They Can Swim

I didn’t realize that I would be writing this post this early, but because of outside forces, I have decided to let everyone know the BIG, on in this case, the little news.

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On the Thursday before Mothers day, my wife and I found out that we were going to have a baby. This was VERY incredible news that we had both been looking forward too. The first person we told was my best friend. Why him? Well, he and his wife are going through the exact same thing at the exact same time. In fact, when he told us, we were also pregnant, but we just didn’t know it yet. Sorry Mom, but you were second. That Sunday, me and my wife told my mother-in-law and her family and my wife’s grandparents. We tried to keep it a secret, but my wife has been telling everyone since then. She had requested that they keep it a secret, but that just isn’t happening.

The bad part of all this is that we are only 6 to 8 weeks into this for the first time. I have resisted telling people because I don’t want to share this great thing of ours and then we have an unfortunate accident. But I can no longer resist the urge to keep this a secret. My wife and I want to share this wonderful news with everyone.

During this time, though, please respect out privacy on this matter. I will keep everyone updated on the podcast, Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions for me or Elspeth, please e-mail me or send me a private message. Also, please instead of congratulating us, please pray for us to have a safe and healthy pregnancy.

Thank you.

JediChric and JedisPadme

Ps. The title of this post is a direct rip off of Mojo’s thread. Thanks for the help with that, Mojo.

The Mouse Will Play

Okay, so I promised this too you a couple of weeks ago, and I know that I am late, but here is what I did that weekend.

• Mix orange juice, milk and grape juice into one drink and start gulping, while keeping the toilet in close range
I didn’t do this, but only because I was out of grape juice.
• Did anyone see “Risky Business” and the Tom Cruise dancing scene? I’m just saying...
This was fun. But instead of doing the “Risky Business”, it was the “Risky Macarena”.
• Watching horror movies without worrying about scaring the wife to death
I didn’t watch any horror movies, with the exception of “Stupid Teenagers Must Die”. It was funny, but horror movies just aren’t my bag.
• Having a full bathroom sink to myself
This is one of those perks that you don’t think of until you actually have it.
• Not having to worry about whether the bathroom seat is up or down
Please see last explanation.
• Falling asleep with pizza on my stomach
I did this with one small exception, I had the pizza on a plate so the fries and mayo wouldn’t leak onto my clothes.
• Not having to worry about chocolate magically disappearing
I didn’t have to worry about this, because my wife either ate it all before she left or took it with her.

I would now like to apologize for not updating this blog very often. I find it easier to rant and rave in 140 characters over Twitter and Facebook.

Fundamentalist Right-Wing Extremist

(I would have to thank SlapShotSal for giving me inspiration for this blog post)

This Miss USA/Miss California controversy continues to flare up. And now, of course Hollywood has to get into the act. It has to be the most liberal of all communities has to go on record and make fun of the answer that Carrie Prejean gave. (Here is the story. As an aside, I’m glad that Alicia Silverstone has found some acting work since “Clueless”.) But they have the right, remember that in 2004 they stood on stage with John Kerry and said that they were the voice of America. Really? So it stands to reason that they would voice their opinion and claim that what they believe is what is right for America. I’ve written about my dislike for Hollywood before, so I’m not going to rehash that, but this brings up an interesting point that I discussed on Twitter yesterday.

What I want to talk about for this post has to do with beliefs. Sal, Burton and I had a giant twitter storm (number of tweets, not anger) going on about how no matter what position we take on a topic we get labeled with a tag. I’ll start with the silly and move to the serious ones.

If I say I prefer the Xbox 360 over the PS3, and make the most convincing reason for it, I’m a 360 fanboy. Why? Is it because I HATE the PS3? No, it could be because I play the 360 10 times more than any other console I have played in my entire life (that includes the NES and Atari). But because I like the 360, that makes me an Xbox 360 fanboy. WRONG! I like it because it better, that’s why!

I sometimes wonder what people would have labeled me after I took the Pepsi Challenge if the internet were around in the 80’s. I know what I would have heard: I’m a Pepsi Fanboy. I like the taste of Pepsi over Coke because I’m a fanboy, not because I absolutely hate the taste of Coke. No, it’s because I’m a Pepsi fanboy.

Do you guys really want me to talk about the one controversy that I constantly put up with? Yeah, it’s the Star Wars versus Star Trek. Well, I’m a Star Wars fan...if you couldn’t already tell that. Reason: I don’t believe in the utopian society that Star Trek is representative of. Star Wars: it’s the melting pot (American has been called the melting pot in the past).

Now let’s get serious. If you like Mel Gibson and his movies, you’re an anti-Semite bigot. If you don’t agree with what Obama does in the White House, you’re a racist bigot. If you agree with Carrie Prejean, you’re a homophobic idiot that Hollywood will make lampoon. You can’t have an opinion in this world anymore, and if you do, you’re wrong and possibly one of the above.

