Can we say, "Overcompensation?!"

I was linked to this video from somewhere else (can't remember from where) but a thought was provoked after watching some of it.

Al B. Sure was so overcompensating for being gay. I don't have anything against gay people just those that aren't "out" yet and feel like they need to be more "manly" to show that they really aren't gay no matter what people might think. We had a guy like that in our program. He was always wanting to arm wrestle with heterosexual men to prove his manly strength. He would do the whole jr-high-wrestling thing with some other guys where you put them in head locks or punch arms to show he was "jockish."

Anyway, you can see a lot of Al B. Sure's actions in the video are clearly overdone and seemingly unnatural for him. I'm not sure what his actual orientation is nor do I care so this is just my observation and thought...

Memorial Day - yesterday, today, tomorrow and beyond

This is technically what I would call email spam. I think most of this shit is baseless, worthless and empty. The only reason why I'm sharing is because I believe this - that our military, our FIGHTING soldiers in particular, deserve all our respect and appreciation. What they do, right or wrong in your eyes, they do it because they are following orders; they do it for Americans; they do it for their families; most importantly, they do it so I don't have to. I think injured soldiers, physically and/or mentally, deserve the governments attention, care and support until death because that's what the soldiers pretty much agreed to.

So before I get too high on my soap box. I share this...

It is the
VETERAN,
not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is
the VETERAN,
not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the
VETERAN who
salutes the Flag.



It is
the
VETERAN
who serves
under the Flag.



ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD,
AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

Email humor 05/26/2010

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Now You Know And Knowing Is Half The Battle!

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Why aren't there any SSD in-dash vehicle radios?

They made AM radios. They made AM/FM radios, you know the 3 FM, 2 AM kind. They made radios with 5-6 FM and AM channels. They made radios connect to CD changers residing usually in the trunk. They made radios with built-in CD players/changers. They made radios with DVD players. They made radios to read from USB flash drives. They made radios with 3.5mm connectors.

So, where the heck is the SSD radio? I am surprised that this hasn't come up in some company's drawing board, yet. I'm sure it's a production cost issue but I bet that was the same with the CD, DVD and other radios. Making it costs but people will stupidly pay a premium for it like they do everything else.

Anyway...

ATP Tennis Player Rankings

I don't proclaim to be some all-knowing tennis guy. I know what I know and that's all that I know and it's enough to get me by. To add to my ignorance (not that this is something I really care to research), I saw an article today on TENNIS.com with the following headline:

Federer, Nadal, Djokovic could be No. 1 after Paris

Click here for the full story while it lasts

So, also on TENNIS.com there is an ATP player rankings graphic. See screen shot below.

My confusion comes with the huge gap in points between Federer and Nadal. It's like a 3,200 point difference. Again, I don't know how the points are awarded or distributed but my thought is that even if someone else wins The French Open, I wouldn't think that a 3,200 point gap would be made up that quickly.

Okay, so curiosity killed the cat and I had to Google how the rankings worked. After a quick read and temporary absorption, I see that the article is accurate. The way the points are added per round reached would make the winner of The French Open gaining around 4,600 points. Therefore, depending on who wins it (Nadal or Djokovic) then Federer would have to progress far enough to capture enough points to add to his overall points and maintain the points lead for number one.

Get all that? Yeah, see, it's really not that important in the grand scheme of all things tennis, especially if the player has already been #1 for so long.

Here's to late nights because of the time difference between Dallas, Texas and Paris, France!

The New World (2005)

The New World (2005). As you can see, this movie is from five years ago. I had it on my queue and decided to check it out at my local brick and mortar BB because I had a coupon for a free non-new release DVD. Free is always good when it comes to DVD rentals.

So, anyway, this movie is supposed to be based on the story of John Smith and Pocahontas. There is a character of John Smith and one of Pocahontas. She protects him from being killed by her people. They become close and fall in love with each other. That's about the extent to which this movie is similar to the animated movie, Pocahontas.

The wife and I watched it together. After the movie was over, we both thought, "That was interesting."

First let me say that this is a long movie. I think it was 2 hours and 20 minutes but not totally sure. Although 2 1/2 hours may not seem all that long compared to Lord of the Rings or something similar, the movie seem way longer because there was very little actual dialogue. There was a lot of speaking but not directly from the actors on screen. It was sort of like a narration or oration over a scene that was taking place. The wife and I joked that there was probably three pages of actual person-to-person speaking on screen. This is part of the reason the movie seemed to drag on for me.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. I don't know where it was shot but the country and water scenes were just Kodak-moment type shots. The acting wasn't phenomenal but it wasn't disappointing.

