Bad Movie Night

I think these put things in a perspective most any gamer can understand.

http://www.popehat.com/2008/06/24/dawn-of-politics-vol-i/
http://www.popehat.com/2008/06/25/dawn-of-politics-vol-ii/

Amy wanted me to start house hunting, and BOY HOWDY am I house hunting.  I am chomping at the bit to do this.  I send emails to our realtor like I'm a stalker ex-boyfriend with just a few more houses I'd love to look at.  The main frustration is that of the self-imposed moving goalposts of what we actually want in a house.  Well, here we go.  I'm going to set these down in writing because committing them to memory is not working and is likely infuriating for a few people not the least of which is Amy. 

Location:

• Within 10 miles driving distance of Ohio Turnpike Commission HQ in Berea (cuts down the driving to work).  Seriously, take a map and draw a 10-mile radius around 682 Prospect Street, Berea OH and that's where I want to live.  The cheaper the better.  I do NOT want to choke on gas prices just driving to work.
  
• Quiet
• Can be: Rural, gentrified Suburb
• Can NOT be: City, Urban, way the hell away from work
• Good schools (for when I have a kid, yes it will happen eventually!)
  

Features that I DEFINITELY want:

• 3 Bedrooms
• 1.5 Bathrooms, although I will consider 1 if it is a HUGE bathroom.
• Forced Air heating
  
• Decent Sized kitchen
  
• New(er) roof and windows, although if the house is nice it shouldn't be a huge issue - it would just come out of our bid instead
• Decent sized backyard which does not consist of one huge driveway pad

Features that I'd love to see, but can do without:

• Basement (optional, a large garage would work in lieu of this
• Gas appliances (I suck at electric cooking, sorry)
• Central Air Conditioning (I can install this if the ductwork exists, I will just take it out of the bid)

What I DO NOT WANT:

• Fixer-Uppers not in move in condition (this is for Amy's sanity)
• Knob and Tube electric (oh come on)
• Radiant Heating (radiators + little kids = burnt hands)
• Homes being sold "as-is"
• Homes with Mold of any sort (see: cancer house)

What I probably do not want to deal with:

• Foreclosed, bank owned homes (90% are trashed anyway)
  
• Corporate owned homes (most of these are aborted house flips NOT in move in condition.)

I think this is pretty much everything, and it will narrow down the range of houses alot.  Those of you in the mood to start looking for houses, don't make my mistake.  WRITE DOWN what you want, and STICK TO IT.  I am surprised Amy hasn't shanked me with a screwdriver yet.

The title of today's entry has two meanings.  This post addresses one of them directly.  You may have to look a little harder to figure out the second one.
Two years ago I was ambivalent about hunting for houses.  These days I just want to get the hell out of the apartment and move on with my life.  It does help, however, that what Amy and I are seeing in houses in our price range is a bit more palatable than previous experiences.  It does help that houses in this area are relatively nice compared to areas we were looking in before (mainly Elyria).  I do make fun of Amy a bit because when she calls me with an address of a house for sale that she has driven by and fallen in love with, it usually ends up in the $180,000+ range. 

Needless to say, coming to terms with what you can afford is a difficult process at times.

The aforementioned clock watching frustration comes from waiting to schedule house viewings.  I want to get out there and get this over with.  Amy's probably been wanting it a lot longer than I have, and I will admit this (she'd be the first to tell you I need a LOT of badgering before I do some things).  Now?  I am eager to move on in my life.  Hand me the prunes because holy shit, I'll be 30 in November.  Ouch!

As an aside, when we do get a house, we're likely to have a spare washer and drier to get rid of - be it the one that just happens to come with the house, or the set we have in storage at the moment.  If anyone needs a set let me know so I can hit you up later.  We'll work out a good deal so you don't have to spend your Saturday afternoons in the laundromat making sure that someone doesn't pilfer your skivies.

Work

I recently celebrated my 1-year anniversary of working for the OTC.  There was little fanfare, and the 'celebration' pretty much consisted of me going "oh yea, today's my 1-year.  Cool." and getting back to work. 

I was supposed to be on the road a lot over the next two weeks, but it seems those plans are put on hold for the time being.  I'm kind of disappointed because I actually wanted to get out and accomplish something.  Besides, highway time is time I'm not sitting at my desk listening to someone belching for 45 minute straight.

Life

Memorial Day is next week, and our plans are similar to everyone else's.  I'm bringing steaks over to my parents' place and chowing down.  I'm also hoping that I have enough comp time banked to take Tuesday off to complete the 4-day weekend.  It'd be nice.

The following weekend is going to be busy also, what with a retro gaming lan happening.  I only do these two or three times a year, so It is something that I'm looking forward to.  Especially spending some good time with old friends.  Depending on interest, we're probably going to head up to Cedar Point as well for, you know, sunlight.