These days, though, not only can you be labeled on the internet for being vocal and opinionated. You can now be labeled as a threat to the United States. This is one label that can stick. If you don’t know what I am talking about, the Homeland Security Secretary placing a footnote that at least implied that soldiers that come home from Iraq and Afghanistan could be “extremists”. Yes, that does only apply to soldiers returning from war, but what about a memo that hasn’t been leaked that states people on message boards are extremists. Or tags people who blog as extremists? Where does it stop?

I’ve never been afraid to give my opinion, because I was raised to have beliefs and not be afraid to tell someone what they are. I am that way and I will continue to be that way. But we live in a world today, where we don’t have the right to view the world from a certain perspective and if we do, we could be labeled as a fundamentalist right-wing extremist.

Believe the Answer

It amazes me how one person can start a controversy. Imagine, to Miss California’s Carrie Prejean’s surprise, how one answer can kick-start the hottest controversy in the past year. Shall we start at the beginning?

During last year’s election, most liberal state in the Union decided to ban on Gay Marriage when they passed Proposition 8 with 7 million people voting for it. Whether it was right, or wrong doesn’t matter (you can also apply this to the 18th Amendment). It was passed into law. There was a huge uproar when this happened, but it did happen.

Fast forward five months. As one friend of mine called him, “The tool Perez Hilton” asked Miss California, during the Miss USA pageant, a question about Gay Marriage.

Watch it for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYV1aBDH7cA

Now, Perez Hilton is furious about this. Why did he ask that question? The reason: he asked it to create a national controversy if the contestant answered it the way he thought it would have been answered. Now, the country is divided once again.

What was so wrong with Miss California’s answer? I couldn’t find an issue with it. Was it right? That is an answer that will vary from person to person, but to Miss Prejean’s credit, she answered it with conviction, knowing that her answer could cost her the crown. In other words, I think she did the right thing. Not for the answer that she gave, but because of the conviction in which she answered it. She didn’t lie. She didn’t try and be political. She formed an opinion and answered the question.

Did she lose? In one way: Yes. She was named First-Runner Up, and didn’t win. She could have lied and won the pageant, but by not doing that, I think she is more of a winner than Miss North Carolina (I don’t know what her name is). But she has also won in the eyes of the people who want their role models to tell the truth. She is a winner in my eyes because of that.

Now the after affects of this are not fully known, but I can say one thing. If you become a fan of hers on Facebook: you’re a homophobe. If you disagree with her, then you’re pro-gay marriage. What does one do in this instance? For one, I agree that her sticking with her beliefs is admirable. I think this will cost her fame and money in the long run, but at least she can keep her head held high.

Now for “that tool”: Perez Hilton. He knew what he was doing. He knew that by asking that question, he was taking a competition that was meant to be about beauty and turned it into a political circus (and probably gave him the highest ratings he has ever had on his blog). Calling Carrie Prejean a “stuipd b****” was also wrong. She’s not stupid, she just has conviction and is willing to stand by it. I think someone who stands up for their beliefs has more moral character than a person that will lie to me to make me like them. Do I sometimes not want to hear the “truth”? Yeah, but I respect a person more for sticking to their beliefs.

Shame on you Mrs. Hilton. SHAME!

When the Cat Is Away

My wife is leaving town for a few days, and I can’t help but say “YES!!!!” It’s back to the bachelor’s lifestyle for me. And I know that some of you our there say, “How could you be happy your wife is leaving?” Well, it’s sometimes good to be away from the one you love just to get a refresher of how much you enjoy time by yourself. You know, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” saying and all that. So, in that spirit, I will list the top things that I am looking forward to as a bachelor from tonight through Monday night.

• Mix orange juice, milk and grape juice into one drink and start gulping, while keeping the toilet in close range
• Did anyone see “Risky Business” and the Tom Cruise dancing scene? I’m just saying...
• Watching horror movies without worrying about scaring the wife to death
• Having a full bathroom sink to myself
• Not having to worry about whether the bathroom seat is up or down
• Falling asleep with pizza on my stomach
• Not having to worry about chocolate magically disappearing

Check back in with me next week to see if I actually did any of these things.

The Marriage Laws

I have only been married for a couple of years now, but I have come to learn that there are several undisputable/incorruptible rules. I will list them here:

1. When an agreement is made between the husband and wife, only the wife is allowed to break said rule in light of the fact that they are always right.
2. The wife is allowed and encouraged to by her friends to pass out contact information for the husband on any whim that they receive. This whim may include the need of a friend or family member that needs someone to fix cars, computers and/or the laws of physics. The fact that the husband is qualified or willing to do such a task is immaterial.
3. When a wife makes a mistake, a simple “oops” will suffice as an apology. The husband, on the other hand, is required by law to buy flowers, chocolate and wine (if he did a really bad thing like leave the cap off the toothpaste) to seek forgiveness, but that is only after he has apologized for three straight days and groveled on the floor and possibly a couple of nights of sleeping on the couch.
4. The old axiom of whoever controls the finances, controls the household is only true when the wife is in control of the household finances.
5. When eating a dinner prepared by the wife, the husband is only allowed to admit that it might have been a mistake to cook after the wife first admits to it. If the husband is the first to admit it, see rule 3. If a husband fails to cook a good meal, it is immediately tossed out and never allowed to be made again.
6. A husband is never allowed to say the wife looks fine. In his eyes, no matter how bad she dressed, the wife is the most beautiful woman on the earth and that is how it should be stated to the wife. If it is stated otherwise, see rule 3. The converse of this is that the wife can repeatedly tell the husband that they look fat, ugly and sloppy when dressed in certain ways. The husband’s only course of action is to change.
7. When both parties in a marriage have to use the restroom at the same time, it’s always ladies first. When a house is burning to the ground, it is always ladies first. When its time for TV, its ladies first. You get the idea that it is always ladies first, except for one instance: when someone dies, then usually it’s the husband that goes first...and we like it that way!