I did see one correlation between this movie and the animated movie when I just recently looked them up on IMDB. Christian Bale is in both of them. He voiced Thomas (the kid that basically started the fighting with an itchy trigger finger) in Pocahontas and he played John Rolfe (who falls in love with John Smith's [Colin Farrell] sloppy seconds) in The New World.

If you have a rainy, boring day that you just need something to do, you can watch this movie. We actually watched it over almost a day because of some parental/adult responsibilities or just because it was time to take a break and feel rejuvenated by stepping outside for a bit.

Tooth Fairy (2010)

Tooth Fairy (2010). Not The Rock's best movie. It was funny and a good family movie but it is basically like his other movie The Game Plan withe some storyline adjustments.

It had its funny parts, its predictable parts, and its boring parts but all-in-all it would be worth watching with the kids...little kids like 4-8ish.

I didn't realize that Ashley Judd was in it before renting but she still looks good albeit definitely older.

You could probably wait until this makes it to the Disney Channel, ABC, ABC Family or some other channel. That way it's "free" versus paying a 1-day rental or more.

Email humor 05/21/2010

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Now You Know And Knowing Is Half The Battle!

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Taco Bell's new $2 meal deals

Okay, I just left the Taco Bell drive thru and was reminded of something I thought of this weekend.

I went fishing/hunting Saturday to Sunday but didn't get to hunt in east Texas. On the way home, I stopped at Taco Bell about 30-45 minutes outside of Dallas to take a leak. The men's room was occupied. While waiting, I got a little hungry and saw these $2 meals. I wasn't extremely hungry but was getting a headache and thought food and a caffeine drink would help.

So, I tried one. I got the double decker, medium drink (Diet Pepsi) and Doritos. Doritos? That's right - nacho cheese-style. WTF?

I don't know who came up with this combination or any of them with a bag of Doritos but it's kind of weird. Why not just add nachos? Maybe it is cheaper to use the prepackaged Doritos because maybe they give less chips with the 75% chips 25% air bags than a normal nachos.

Either way, it is just odd. I drank the drink and ate the double decker but not the Doritos. Later in the evening well after I go home, I had the Doritos with a ham and cheese sandwich.

Anyway, I guess the $2 meals menu is a decent deal since a medium drink is like $1.50 or so but I'll have to investigate further. Not a big deal really, the Doritos just throws me.

By the way, the restroom was occupied the entire time so I didn't get to pee. Boohoo me!

Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

Email humor 05/20/2010

WORD BUFF

Most people know I'm a bit of a word buff, but I just found this too interesting...

Did you know:

* That the words "race car" spelled backward still spells "race car".

* That "eat" is the only word that if you take the 1st letter and move it to the last, it spells its past tense "ate".

* And Have you noticed that if you rearrange the letters in "illegal immigrants", and add just a few more letters, it spells out: "Go home you fucking, free-loading, benefit grabbing, kid-producing, violent, non-English speaking assholes and take those other hairy-faced, sandal wearing, bomb making, goat loving, raggedy ass Muslim camel jockey bastards with you."

How weird is that????

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Why Condoms Come In Boxes of 3, 6, and 12

A man walks into a drug store with his 8-year old son. They happen to walk by the condom display, and the boy asks, "What are these, Dad?" To which the man matter-of-factly replies, "Those are called condoms, son. Men use them to have safe sex."

"Oh I see," replied the boy pensively. Yes, I've heard of that in health Class at school." He looks over the display and picks up a package of 3 and Asks, "Why are there 3 in this package?"

The dad replies, "Those are for school boys, ONE for Friday, ONE for Saturday, and ONE for Sunday."

"Cool" says the boy. He notices a 6 pack and asks, "Then who are these for?" Those are for college men," the dad answers, TWO for Friday, TWO for Saturday, and TWO for Sunday."

"WOW!" exclaimed the boy, "then who uses THESE?" he asks, picking up a 12 Pack! With a sigh, the dad replied, "Those are for the married men. ONE for January, ONE for February, ONE for March..."

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Now You Know And Knowing Is Half The Battle!

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In the news 05/18/2010

From the Dallas News, headline reads:

Plano-based Frito-Lay urged to drop sponsorship of Arizona sporting events

Click here for story while it lasts

Boycott Frito-Lay? Are you effing serious? Give me a break. That's like when people thought about doing the same thing to Wal-Mart. The problem is that there is no "real" substitution to Frito-Lay (or Wal-mart).

