write "Love " in it. Don't literally write "" in it. Write some X's and O's. Done deal.

Five: some atmosphere.
Anne came home around 4. I made sure to have some candles lit and her gift and card wrapped up and near the flowers. I put the M&Ms out in a bowl nearby as well. Needless to say she was very happy. I think she loved the flowers.

Last but certainly not least: the restaurant.
Make sure you go out to dinner. On a nice evening like Valentine's is supposed to be, couples shouldn't have to worry about cooking dinner. If the experience at the restaurant is good, it's that much better of an evening. If the experience was "eh to poor" like ours was, at least you didn't have to cook. We went to an Italian restaurant down the street called Nino's. They have good food, but their service wasn't very good. Everything was rushed. Our waiter brought out salads while we were eating our appetizer (forgivable) and our entree before we were half-way finished with our salads (barely forgivable). It was later in the evening and we were probably their last table, but I was still surprised when one waitress began running the vacuum while we were clearly still eating. Anne and I had had about enough at that point so we quickly paid and left. It didn't hamper the evening at all- in fact it made for some interesting conversation.

The rest of the evening should be downhill from there. It's a lot of work, but it's almost always worth the effort. That's all for now.

PS- This post may not accurately portray my personal feelings on the whole Valentine's Day thing. Especially if you're reading this and your name is Anne. If you're Anne, then I love the whole day and have nothing bad to say about it. And I love you. .... Anne? Anne?! AAAAAAANNE!!!

new cell phone

I went home this past weekend with Anne. We had a nice time talking to my Uncle / Pastor Brian about our wedding. But aside from that, my family got new cell phones for our family plan. I was soooo excited to be rid of the brown brick one would call my cell phone. I could slay a small dragon with the thing. Anywho we made our way down to the Verizon Wireless store to sign our new contract and pick up our phones. I got a Samsung SCH-a650.

I really hate cell phone companies. Verizon Wireless is no better than any of the rest. I think they hire their staff knowing that every social American will need to deal with these people no matter what. In that every Cell Phone Sales Clerk is the least helpful, most irritating, slowest individual you've ever met. And cell phone companies don't care... because they know you're buying the cell phone at that point. You could wait for 3 hours and you'd still be there waiting for your cell phone. And Verizon Wireless knows it. To make things worse, they sit behind this counter with a computer. I can hear mouse clicks all over the place. You know Tiffany (as our special clerk was named) is playing Minesweeper or Snood on her computer rather than selecting our contract and phones. The thing that really kills me is that she's probably on commission. Wouldn't you want to do your job quickly if you were on commission in order to sell more phones and thus make more money?!?

So we finished up with "slow Tiffany" and I thought she was going to give us our phones, but no. We were moved over to the Activation Clerk. This was much less eventful except that my brother Steve whispers in my ear that the woman is wearing a wig. I could barely hold my laugh inside. He was probably right.

About an hour after entering the store we got our cell phones. Hurrah. I moved my phone book over and everything already too so no one got dropped in the conversion.

Pepsi iTunes Music Promotion

It's back! Last year Pepsi and Apple had the single best promotion. Drink a Pepsi and have a 33% chance of winning a free song! I thought it was brilliant. Why? Because suckers like me drank enough Pepsi products to fill a small ocean (I think they call small oceans "seas"). However they started it again. The big campaign started at the Super Bowl and goes until April 11.

Last time I had an in. I was an RA and buying soda was... how would you put it... ritualistic. I'd buy one for lunch, one for an afternoon snack, sometimes I'd buy one at dinner, I'd usually have one in the evening, and many times I'd have one as a nightcap with my good buddy Tom. You're probably thinking: "Wow! That's a lot of soda!" Well you're right dear reader, it is. See I could afford that because I was a fully funded RA on RIT's funny money system.

And alas, now I am not. Not only do I not have fake money to burn, but I don't live near any soda machines that dispense yummy, good Pepsi. So I need your help! If you drink a Pepsi and find a code, you should send it right away to me! Ok, GO!

Amazing Race 6 Finale

You might be familiar with my guilty reality tv habit called The Amazing Race. It's appropriately named, aMAZing! I love the show. And it didn't I'm glad it didn't disappoint last night as it was the season finale. It wasn't quite as entertaining as watching Charla & Mirna (the midget team) from last season, but you really can't beat midgets anyway. I was rooting for Kris & Jon who were in first place until the final plane flight. They were misquoted by American Airlines (stupid AA) about the first plane back to Chicago and arrived second. Freddy & Kendra were able to capitalize on the mistake by grabbing the first flight and while only minutes separated them, Kris & Jon never had a chance to get back in front. Oh well. Freddy & Kendra won a million bucks. Yipee.

So at the end of the race, they tease us with trailers from Amazing Race 7 which starts in 3 weeks! WHOOO HOOOO!!! One of the teams are former Survivor contestants. That should work real well... *pfft* The Survivor contestants from season 5 were out in the first few weeks.

So then I got this really good idea. I wanted to fill an application with Anne for season 8. Last night there was no link to be found, but today while writing this, I found a link for casting! Unfortunately, like a sucker punch really, they're announcing that they're looking for family teams of 4! WTF!?

... So does anyone wanna be my long lost brother?

almost hit a deer

Short story...

I almost hit a deer tonight! I was coming home around 1am from Montgomery where I was visiting my family. It was obviously dark and the road is twisty and windy. The road is notorious for deer because there are woods on either side of the entire road. The posted speed limit is 55mph, but I was doing 65 - 70.

