Sorg vs the Yard: Part 1

So, I've never been much of a nature guy. I cut the grass at home on our acre or so of land as I grew up. But that was a riding lawnmower. And there wasn't much else for landscaping going on. You mowed the walkable, wide open areas, and that was a bout it.

Now that I've owned a house, I'm finding that I may have done more work for my couple hundred square foot lot than I ever did back home. But I've learned a few things...

• My hands are too big for standard gloves. Wal-Mart doesn't carry things for big people. Give up. Go to Lowes, maybe. Or a real hardware store. Might be better there.
  
• Go Amish. My push lawnmower crapped out last year. The cord broke, to be exact. So we decided, instead of maintaining this thing, and paying for the gas (not much, but another cost), so we bought a manual mower. And let me tell you, that works wonders for building in a work out every week. Just don't let your grass get too high.
  
• Clippers are my friend. The bushes started getting out of hand. It was clipper time. I bought the standard clippers and get Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake on the bushes. Oh yeah...
• If you stab me, I will cut you. There were two bushes that bookended the gate entrance. They started getting bigger. Then they started snagging on my clothes. They turned red. As of this weekend, I no longer have two bushes bookending my gate entrance....
• Yard ponds are death traps....to birds and chipmunks. I have no remedy for this yet.....
  
• Nature is a force, and she will take over... You know how we see in movies like I Am Legend how nature will take over our world if left alone? That's what happens when I ignore the empty lot next to my house for too long. I have vines creeping up the side of the house, trees threatening to invate my porch. I actually discovered that the offending tree seems to have almost completely died under the weight of the vine that is growing over it! The back of my house, where my yard is terraced out, the plants have started to poor over the back fence.
  
• I think there's a hobbit hole in my backyard. Earlier in the season, as I assessed what work needed done, I ventured under that terrace and thought I saw a small hole that a little man could live in. I will invistigate further...
  

In the end...I think I found my answer....

I call it the Skynet Lawn Service....

5 Years Down: A Lifetime to Go....

I really didn't know how I wanted to celebrate this anniversary, and fate would have it my plans were dashed, as they have been the last four anniversaries. See, there's a curse around this June 5 date. For almost three years straight, either of us was severely ill, or we wouldn't have much for money, or things were simply too crazy with out careers and such, that we really haven't celebrated proper our wedding day since.

So it was a pretty typical day. We did some Max & Erma's the day before, and that's about it. But I thought it'd be a good time to reminisce with some pictures from the day.

Wordpress move...

Well, expect some movement in the next week or so. I've determined I've certainly outgrown what Blogger has to offer me on this page, and my comfort level with Wordpress has been steadily growing with the work I've done with it over the last year or so.

The biggest thing that scares me is the export/import process. Heck, I haven't even updated any of my wordpress installs for fear of a corruption. But that will change.

But, I'm looking forward to have the freedom to insert a wee bit more of my personality in this blog in the future, as apposed to working in a half full sandbox...

The Proposal: Funnier Than Mounted Police

Man, I love free previews. A couple of years back, I was lucky enough to attend the Myspace screening of Harry Potter, and that was a trip. Recently, my coworker showed me a fantastic Facebook group that lists some advanced screenings in the area.  So I packed up the wife after work and told her we were going on a date.  As I concealed my printed email "pass" so she thought I had some stroke to get her into a movie showing a week and a half in advance...

But I digress....

The movie was your typical fair.  Actually, something of a role reversal for Sandra Bullock from her Hugh Grant flick I slept through.  Or Bridget Jones Diary.  Really, I guess any Hugh Grant vehicle.  But the difference is Ryan Reynolds not being as much of a British tool.  Reynolds, positioned as her "Executive Assistant" underling, is fantastic in in being the workaholic trying to get ahead, and the one liner once he gains some sort of power over his boss in her unfortunate situation with immigration.  