As the article quoted the Accion America president, the Latino community spends "billions and billions" on Frito-Lay products. So, where are they going to spend that "billions" instead? NO WHERE! They may try but they will always return until there is a comparable replacement. Until that time, good luck with calling a boycott! The LULAC executive director has got it right by saying, "Let me be clear: There is no LULAC boycott of Frito-Lay or any other company."

How many little Mexican kids are going to be pleading, "Mama, quiero mi Cool Ranch Doritos!"

The problem with these "immigration groups" is that they only offer reaction to the cities or government ideas/plans to "fix" illegal immigration. They don't offer suitable replacement ideas. Hell, they don't even offer the first idea. I think these little fuckers WANT the illegals to enter and stay in America. Why wouldn't they? It gives them more of a showing at these protests to have legals and illegals!

What these groups and even people that complain about the efforts of cities or states to enforce the federal law is that they aren't doing it to be mean, necessarily. You are always going to have a few bad apples enforcing stupidly but the greater overall good is to be a legal immigrant. What are illegals teaching their legal (by birth in the States) children by not admitting that they are breaking a very serious law? Do these children even care about the illegality of their parents' or grandparents' crimes? Is being illegal really not as bad as being a murderer or rapists? There is no levels of breaking the law. You either break it or you don't. It's the punishment that has levels dependent on the severity of your crime. But breaking the law is still breaking the law. It's pretty cut and dry!

I'm all for people having to carry identification to prove their legal immigration status. I don't think we should limit it to just Mexicans. We should check ALL people who could be questionable. Is my Russian neighbor here legally? How about the German, the British, the Somalian, the Nigerian, the Polish, or the Canadian? Just because there are more browns here illegally doesn't mean they should be the only ones checked! Granted, they are more so we have to start somewhere but let's start and get on with it.

And just so you know, this comes from someone who has been profiled since I was a kid although I look more Asian as a child than a teenager and older. I'm half Hawaiian and half White. The White gene gives me less Asian features and American people only see certain races: White, Black, Mexican and Asian. I don't have a fair complexion. I have black hair and tan skin. I don't have very slanted eyes or a flat nose. What do you think people automatically assume what I am? Mexican. Although 90% of the people who assume I'm Mexican are White, about 8% are Mexican and 2% are Asian.

How many Asians can say they've gone into a Chinese buffet restaurant and been asked what you would like to drink in Spanish by the Chinese waiter? I'm slammed and disrespected by my own peeps! :-)

How many people can say that they've been pulled over by the police with their girlfriend in the passenger seat and the cop asks her if she is alright and with me on her own accord? My girlfriend at the time, who is also now my wife, is White.

How many people have gone to a job fair when a recruiter (this one was a UPS and is why I don't endorse them or will ever work for them) automatically marks on a card that I'm Hispanic without asking. I asked him why he assumed I was Hispanic. I told him he was a racist honky mother fucker and told him to give me the card. I ripped it in half and threw it in his face. (Beeyawtch!)

How many people can say that they've been called spic or wetback while walking down the street by (mostly white) kids as well as adults? How many of those kids will think twice about name calling after I gave them the Nacho Libre beating they deserved? Ha!

All I'm saying is that profiling sucks balls. But if the paperwork is in order and you are legal, wouldn't you much rather know they are trying to "clean up" your country than try to deter them from doing so? Until a "better" solution is brought to the table, I think some things need to be tried. Again, I don't expect things to go smoothly. That's human nature more than it is White nature, Black nature or whatever-race nature.

It's called trial-and-error. It's got to be done! Somethings got to be done! About everything that's wrong in this country! I could go on and on but my soap box is done for now!

Pandorum (2009)

Pandorum (2009). I always start a movie late and plan to pause it so I can go to bed. But then I get to the point where I think to myself, "Self, it's bed time," but instead of getting myself off my ass and up to bed I end up saying to myself, "Self, it's only like another 30 minutes before the movie ends so why not just finish it?" I then end up watching for 30+ minutes. Before I know it, instead of 10:30 p.m. it's like 11:30-12 o'clock.

This movie was one of those moments as I watched it last night. I couldn't remember the exact premise behind the movie but I did recall that it had Dennis Quaid in it.

It also had some really hot, sexy and sweaty actress named Antje Traue. I don't think I've ever seen her before but I would like to have seen much more of her with less clothing [shit-eating ear-to-ear grin]. It's a shame that she went the entire movie once she appeared sporting sweaty cleavage and nothing else. Bummer...for me...and any other red-blooded male!

There was another actor that looked very familiar but I couldn't place him until I read up on the movie a little more. Turns our it was Cam Gigandet who played James in Twilight. He looks a little meaner and masculine with long dreads than he did in short hair in this movie.