Now even though I was speeding, I pay careful attention in front of me... always scanning for deer and other animals. I happen to catch one on the right side of the road a ways off and hit the brakes. My car was still going 25mph when I went by it, but I went along my way and it went about its.

Just as I was about to start pouring on the gas again, I saw a young deer right in the middle of the road. I easily avoided it because I was moving slowly and the deer had plenty of time to get off the road before I reached it. However if I was still moving 65 - 70 I probably would have hit it. That would have been bad for all parties: me, my car, and the deer.

Anyway, not much more to that story than that! I had a good two days in New Jersey at work. My company is moving into a new building which is very nice. And the meetings we've had yesterday and today have been quite productive. Needless to say I've got a full plate now. But that's fine because it'll pay the bills.

home till saturday

So I'm home for the next few days-- Middletown, New York. Yippee! It's nice to go back to the roots sometimes. Especially when you get to fix computers and work a shift at the resuraunt on the first day back. It was slow at the resuraunt and Sue & Jerry gave me 20 bucks for working; plus, I got to hang out with my cousins Josh and Joe playing GTA San Andreas, so I shouldn't complain.

I just don't like servicing old computers. If I'd have my way, I'd have Holberts Catering (my family's business) pick up a new computer and be done with it. Oh well.

I'll be heading down to New Jersey tomorrow and Friday for some work meetings, but you can always email me if you need to reach me. I think my mom is cooking tomorrow night so I'm looking forward to that. Some good home cooking never hurt anyone. :-)

Take care.

Things are going pretty well today. Anne and I finally received our new queen sized mattress. We put all the new sheets on it and took pictures of it; despite Anne wanting only to nap on it right away. I had to coerce her to get up and take a picture of me on it! Anyway, pictures on that forthcoming...

I'm finally fully operational and back up and running with work. I've been experiencing a variety of roadblocks including internet outages, VPN problems, and MS Visual Studio snafus, but I believe we've got them all figured out. Now on to making money!

I also got to catch up with Kyle Smith today. I haven't talked to him in quite a long time. It was nice to hear about his recent goings-on. I'm sure Kyle wouldn't appreciate me for airing them for him, so I'll let him do the talking at his own blog. You can also visit his blog via the link on the right side-bar. Needless to say he's doing well though or else I wouldn't be calling this part of my good day.

So for now I'm going to bed. Gnight all!

new style template

I decided I wanted a change for the blog. I've seen too many using the same template I selected. So in a moment of weakness and originality I changed mine to Tic Tac Blue. How cute. I prefer the white background color though. It's easier on the eyes. Be sure to let me know what you think!

new bed sheets

Now our mattress gets delivered (hopefully) later today. We still have to find proper bedding for our new upgrade. But that's a story for another day.

Well guess what? It's another day... Tuesday in fact. The mattress was not delivered yesterday (unfortunately) so I'm still sleeping on shitty ass extra long twin mattresses.

Anne and I decided to go out shopping for our new sheet set and out for dinner. We were going to check out this Italian restaurant which we heard of called Bella Cucina. Anne and I were starving and were looking forward to eating at a place we heard had good food. Unfortunately, again, we were thwarted and the restaurant was closed. Damn damn! (We ended up at Applebee's) Not letting it totally ruin our night we began our search for the bed sheets.

After several hours and stores, and cutting an already long story short, we found a set we could both agree upon. I think they look pretty hot. We got one of those bed-in-a-bag sets from Kaufmann's for a steal! They're red, bronze, black, and white. We even picked up a matching throw pillow. I'll have to take a picture of the finished project once it's all delivered and setup.

Nothing Says "Engaged" Like a New Queen Mattress

Anne and I have been living together for barely two weeks now, but I think we've crossed one (of many) of those big milestones that come in relationships that last a really, really long time. That's right- the first big joint purchase. And what a purchase to make it on? A mattress! Not just any mattress!! A queen sized, soft (yet firm enough for back support) mattress!

Now if you're laying on your bed at University Commons.... Bwahahahah.... you're still in school!!

Sorry.
Now if you're laying on your bed at University Commons you might be thinking, "Shit. I'm still in school." And yet if I was to stay on topic you might be also thinking, "I already have a full sized bed and that's pretty grand." Oh no my friends. The queen is just that much better. A queen sized bed is 60" x 80". That's a half a foot wider and longer than your full sized bed. And if you're sleeping on a twin, I'm sorry.

So at this point you're probably thinking of rushing out the door in search of your own queen sized mattress. If you're so inclined (and really have that much money to spend on a bed), here's my tips for finding your own queen sized mattress:

• Make sure you test each mattress for how it would be used. If you sleep on your back, test it on your back. Sleep on your side? Be sure to test it on your side. Be sure to test out all uses for the bed including the "jumping on the bed," "drunk stupor pass out," and (my personal favorite) the "gettin' some*" positions.
• Go shopping wearing what you sleep in... especially if you sleep naked. Mattress salespeople love seeing naked bodies testing out every one of their floor model mattresses. You might feel like you need a shower afterward though because you will have the "used bowling ball" feeling all over your body.
• Now eventually the sales person is going to try and get you to "sit down" or "talk numbers" or "sign some papers." When he/she does this my suggestion is to simply reply that the research is much more fun than paperwork. If the sales person suggests bringing the paperwork out to the mattress you like, then you might have a keeper. And if he/she additionally suggests "a pajama party... and we could watch movies... and stay up late..." then you're probably on your way to a deal.

Now our mattress gets delivered (hopefully) later today. We still have to find proper bedding for our new upgrade. But that's a story for another day.

* Kids, ask your parents.