Things get sticky when Sandra Bullock's character, a Canadian immigrant, is less than astute in her paperwork to work in the country.  Her Visa is denied, and she pulls Reynolds in.  The majority of the film then takes place in Alaska, which I guess is like Canada 2.  But still.  This is one of those postcard pieces that makes me want to move  to Alaska when I'm tired of civilization.  But Canadian immigrants?  I raise some  issues.  Last I knew, we couldn't go and work up in the Great White North very easily.  did Sandra Bullock get in on her good looks?  Her agreeance on performing a semi-nude scene, finally?  

Also, sort of funny since Ryan Reynolds is the Canadian Native in real life.  Oh,  Canada.  The talent you export...

Also, considering the last two times I've seen Reynolds in the last two months was serving tables and being 'effing DEADPOOL!!!!!

I enjoy a movie with a great supporting cast.  Especially one as surprisingly recocnizable as this.  Craig T Nelson (Coach), Betty White (Golden Girls), and Mary Steenburgen (Back to the Future 3) filled out the visited family.  I never imagined Betty White as Native American decendant (neither would I have my own grandmother-in-law, either), but this continued my reminder of how funny she is after seeing her on My Name is Earl earlier this season.  But the surprises, of course, are Aasif Mandvi from the Daily Show and Oscar Nuñez of The Office in his many...roles...

Finally, I have to say.  I think I found a friend for Bijou. Is this not the second cutest thing you've ever seen?

Wrestling Mayhem Show 170: insertwittytitlehere

the Mayhem Crew is here, and we’re bringing the mail, the news, and some E3?  There’s a lot of news from the recent E3 press conferences, Kennedy being future endeavored, and what Mad Mike thinks of the recent legend returns….

 

This is Episode 170 for Tuesday, June 2, 2009. You can get the episode here on Talkshoe, subscribe, and as always, stay tuned to www.wrestlingmayhemshow.com for the latest! The Wrestling Mayhem Show is recorded live and can be heard/viewed from 8 PM to 10 PM Eastern on Talkshoe.com and BlogTV.com. Let us know what you think of the show, and your thoughts on the wrestling world by emailing us at goodtimes@wrestlingmayhemshow.com! Don’t forget you can find links related to the show’s news stories and more at our Delicious Links Page for Episode 170!

Corey Wilkes & Abstract Pulse
“Rain” (mp3)
from “Cries From Tha Ghetto”
(Pi Recordings)

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Black Moth Super Rainbow
“Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods” (mp3)
from “Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods”
(Graveface Records)

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No More Kings
“Obey the Groove” (mp3)
from “And the Flying Boombox”
(Astonish Entertainment)

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The Great TV Experiment Part 3: Alterations 360

Here's where we have some speed bumps.  We've talked about the detachment.  We've talked about conventional free television.   Now we get into the part that makes this move more exciting these days.  IPTV.  

Now, IPTV as we know it today translates into your Hulu, CBS.com, Podcasts, iTunes downloads, Black20.com, Youtube, and so on... But the method for how you accomplish this will depend on a few things.  That would be the hardware available to you, and your technical expertise.  

The first method I broached was getting some computers resurrected from my own stash of hardware.  At first, I had some success with an Athalon XP 1800.  I realized I had the parts to get a Pentium 4 running, and proceeded to upgrade. 

For reference, this is what I'm running:

Pentium 4 ~ 2.4 Ghz
512 MB RAM
Geforce 6200
Windows XP Professional SP3

In both cases, I formatted and loaded XP from scratch.  Loading the newest Internet Explorer and little else.  

Performance is key.  If you're sitting there and the framerate drops, or the resolution is worse than standard definition, you may have some issues enjoying your programs.  When watching some shows from CWTV.com (Smallville, Reaper) there was no problem.  But the videos didn't run full wide screen, and a small player was installed into Internet Explorer.  DailyMotion worked for the wrestling videos I catch up on.  TNA Wrestling's feed from SpikeTV's site ran well enough.  But Hulu.  The big seller for this method, had issues.  It was watchable, but Dennis Leary is sort of jerky as he bitches about the trials of a fireman.  Finally, Hulu just released the new desktop player, with specs that outweighed what I had available as far as a spare computer.  