Anyway, I'm not going to go into the movie synopsis and shit because you can do an Internet search and find that for yourself. The movie wasn't all that bad. It left some things unexplained like were the "humanoid creatures" space aliens that got on the ship somehow or were they the humans that were in hybernation sleep but were awakened for some reason and mutated/adapted to their environment for survival like was briefly suggested by Bower. Who knows?! The action and suspense was okay. Overall it was a watchable movie although I found myself expecting a little more but it never came. I'm not disappointed that I watched it (excluding the lack of exposed hot womanly bodies) but I can't really fully recommend someone to see it. I've seen better.

Bitch Slap (2009) revisited

Bitch Slap (2009). First of all, I finally remember why I put this in my queue. One of the lead women actresses is named Erin Cummings. Google it. I did. That's how I remember how, where and why I chose this movie.

Erin Cummings played the wife of Spartacus in the series "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" on the Starz channel and she looks much hotter/better in Spartacus than this movie. I figured I did a search on the show, found out the actress and linked to her other movie roles. She flashed tits and ass in "Spartacus" I guess I figured that she'd do the same in Bitch Slap.

Wrong!

Anyway, the movie wasn't horrible. Maybe borderline awful but not horrible. Is there a slight difference? Maybe very slight.

Let's start with what's good about this movie. Um...there is serious amounts of cleavage. A few shots of panty and panty hose clad ass. One quick glimpse, a few frames, of a nameless hot bodied chick flashing her bare breasts.

After that very little bit of interest, the movie wasn't much else. It had poor acting, poor dialogue but it did have some Tarantino-like-wanna-be flashback scene cuts. Not really all that impressive but you can recognize that the director tried to put some kind of extra flair into a B- movie.

Kevin Sorbo and Lucy Lawless have cameo parts. America Olivo is the wifebeater-wearing hot chick who should have shown her T&A but didn't. Luckily, she flashed those silicone puppies in the 2009 version of Friday the 13^th. Oh, Lucy Lawless flashes boobs in Spartacus. Um...I guess that's it. The other hot chick is played by a Julia Voth who apparently was the character model for some chick in one of the Resident Evil video games. Other than that I don't know who the hell she is and she hasn't been in many other movies, that I could find anyway.

So, if you didn't get it, the final verdict would be a two thumbs down! In the end, the cleavage shots are all just smoke and mirrors. Once those are cleared away (or even not) then it's really just a piece of shit movie unless you are in the mood for a little comedic wanna-be acting. I mean it's part of the way I think it was supposed to be portrayed but it was also the only way to make this movie not a complete joke if they made fun of it themselves while making it. Make sense?

Bitch Slap (2009)

I got this movie in the mail today from my queue. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I'd get a good B-movie show with it, I don't know. With a DVD menu looking like this, the movie can't be bad...can it?

I am about to watch it so I'll comment on it later.

Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009)

Did You Hear About The Morgans? (2009) I think Hugh Grant acts the same in almost all of his movies and he's always British. I only say that because there are other actors that have accents but play characters of other diversities like Hugh Laurie (ya know, House?), Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton from True Blood).

Sarah Jessica Parker is...unattractive. I liked her at one point in time. Okay maybe two but I can only remember when she was in Square Pegs. She's way too skinny these days and her nose is almost as big and long as her entire body. Mean yes but truthful.

All that being said, the wife and I thought this movie was pretty entertaining. Hugh played the same bumbling idiot looking for forgiveness or acceptance from the woman he loved, lost or can't have. Even though a lot of the comedic scenes are predictable it didn't make them any less funny. I've always like Sam Elliott. He's a man's man. Mary Steenburgen doesn't look too bad for her age either.

The movie ended a little differently than I thought it would so I guess there was at least one unpredictable moment.

Overall it's a pretty good flick. A couple flick. It is probably worth a regular-priced rental.

UPDATE: I don't know when this was taken but I was looking for images of Ms. Parker and found this one. So, I guess I have found her hot at least three times.

The Informant (2009)

The Informant (2009). I don't know what the hoopla was/is about this movie but I found it quite slow and boring. There were funny parts. There were interesting parts. There were a lot of "damn this movie needs to hurry up and end" moments.

The wife and I watched this together. We both fond it somewhat interesting and occasionally witty but overall it was a tad painful. Damon is a great actor and can play many roles. I think this is forgettable or will be remembered but not for it's greatness.

Overall the movie felt like it was this balloon that's being filled with air. More and more air expands it until it is obvious it can't stand any more and will burst at the pinnacle of the expectation and excitement. Instead, it just kept filling up with no peak or it stayed the same throughout. Take your pick.