I took the last week of July (7/25 - 8/4) off of work for a possible vacation, but it seems Amy still has to work.  Bummer.  Does anyone want to do something nerdy for that week like hit up an out of state lan or something?  I haven't been on vacation since 2006.

(Don't worry, Amy and I plan to have a vacation later in the year.  Or at least, spend the money we would for a vacation on a house.  She tells me that is just as good but somehow I don't believe her.)

House Hunting

I suppose I should get started on this.  I found out that it'd be like, $1500 cheaper per year for me to live in Strongsville despite higher taxes.  Gas really is that much of a factor now.  I doubt i'm the first person to come to this conclusion.  The plus side is that the taxes pay for some pretty rad stuff, like a CHEAP rec center 5 minutes away.  I'm pretty glad about this, because I like the area, and there is a lot to do around within a short distance.  I don't have to drive 20 minutes to hit an interstate either.

The only downside is that I'll be buying less house than I would get somewhere further away, but I think I can deal all things considered.

Bowling

As Amy mentioned, we passed up a trip to Port Clinton this past weekend in favor of a 6-person bowling outing, and it was well worth the time.  Those of you who came, we'll have to find places to do this closer to where you all live, so you don't always have to schlep out to Strongsville.

Gaming

80 hours of gameplay later, I come up for air after finally beating Final Fantasy 12.  I'd rate it maybe 8/10, but only because the main character is basically some random dude along for the ride with vitally important people and acts like his opinion means anything.  I half expected him to be tugging on Ashe's skirt like a little kid bothering his mom for a candy bar whenever he had something to say.  I didn't think it was possible to make a character more annoying than Wakka. 

I ended up doing about 40 of the hunts, and forgoing (for the time being) the ff12 equivalents of Emerald and Ruby weapon (Yiazmat and Omega Mk. 12).  I might go back and do some of the sidequests, but after beating the game I'm not that motivated.  I can actually be productive again.

I'd be lying if I said that this game didn't cut into my exercise routine - it pretty much killed it entirely - but I knew this going in.  I'll probably get back to it shortly, but to be honest this sub 60-degree weather han't helped much either.

Whatr's next?  Probably Mass Effect once a friend loans it to me.  Hope he likes FF12 :P

Someone in our building on Sunday was either beating their wife or cheating on someone, because there were three cop cars outside on two separate occasions less than two hours apart.  I half expected to see the COPS tv crew out there.  Some people were trying to pull a guy out of a car and he wasn't having any of it!

An additional universal constant:  If you need to take the garbage out, it will be raining.  Proved for the 45th time this morning.

There's more at rumblo.com

http://www.somethingawful.com/flash/shmorky/babby.swf

This is apparently eerily accurate.  Well, except for 'not sensitive to art' which is wrong (I am a musician, after all).  At least it's how I view myself, but that sort of thing usually differs wildly to how others view you.


My Personality

Neuroticism	57
Extraversion	55
Openness to Experience	40
Agreeableness	41
Conscientiousness	27

You very rarely feel depressed and are usually in a good frame of mind, however you feel enraged when things do not go your way. You are sensitive about being treated fairly and feel resentful and bitter if you think you are being cheated. You are an active group participant but usually prefer to let someone else be the group leader. You are not interested in the arts and do not display aesthetic sensitivity. You are mostly a compassionate person, however you prefer to make objective judgments when possible, however you are not adverse to confrontation and will sometimes even intimidate others to get your own way. You are a reasonably organized person and like to have a certain amount of routine in your life.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. The best Buying Pet Gifts.

 

• Amy gets stomach flu
• Cats get stomach flu (both of them.)
  
• Amy gets sore throat/cold
• I get sore throat/cold

That's about it really.  :woot:  Except for catching up on some gaming.  See below.

20

I'm sure some of you guys can do better. Tagging ALL OF YOU.

BELLEVUE, Ohio -- Police said an Ohio man has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a picnic table.

Police arrested Arthur Price Jr. after an anonymous tipster dropped off three DVDs that reportedly showed Price in the act.According to NBC Toledo, Ohio, affiliate WNWO-TV, the videos show Price tilting the metal round picnic table on its side and then laying up against it to have sexual intercourse with the table. Afterward, he can then be seen cleaning the table and the deck.

During questioning, he reportedly admitted to having sex with the table. Police said he also admitted to bringing the table inside his home for sex.Price faces four counts of public indecency. He was freed after posting $20,000 bond, authorities said.

This entry is likely to be a bit controversial, so if you're not interested in my political views you may want to skip this one.