So I decided to revisit an old friend in PlayOn from TheMediaMall.  This is an option to works out a little better for the rest.   This method works by installing on your PC and works as a sort of bypass for content to your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.  Having my Xbox 360 on an HDMI cable and using my more powerful dual core laptop's background processes makes this a bit more promising.  I've sat here working away at my web work, blog writing, and general surfing as the same machine processed and passed off Hulu and Revision 3 content for the last four days as we caught up on our shows and explored some new content, such as Scam School, and the old Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1.  (Don't judge.)   The new plugin system that's been implemented is what makes this even more intriguing.  Revision 3 is the first official add on, but the message board leaves the door open to much more.  I've added HGTV and Food Network (for Missy), GameTrailers and Adult Swim.  It's $40, and it requires that you already have this hardware, but if you're a big enough of a technology buff that you frequent blogs like this, you're probably a likely candidate for this.  The shear volume of content is worth the one time access price.  On top of what I use, you can access Amazon's On Demand service, Netflix without an Xbox Gold account, (and on PS3), CBS, and ESPN content.  I'm currently  making sure all the bugs are worked out in the 14 day free trial, but that purchase is as good as made.  

Is this the end all source of what you can do?  Of course not.  The most interesting thing is watching how these companies put themselves out there to see what sticks with consumers to deliver content to you.  Keep an eye for what's best for you.  

Anatomy of a Road Trip: New England Edition

This past weekend, the missus Sorg and myself ventured to New Hampshire to visit our friend, Miss Ashley Hoover. Last year, I presented the Anatomy of a Road Trip. Now, we are ready for an update.

Go Someplace New!

Our trips in the past have tended to take us down the usual corridors of I-79 and I-76 in the past with all of our trips to New York City and Western New York. This trip, I like to say that I had a chance to explore the rest of the state. Almost half of our trip was simply crossing Pennsylvania. Seeing the outlooks as we drove along, throught he Appelechians, the Poconos, past Scranton, and just north of New York City crossing the Hudson. Crossing into Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, all new states to us!

Conversation is still key.

For such a damn long trip at over 11 hours, we didn't strike up the iPod as much as we did on even our 3 hour trip to Newville last year. Maybe it's because there were only the two of us. Maybe because we were just enthralled with all of the new sights. Only when we sort of faded from eachother, surfing on our phones and such, did things get sort of tense. Turns missed, sour times. Thankfully, these were few.

Don't be in a hurry.

Yes it was a long trip, and typically, I would allow for enough time to just stop and NOT be in the damn car for a good amount of time. Unfortunately, fitting the trip into Memorial weekend between our jobs proved problematic, given the long drive. This is a battle I wage all of the time.

GPS Makes it Easier.

Tom Tom. Garmin. Mike Mike. Whatever you have. For us, I was juggling Missy's new iPhone and mine to cross reference as we went. Helped when we got lost in Boston as well. Having a local tour guide helped as well.

Something to Share.

Thanks to our give of a small Randy Orton to Ashley, thanks to her declaration of him being "Yummy", the weekend was an adventure for lil' Orton. And he didn't poop in one gym bag.

Declare a Challenge.
On our first trip this year, out to New York City, Will declared to get something peculiar from each rest stop. In Boston, I was determined to conquer the Norm Burger at Cheers. On our way back, we realized we should have grabbed a lottery ticket from each of the 5 states we visited. Something to accomplish, and maybe a story about how it went.

Go Where Someone Knows your Name.

And I'm not talking about Cheers again. I've had the fortune to visit our friend in New York City three times in the last two years, and this time visited our friend of New England. It was great to have a friend who'd allow us to pull up some floor or a couch. It cuts the cost of your trip in half, sometimes, and you have someone to show you around that is familiar with the area. And meeting Ashley's parents was a blast!

So that's my amendments. I'm still not sure where the rest of the year will take me, but I'm open to some new possibilities...

Check out pictures from the trip on my Flicker page!