Reckon I’m ’bout due for an update…
The birthday came and went, and I thank everyone who came to my party. It was a very good time. Normally my parties end up sucking because no one showed up. But there was a better turnout that I had hoped for and I was so glad to have all those people there. I rather enjoy playing host, or at least, I enjoy having lots of friends over. There are pictures here and here.
I’m becoming obsessed with poker. Ali’s parents bought me an awesome set of poker chips for my birthday and all I want to do is play with them. Preferably while playing poker. We played at my party and then again the next day, and I just want to keep playing. People, expect poker night to happen quite often (if I have anything to say about it).
I’m working on putting together a residency-style workshop program which would involve me going into schools and teaching about sound and sound design. It was Ali’s idea. I have a meeting with the director of education for McCarter Theatre on Wednesday to get some ideas and discuss the possibility of us working together on something. I’ll keep you updated on that one.
Sorry, Spike, but you did it to me…
Interesting conversation going on over there. Go take a look. It’s me against everyone! 
TiVo has a Media Center option built into their Series 2 DVR’s. It allows you to connect your TiVo to your home network and then play music or view pictures that you may have stored on your computer on your television. When I first read about it, I didn’t bother to hook it up because it seemed like a hassle and not really all that useful. Well, today I decided, what the hell? So I set it up, and it was incredibly simple (especially since my TiVo was already hooked up to my network for it’s daily updates). I have to say, it’s pretty cool. It’s nice that I can now play all of the music on my computer without having to connect my iPod to the stereo or put CDs into the DVD player. It’s cool that I can now show people all the pictures I have of Cindi that are on my computer without having to move my computer. It’s actually a pretty nice option. Just one more thing that makes TiVo cool and totally worth the money I spent on it.
Speaker catches fire at Hillary Duff concert
I prefer to think of it as the speaker putting itself out of its misery…
Remember when “service” used to mean something?
Last Thursday, I took my van over to Pep Boys. I thought that the blower motor had burned out because there was no air coming out of the vents in my dashboard or by my feet. I knew the AC was still working because there was still air coming out of the vents for the defroster. I waited in line at Pep Boys, and then explained my problem to the man behind the desk. He asked me how long I could leave the van, and then explained that that was the sort of thing for which one usually needed to make an appointment. I said that was fine and asked when I could make an appointment for. He told me to bring the van back on Monday. I said great and asked if I could make an appointment. He told me to just bring it back on Monday. Confused, I left.
Today I brought the van back, and the same man was behind the counter. I waited in line, fully expecting to be told that I had to make an appointment and prepared to be angry. Then another man showed up behind the counter, so I went to him and explained the problem I was having. He listened, and then asked me to go out to the van with him and start it for him, because he didn’t think the problem was with the blower motor. I did this, and he explained to me that the problem was actually with the blenders, which are the doors that shift the air through the varios vents depending on the position of the dial in the dashboard. This, he explained, was a problem for which I needed to go to the dealer.
Annoyed that the first man had never asked about this and saved me from coming back to Pep Boys for the second time, I drove over to the dealer, Ali in tow (for the second time). When I got there, I explained my problem to the man there who listened very intently, and then asked if I had an appointment. I said I didn’t, at which point he got up from the counter and walked over to another counter, got out an appointment book, and put my name in it for tomorrow…
Last night, I thought I’d do something different. It was a really nice night and I thought I’d sit out in my backyard and use my computer out there, since I have wireless internet access and a laptop. I grabbed my computer and headed out back.
First, I had problems getting my wireless connection to connect to the internet. I spent some time screwing around with that, and finally, in order to fix it, I had to come back inside. Since I was getting eaten by all manner of bugs outside, I decided to just give up and stay in.
Of course, during the time that I was outside, I wasn’t wearing any socks. So, of course, my feet are now covered in bug bites. I can’t tell you how uncomfortable that is…
I was planning to have a kick-ass party behind my house this year for my birthday. I was going to borrow a big screen and projector from my friend and show movies and play videogames on the big screen. There were a few problems with this plan, the two biggest being that I would need to make sure my neighbors were okay with it since we don’t have an enclosed backyard, and the fact that the sprinklers automatically turn on around midnight behind my house.
I could have dealt with these issues. I had plans to test covering the sprinklers with a bucket and seeing if that would do to keep us from getting wet. I was going to put letters in my neighbors’ mailboxes and let them know what was going on and if they had objections, I would address them (or not have the party).
But I’m just not feeling good. Not physically, per se, but emotionally (well, I’m not feeling well physically, either, but I think that’s caused by the emotional). I just can’t seem to build up the effort to do everything that needs to be done to plan and organize an event like this. So I think I’m going to scrap the idea, at least for this year. Maybe next year when I have my own backyard. We’ll see.
I’d still like to do something, though. Maybe I’ll just have a regular party. I’m not really sure. I guess it’ll depend on how I’m feeling as to whether or not I feel like putting together anything for myself.