( Read more... )

Rock Band night(s) this week are Saturday and Sunday.  I know that Sunday is Easter, but alot of us are lacking things to do in the PM after stuffing ourselves with ham.  Feel free to come down on 7pm either day, we'll have everything set up.

YES THIS INCLUDES YOU TOO, TORI.

It's been about 3 weeks now, so I figured I'd update everyone with a progress update on my recent fitness kick.  I'm hardly the most gung-ho person about personal fitness, and some things I only do grudgingly (running, for instance) - but I am getting older and you have to do certain things to keep the energy you had in your teens and twenties. 

Eating healthier, and in more reasonable portions, is going well so far.  Healthy snacks (carrots, pretzels, etc.) in small doses throughout the day help keep down hunger pains and the desire to eat a huge lunch or dinner.  Sometimes I eat a super-full meal (such as last night's tacos), but usually lunch consists of a wrap and a pickle, at most.  It takes some getting used to because you don't feel full right away when you are finished.  Instead, you feel sated 15-20 minutes afterwards.  I've also found that frozen blueberries topped with fat free whipped cream is an awesome healthy treat.  For heart health, I've started drinking a glass of red wine per day. 

I've been kicking my own ass at least 3 times a week to get up, and go do some exercise.  It usually consists of a 5 minute brisk walk, followed by 10 min of running, finishing off with 3-5 min cooldown.  Then, I hit the weights for a bit of toning.  Not really a whole bunch, and not at excessive weights.  Really I am only doing the exercise as a way to get my heart rate up for a period of time.  I've learned that the ten minutes running on the treadmill are the longest ten minutes of your life, but the feeling you get when you're finished with your workout is well worth the temporary discomfort.

You'd think that I'd have to be getting some benefit out of this, right?  Well, I am, but it's mainly things that I took for granted when I was younger.  Things like fitting into my pants, the energy to go do stuff, reducing the difficulties breathing caused by my asthma, and simply feeling better about myself.  It doesn't really cut into my videogame time (we all know this is important, right?), nor the time I spent with catzrsweet, so it's pretty much about making better use of my time.

Amy covered all the recent stuff so there's no reason to reiterate it here.

Here's a comic for ya'll:

At least we know what happens THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.

The upside is that I can go outside in a snowsuit and start burrowing a network of tunnels through the drifts!

That's right! You heard it here first.. er, well, second!

Much to the excitement (and horror) of our friends, we are planning another bad movie night.  It'll be hard to top Monsturd as the worst movie ever made (it rivals even Manos: Hands of Fate).  Right now we're looking at Saturday, March 1st, starting at 7pm.  As always, bring your worst movies and we'll pick from the best of them. 

For those of you who I've talked to who aren't sure what to expect, or what constitutes a 'bad movie', here's a helpful list:

• Usually Sci-Fi or horror (although bad movies come in all genres)
  
• Has a low budget, or a high budget put to poor use
  
• Has a crazy, off the wall, unbelievably retarded concept and execution
  
• Uses D-list actors (or lower)
  
• Bonus Round: Stars Lee Van Cleef or Bruce Li (not Lee)
  
• Is something you bought off the dollar rack at Record Exchange
  

Some of our past hits (and misses) include:

• Monsturd (see the link above)
  
• Manos: The Hands of Fate
  
• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
  
• TNT Jackson/The Black Godfather (DOUBLE FEATURE).
  

Food and/or alcohol is always welcome, but not required. If you need directions, feel free to give me a call or I can call you if I have contact information.

Oh wow, I don't troll youtube often and this is probably pretty old but I think this is great.


Also this one threw me for a loop:


This one brings back memories of a guildie humming "Do the Hustle!" over Teamspeak:

I guess I missed day 3 of my columbus trip.  It was fairly uneventful, except for a trip to Hoggy's with Ian.  I was informed that it was the best restaraunt on the OSU campus, and wasn't disappointed.  Their menu consists of meat, meat, and more meat, with a side of meat; it wouldn't be a good dinner candidate for the vegetarians reading!  I settled for the pulled pork dinner, with a side of loaded mashed potatoes and baked beans.  Ian had this monstrous entree which he informed me would also be the next day's lunch and dinner.

Wednesday I went to training, and was back in Strongsville by 3pm.  Not much else to say there. Amy already went over the previous few days' events, so I won't go into that again.

Much to the excitement (and horror) of our friends, we are planning another bad movie night.  It'll be hard to top Monsturd as the worst movie ever made (it rivals even Manos: Hands of Fate).  Right now we're looking at Saturday, March 1st, starting at 7pm.  Feel free to post here if you're interested.  As always, bring your worst movies and we'll pick from the best of them.  Food and/or alcohol is always welcome, but not required.

ahah oh god