Anyway, I can say that I watched it but I won't recommend it and might even ask Hollywood for the 2 hours of my wasted time back.

Astro Boy (2009)

Astro Boy (2009). Although I got this to watch with my kids, I ended up watching it on my own. Which is the typical M.O. these days. I get something for them but days pass and still we haven't watched the movie...that I picked specifically for us to watch together. I finally just decide to watch it myself because I don't like to keep my movies too long because then it defeats the whole "getting a deal" deal with my Blockbuster Total Access membership.

Anyway, I had read some reviews by someone (critics, individuals, bloggers...someone) that this movie wasn't very good. As such, I didn't expect much but I was going to watch it nonetheless because it was one of the movies I thought at least looked interesting.

I must say that I thought it was a pretty good movie. It kind of had a whole A.I. vibe going with it but overall I thought it was pretty well laid out...at times as expected...but I didn't think it was a waste of my time like some people may have.

I don't think it needs to become part of my DVD collection but I was glad that I watched it. It's a pity the kids didn't get to share in my experience.

Backyard crawfish boil

This was from a couple of months ago and I guess I forgot to post it.

Anyway, near the end of March, our neighbors invited us to a backyard crawfish boil at their house. Our neighbor has a coworker/friend that is from Lafayette (I think), Louisiana and she was talking about crawfish to him one day. A couple of days later they decided to put the talk into action.

They didn't have time or the open wallet to start with fresh, live crawfish but they didn't get some freshly frozen ones. They weren't completely finished when we headed down the block to attend but the smell was very appealing. I wasn't too interested in eating crawfish and luckily I had basically just eaten so I had a decent excuse to refrain if I had to. As you can see, the neighbor's friend did a great job with the ingredients and all. I mean corn, carrots, potatoes and she even had sausage.

For those inexperienced, she had everyone grab a crawfish and she stepped us all through the technique. I partook in the training although I've had it many times before when I was younger. That way at least I didn't seem like an ass for not doing ANYTHING. All in all it was good times, good fun, good food and good music with some dancing thrown in later in the evening.

As a kid, my brothers and I used to ride our bikes to the local high school. It was about a 10-minute ride from our house. We would take some kite string, bacon and/or bologna, a net and a minnow-type bucket. The high school is where we went to catch crawdads (or crawfish to others).

No, there wasn't a pond or anything like that. So, where did we "fish" for crawdads? In front of the high school there was a U.S. highway. At the time it was a two-lane thoroughfare (it is now like six lanes with a center turn lane) and on each side of it there were what is commonly called ditches. Yep, those kind of ditches...the kind that catches water runoff from the road, parking lot of the high school, or just the very small greenbelts between the parking lot and highway. It sounds gross now but at the time that's just what we did as boys, a lot of the neighborhood kids did. It was amazingly a hot bed for crawdads of all sizes. Some would be like 1-2 inches where others could be like 4-6 inches. We captured whatever we could. Most of the time it was for enjoyment and passing the time but occasionally we did bring them home to boil and eat.

I know many people are grossing out and/or laughing. I have the same reaction now that I look back upon those great times as a kid. But you know what, those things tasted just the same (excluding the different spices used) as the one(s) we had this night at the neighbors. Again, I only recall doing it maybe three times max but I do recall the taste and texture now as then. My mom and a couple of brothers would do the brain-sucking thing but I didn't always. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many times I partook in the brain-sucking. It was just gross to see the orangy, slimy guts that were inside the head. For some reason that I don't know and will probably not take the time to investigate fully, the head area of the crawfish/dad didn't cook like the lower body and tail. Granted there is more meat and muscle I guess in the lower portion but I just think that if the human brain was boiled long enough, it would harden or cook more like chicken/steak meat but the crawfish brains never did/do...at least in all the times I've had them.

Anyway, before I get too much more long-winded, I'll just say that this recent experience was a fun one and the people were great to spend the evening with. The neighborhood has really started to shape up and become more neighborly since the time we moved into it. Not that we were the cause of it, but there weren't so many kids around and the tenants weren't so friendly/neighborly (some still aren't but they are the rarity).

I'm gone!

The Court Yard Hounds

I don't know who came up with the name Court Yard Hounds (I'm sure it has some background meaning) but the cover is hot. I always thought the Dixie Chicks were hot...ALL of them! Ummmmmm.