Fear the Purchase

Has anyone out there wanted to buy something, but didn’t knowing that a newer more advanced product will be released in the future. Take the iPhone, for example. In 2007, the iPhone was released and the collective masses went wild. They bought them up like there was no tomorrow. Well, wouldn’t you know it, a year later, the New and Improved iPhone was released with 3G. The people who bought the original iPhone now had to plop down more money for a second phone if they wanted the 3G (I think that was the case and may be otherwise and if so, please comment and let me know).

Now, comes little old me, who wants a Kindle. I think the Kindle would benefit both me and my wife. Actually, I think it would benefit my wife more with the text to speech option (if it is included for the books she wants). But right now, the Kindle is in Generation 2, and only has a black and white screen. Although I want one, I would be willing to wait for one that has a color screen, if that version is not that far off. Should we buy one, knowing that there will be a better version a year from then?

I like innovation and I love that the customer can push the make of devices to put new things, but I am always wary of buying something if it might mean buying it again a year later.

Because It Works

A lot of people, who know me well, think that I am a ball of negativity when it comes to moving to something new, well, I can agree and disagree with that statement. Let me give you an example of that.

Let’s use the Xbox 360 versus the PS3 online service as a good example. Xbox Live is one of the easiest and most worry free services that I have ever used (now I will admit that I don’t do a lot of them) and I am very pleased with the ease of use that is associated with that service. Want to see what your friends are doing? Just login and look. Want to join their party, click B (or is it Y?). Want to send them a message, again very easy. But you can do that pretty easily on the PS3 online also. But then you go to the next level and join someone game. On Xbox Live (XBL), it’s sometimes as easy as clicking “Join Game”. On the PS3, though, you have to jump through several hoops because unlike Xbox Live, the developers of the games determine what features you have in regards to multiplayer. It’s not a universal standard like XBL.

Now this applies to a lot of other things. Take Facebook, for example, I hated the MySpace layout, but absolutely LOVE the layout of Facebook. Simple, easy to understand and works nearly all the time. When someone hates something, it’s not always because of a bias, it’s because they sometimes prefer to have it a different way...because it works!

My Trip To Seattle

For anyone who had not figured it out, I was never in Seattle, and it was an APRIL FOOLS JOKE!!! I was in Richmond, VA for the whole day…

How it all started. I posted the news about the latest episode of Geezer Radio and then thought that I’d give a logical reason why I posted it that early. I was on a trip to Seattle. No one said anything, so I just continued on with it. At one point, I felt really bad that I was tricking you, but then I thought, “It’s April 1st. You should be expecting it.”

At one point, I even had my wife thinking I was in Seattle when we were chatting online at each others office.

The tools I used to perpetrate the hoax...Twitter, Google Maps, time and one very understanding wife that wanted to know why I didn't tell her I was going to Seattle... :~P

So thank you to the following people who participated in my joke. If it wasn't for you, I'd have felt pretty stupid (like I don't already).

My wife, JedisPadme
SparkStalker
Kiko Derderian
King Wulfgar
Furgus
Jeff MacMichael
Mrs. SlapShotSal
Th3Gunsl1ng3r

Delivery Man

I find it funny that once something goes bad enough, everyone knows about it. Case in point, my Xbox 360 died last week (thank you for your concern everyone), and I called in to 1-800-4MY-XBOX. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised in how good the customer service was. Yes, they had to have me sit in front of my 360 in order to properly test it, and yes they made me go through each individual steps designed only to test my patience, but after it was determined that I had a defective 360, they immediately took action. It was fast, easy and very efficient.

Now comes the very laughable part. They asked me if I had been shipped a “coffin (mailing box that MS sends out)” before. I responded yes, and they immediately shipped it to me. Fine. What bothers me the most about these “coffins” is that EVERYONE knows what they are for. In fact, this exchange happened to me just a few minutes ago.

The UPS man came through the door of my office to deliver the packages. He wheeled them in the systems helpdesk room, had someone sign for them and then started to hand them out. He called my name and handed the box. As soon as I had the box in my hands, the man looked at me and said, “If you didn’t play it that much, it wouldn’t blow out.” It really bothers me that the UPS man knows that the contents (or lack there of) of a package, the shape and size can tell him what the box is for. Not only is this a privacy issue, but what about security? What if my replacement box comes and it is immediately identified and stolen? Microsoft, could you please find a new box to ship things in?

Better yet, can you make a console without a HUGE hardware issue like this?