I don't know what the music on this "side project" is for the "backups to Natalie" but I will give it a listen to see if I like it. I read somewhere that it's on the pop/rock list instead of country. Good. It'll be much more appealing to me then. Not that I have anything against (most) country songs, I just don't actively seek out country tunes. I usually hear them on mainstream radio and then I'm interested versus the other way around.

Anyway, if I get a song or the album, I'll try to remember to post what it sounds like to me.

Email humor 05/12/2010

Charlie was installing a new door and found that one of the hinges was missing. He asked his wife Mary if she would go to Home Depot and pick up a hinge.

Mary agreed to go. While she was waiting for the manager to finish serving a customer, her eye caught a beautiful bathroom faucet. When the manager was finished, Mary asked him, "How much is that faucet?"

The manager replied, "That's a gold plated faucet and the price is $500.00.

Mary exclaimed, "My goodness that is a very expensive faucet. It's certainly out of my price bracket." She then proceeded to describe the hinge that Charlie had sent her to buy.

The manager said that he had them in stock and went into the storeroom to get one. From the storeroom the manager yelled. "Ma'am, do you wanna screw for the hinge?"

Mary paused for a moment and then shouted back, "No, but I will for the faucet."

This is why you can't send a woman to Home Depot!

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Now You Know And Knowing Is Half The Battle!

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Rusty Taco - 3rd and probably final visit

Now that I am done with my classes, I actually get to take a lunch instead of working through it to "make up" the time. So at work last Friday, I got talked into going to the Rusty Taco for lunch. I didn't want to go and I pleaded my case but the two lady coworkers I went with wanted to try it out. I reluctantly went along. I had already formed my opinion (not positive) after my two previous visits but who was I to deny them their own experience even though I know them and I knew they would not be impressed.

We got lucky with parking as we arrived because someone was leaving just as we got there. The line wasn't too bad either. I was surprised (even though my opinion is low) because it has been a pretty hopping place since its opening especially during lunch.

The ladies ordered first and my main recommendation to them was to get the chips and salsa for $1 because it's the best value and they give you good amounts of chips and salsa for that buck! Lady coworker #1 ordered just a shrimp taco (mistake!) because she's watching her diet these days. Lady coworker #2 ordered the grilled fish taco and chips and salsa. I ordered the two beef brisket tacos, a fried fish taco and chips and salsa because I was NOT going to still be hungry like the last few times I've visited. I also wanted to taste the fried fish to see if it tasted good without the sauce.

We sat outside because it was a pretty nice weather day: sunny with a slight breeze. The patio area was well occupied with many guests and the breeze made the 1st 90-degree day awesome. Heat isn't the issue - it's the humidity along with the heat. Anyway...

Lady coworker #1's name was called to pick up her order. She came back with a huge tray with just her little taco in the middle of it. Her first words when she got back to our table was, "What the hell is that!? Is that all!?" My response was, "I told you!"

Lady coworker #2's name was called to pick up her order. She came back with a huge tray with her little taco and a basket of chips with salsa. She kind of had the same look as lady coworker #1 at the bewilderment of the small size of the taco.

My name was called to pick up my order. I knew what to expect so I had no adverse reaction to what I saw on the tray. I sat down and we all began to eat.

They thought their tacos were good but a little skimpy and non-fulfilling for $2. I told them I tried to warn them before we left but they HAD to experience it for themselves if only just to say that they did.

I took extra care in eating my fried fish taco since I wanted to see what it tasted like without the added sauce/dressing. Amazingly, I didn't get a fish taste. Weird since it was supposed to be a FISH taco. I actually think the Van de Kamp's fish sticks and/or fillets tasted more like fish compared to this taco. Add the sauce and it's a whole new flavor but it still doesn't taste like a fish taco with sauce. The beef brisket tacos were good flavored as before but still lacked those filler ingredients such as lettuce, tomato and cheese. I was still kind of hungry but thankfully I had the chips and salsa.

So, we all agreed the chips and salsa were very good. They also came to their own conclusion which aligned with mine about the size and filling of the taco was not worthy of a $2 price tag. Bad for the customer but good for Rusty Taco as you will want to buy more to get your tummy filled.

The outside dining experience was great. The weather was very cooperative if not a little windy but it was a pleasant temperature and good company. I figure the Rusty Taco can be a good after work happy hour type hang out because of the small tacos and cheaply priced alcohol. I think beer runs something like $2.50 to $3.50. So, I believe it's comparable to other happy hour type facilities - I really don't know as I don't drink.

Anyway, I think I've had my fill of Rusty Taco. I experimented. I tested the menu. I'm done. It's really not one of those places that I feel I'd like to visit once in a while or ever again at all. I will probably deny any future offers of going unless someone else is picking up the tab. There's just way too many places in the area to get better tasting and more flavorful food for $8-$10. Some people may see it differently than I (they do because I still see lines out the door when I drive by) but I'd much rather head a few doors north down Greenville Avenue and hit Baker's Ribs. It's better worth my money.

It's almost 9 inches!

Now that I am out of school for a short time between semesters, I have the availability to leave the office for lunch. I hadn't been to Jack in the Box in a long time so I thought I'd run through one since it is basically around the block.

I really like the Grilled Sourdough Burger as well as the Bacon Ultimate Burger. I wasn't in the mood to be uncomfortable so I went with the Grilled Sourdough. I opted for curly fries and a Diet Coke.

I was asked, "What size would you like?" I figured I wanted a big drink and said, "Large."

When I got the cup, I realized that "large" should really be called "fucking huge!"

This is a whole-lotta drink. Granted, it probably is half ice and half soda but that's still a lot of soda. I think I've done this before with JITB or some other fast-food place. Will I ever learn?

So, note to self for next time, "Get the medium."

Is Expedia.com profiling?

So, the wife and I are looking into trips to Hawaii. I put in a search from Dallas, Texas to Oahu Island for flight + hotel + car on Expedia. I get a long list of hotels all over the island.

One of the things that caught my eye was this picture. It's almost like they are telling me that they have Asian/Pacific Islanders at the 800-number to help me because that's the location to where I'm interested.

I wondered what image it would show if I selected Buenos Aires, Spain, France, or Russia. I don't know their reasoning behind it but it didn't make me feel like calling her because she appealed to the demographic of the area to which I was wanting to travel.

Dinner at the new Twisted Root

Decided to pick up dinner at the newly opened Twisted Root on SMU Blvd between Central Expressway and Greenville Avenue.

Went out on a limb and just got a hamburger with bacon and mushrooms. Normally I get something like a buffalo or elk burger but decided to extend my taste buds. :-P

Sent on the Super Jay Network from Super Jay's BlackBerry®

Today's video round-up!

A few funny videos I saw while perusing the Internet while at work. I'd embed them but I'm too lazy to do so and really don't want to.

White Woman Workout

Funny Pregnancy Announcement

And just because...

iPhone 3GS versus Flip Slide HD

Refurb or not to refurb

I got an email from Gamestop today in regards to some previously-owned deals. I'm usually not too worried about a game being previously owned when I purchase them from a Gamestop or a Blockbuster because I can see the disks to make sure they aren't scratched or whatever. Plus, they usually have a guarantee or return period for anything that doesn't work properly.

It's a little different for me when I look at something as big as a PS3 refurb for $250. For one, the price of a new PS3 Slim 120GB is like $299. And two, these refurbs are guaranteed to work but I can't seem to find if you can buy a service agreement with them because there is no way I'm spending that kind of money on a refurb just to have it crap out on me without having a service agreement and then I have a very expensive but pretty brick!

I had an 80GB and the CD drive crapped out on me after two years and right before, like two weeks before, my service agreement at Best Buy expired. Good timing but sucked because the new PS3 Slims won't play my PS2 games. I get it but I don't get it. I Googled a bunch about the drive problem and a lot of people did the self-fix of installing a new CD drive themselves. It seemed simple enough for less than $100 but I started thinking, "Why the hell did I buy the $200+ service plan if I'm not going to use it?" Everything else about the PS3 80GB was in working order as far as I could tell. I just couldn't play games or movies from the CD drive which is like 99% of what I did. Anyway, longer story short, I ended up getting a replacement because they said the drive was an non-fixable item and an exchange was authorized. The 80GB was like $399. I tried to get them to give me the comparable price exchange of the 250GB PS3 Slim which was $399 but they said it would only exchange the 1st newer model which was the 120GB. I told them the price difference bothered me because I paid $399 and now you are giving me a machine (albeit newer but less functional) for $299. I don't get the actual logic because that's not technically apples for apples in my eyes. There were some other issues I had to work out but I won't go into detail because I've already gone off track of the reason of the post -- if there was a reason.

I still have a PS2 but I really liked being able to play PS2 and PS3 games on one machine. It was less clutter and less A/V input jacks to mess with. It was also nice to get to replay a lot of my PS2 games because I had to play and beat them all over again to get them to save on the PS3 hard drive versus a PS2 memory card. Now, I do know you can transfer this information and I even bought a small, cheaply priced gadget that supposedly do it for me but I never got around to taking the time to do so. Funny thing is that gadget is still in it's package since it's arrival. Anyway, so now I have to play on the PS2 and the PS3 and some PS2 games I have to replay because I can't remember where all my memory cards are. See, too much shit to keep up with.

So, I ponder: buy another PS3 for in-house multi-player games with my kids and neighborhood kids AND a bedroom Blu-ray player or just deal with the one I have because it's not like I play network games with the kids all that often anyhow. I can't decide.

All I do know is that I have $55 of Best Buy Reward certificates that I can apply towards any purchase. They are like cash burning a hole in my pocket. I mean I've spent money to earn those rewards so I should at least get something back out of it, right? A PS3? Maybe but more than likely not. An iPod Touch? Maybe, the wife is against it but my Zune 30GB battery just went defective on me - it'll play with the power cord but it won't once it's unplugged. A Zune HD? Maybe, but only 32GB is a negative for me. An iPod 160GB Classic? Maybe, it's more beneficial to me for the size capacity and I really don't need all those apps for the Touch.

I'm so confused and the hole in my pocket is getting BIGGER!

We need to trim our "garden" and keep it that way

Okay, seriously!?

I get an email from the "landlord" saying that the city is pressing to have the alley ways more clear than they have been. They are no longer going to warn the tenants. They will just fine them.

She was nice about it and this is part of what she said:

You all do not have much back there but there are some weeds that exceed the 8” limit – behind the fence and garage. You need to trim them and keep them trimmed from now on.

I can't believe that this is what she considers "overgrowth" in the alley.

How stupid!

I will pull this shit up and leave it in the alley just to spite them. But then again, I may not be quite as angered when I pull it up and I will probably think more clearly and chunk it in the neighbor's yard.

Spring 2010 term is done...almost

I have one more thing to do for my Black & White Photography I course and I'll be officially complete with the Spring 2010 term. Summer school, if my class makes, here I come in 30 days.

I have my final critique (crit for short for you artsy people in the know) today at 3 p.m. It's not just mine but the whole class will be presenting their final prints, no more than 10 and no more than 30. I originally was thinking I might do a number somewhere in the middle, around 14-18, but after procrastinating and paying another $30 for a new packet of photo print paper I decided to go with the minimum. I ended up doing 11 but a couple are prints that I already had done previously.

We just didn't have to have prints this time, though. We had to purchase museum (rag) board for our "presentation." We could have 2-ply or 4-ply or higher if we wanted but the cost increases by the ply and the size. I ended up getting the 2-ply 8x10 and then some. It was something like $10 for a 25-pk but you get a little discount if you by more quantities. When I ordered the supplies, he hadn't shared yet on what color he recommended. I wanted to make sure I had the board because of my procrastination. I ordered two 25-packs of white, antique white, and black. I figured whichever color he didn't prefer I would just use for my own personal photos if I wanted to mount them or whatever. My total cost was something like $50 so it's not like I was out a lot of money and I have plans to use what I have left...for something, anything.

I went into the lab Saturday morning to develop my B&W roll of film. I kinked it near the end so a couple of my frames were damaged but luckily they weren't good pictures to begin with. I recommend using a roll of 16 or 24 exposures. Trying to put a roll of 36 exposures onto the reel that goes into the developer tank was easy to begin with but it started getting tricky near the end. I'm not sure if it's because the reel isn't really built for that long of a film roll or what because you have to get it on the reel in pitch dark. So, I can't see what the issue is until I'm done developing it but by that time I forget about checking because it takes about 30 minutes to develop the film. After developing, I put it in the drying closet - a closet to let film sort of drip dry but no actual "drying" done. The professor recommends a drying period of one hour although it probably doesn't actually take that long. I decided it was too nice of a day to spend in the lab so I left intending to return later that evening or the next morning.

Returning Saturday night didn't happen. Sunday morning didn't happen either.

Sunday afternoon I finally get to the lab to make some prints. I took the kids and their cousin with me to get them out of the house. They also helped develop some of the prints after I used the enlarger. They definitely helped speed up the process. I could keep making prints while they were running them through the developer, stop bath, fixer and then the wash. They like seeing the "magic" happen too.

Anyway, 17 prints later (some were dupes of me trying to get the exposure time right for some of the prints) and I was ready to leave for home after about 2 1/2 hours. I missed my roller hockey game. It was at 6 p.m. but I didn't get home from printing until about 5:30 p.m. Not enough time to get home, get ready for hockey and then get there by 6 p.m.

So, I'll be on my way to class in about an hour to leave my prints for my final grade. I think they look pretty good. They good use a little more tweaking here and there but the paper isn't cheap nor is my time. Maybe I'll digitally capture a few and post them for all to view.