It appears I’ll be appearing on the Bill Handel morning show on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles Tuesday morning, May 6th, between 8:15 and 8:30 to talk some “Iron Man” stuffs. I’ve done a number of these appearances on Handel’s show before and they’re always fun, except the two times I got bumped, once by the Governator and once by the Pope. Hopefully no bumping tomorrow. Tune in and have a listen.
I’ve FINALLY begun posting images to the gallery and to all those Yeager fans out there, you’ll be quite happy to know that he now has his own gallery. I know he’s pleased — he’s been prancing around like a mother fucker today saying, “Yeah, I’m on the Internet. I’m famous. Oh yeah. Uh huh. I’m the big dog. You’re the big dork. I’m the big dog that goes ruff ruff.” It’s really weird.
One of the big changes I made to my life in 2007 was beginning the switch from PC to Mac. When I began reading about the new Windows Vista Windows system, I was quite turned off and began thinking this might be the moment when I need to make the switch. Then, when I actually got to use it, coupled with reading the nightmarish reports of people upgrading to Vista, the choice was made – the switch needed to happen.
In February of 2007, I bought a refurbished 1.83 Ghz Core 2 Duo Apple MacBook with a 60 gig drive. Buying refurbished meant I was saving about $200 and it being a low-end machine meant I wasn’t making a major investment in this wild experiment called the switch. I had never really used a Mac before – sure, I had played with friends machines, but never really worked on one regularly – so who knew if I’d like it.
Well, about nine months later in November I finally took the plunge and moved my e-mail from my desktop PC to my Mac. This was a needed move as I was about to go up to Vancouver for a couple of days and would need access to all of my e-mail when I was up there. Transferring 9 gigs of Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail from my PC to my Mac wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to do – it’s not like there’s one easy program that will do that for you – but it went relatively smoothly. After the data was transferred it took about two hours of massaging to get all the e-mail indexes working properly again, but I now had my e-mail up on my MacBook – I could finally truly work from anywhere in the world.
Once I got my e-mail transferred successfully, I knew the switch had begun. Now it was just a matter of becoming more familiar with the machine and finding equivalent programs for the Mac that I used to use on the PC and with the help of my friends Jacob and Stephen, this really hasn’t been a problem at all. I’m now a proud Mac owner – I also have a Quad MacPro desktop – and can’t ever imagine going back to a PC full time. That said, in order to get my billing done, I have to maintain a PC desktop. Bah.
But now, my 60 Gig MacBook which was basically an expensive experimental toy, was now my primary computer. Which was fine – the speed was plenty for most of my needs, but the disk space was a big problem. I was constantly running out of disk space and having to move files to my MacPro constantly. It was really eating into my productivity.
So the thought came to mind, “Wow, maybe it’s time to upgrade to a MacBook Pro and sell off the MacBook.” I mentioned this to Jacob who asked why I’d do that when I could just swap out the old hard disc for a new, bigger one. I’ve owned five or six PC laptops and never once considered opening any of them up to do anything other than maybe upgrade the memory. Laptops are solid bits of machinery and I never thought of doing such a thing, but he told he it was relatively simple on the MacBook.
Now, I’m a fairly technical guy, but I also have enormous amounts of fear when it comes to potentially loosing the use of my computer for more than a couple of hours. I knew I could probably manage the swap out of the hard disc, but data loss and down time was not something I was looking forward to. I didn’t know if I could trust myself to do it.
Despite the fear and with Jacob’s guidance, I took the plunge. I bought a 200 Gig Hitachi 2.5” drive off NewEgg.com for $180 ($200 something with tax and shipping), bought a 2.5” USB 2.0 enclosure ($20) to use to transfer the data from the old drive to the new drive, a firewire cable ($10 – yeah, I overpaid) and a ratchet set ($15) with all the bits I’d need to handle the upgrade.
First things first, time to transfer the data. I hadn’t installed Mac OSX Leopard yet, so I didn’t have the use of the back up software Time Machine to move the data. I was reluctant to upgrade until I knew I had a solid back up of my desktop. So, Jacob suggested I download Carbon Copy Cloner, a free piece of software that will clone one hard disc onto another. I installed this software on my MacPro. Next, I took the firewire cable and hooked my MacBook to my MacPro and powered up the MacBook holding down the T button. While I don’t know what the technical term is for doing this – I’m still new to the Mac, yo – it launched my MacBook so that it just looked like a network drive on my MacPro. To my MacPro I connected the new 200 Gig drive in its enclosure. With both drives now mounted on my MacPro, it was time to tell Carbon Copy to copy the data. 53 gigs of data took a while, even with the speed of firewire, but it copied without any problem in I think 90 minutes.
Now to the “hard” part – swapping out the drive.
I Googled “MacBook Hard Disc Replacement” and came up with this super easy to follow PDF document from Apple (interestingly if you spell disc with a k, as I normally do, it does not come up on the first page in Google). The instructions were plainly written and the accompanying pictures made it obvious that this shouldn’t be as hard as I thought it would be.
Following the instructions, I removed the battery and then unscrewed the screws that hold in the RAM door. I’d done this once before when I upgraded my memory, so this didn’t worry me too much. Once that was out, I simply pulled on a paper tab that held the hard disc on the left. Far simpler than I thought it would be. I removed the torx screws from the hard disc enclosure, swapped in the new hard disc, slid the disc back in with the paper tab tucked underneath, screwed back in the RAM door and powered her up. Success. All told it took about 10 minutes to make the swap and it was incredibly easy.
The great thing about the upgrade isn’t just the additional disk space, but I also got a nice speed bump. The old drive was 5400 RPM and the new one is 7200 RPM. The speed bump in loading programs is quite noticeable.
If I had gone with my original plan I would have spent over $2000 bucks for a MacBook Pro and would have had to deal with the hassle of selling my old MacBook. And I wouldn’t have been happy because I really like the smaller size of the MacBook. Instead, for $245 I got a lot more disk space and a little speed increase to boot. Looks like I’ll be holding on to this MacBook for some time and the switch from the PC to Mac has definitely taken hold.
Local news in Los Angeles sucks. Wait, that’s not entirely fair. Local news pretty much anywhere in the United States sucks. That’s nothing new, but it’s why I never watch the local news. Yes, bad things happen in our fair city, but I really don’t need to watch details of random murders, assaults or drive by shootings on a regular basis, especially when they don’t really reflect the true nature of my city.
That said, when it rains in Los Angeles, I always watch the local news. It becomes wildly entertaining as each channel begins their Storm Watch Team Coverage and get absolutely hysterical about the rains.
Now, don’t misunderstand, I realize the rains can have serious consequences for the areas ravaged by fire months ago, but then why are they doing live shots from Old Town Pasadena or Hollywood, where there were no fires? Because there’s people there you can interview and have say stupid things during your cast.
Channel 7, the local ABC affiliate, has some of the funniest names for their coverage. While everyone else goes with “Storm Watch,” they choose to go with “Storm Track 2008 Team Coverage.” Storm track. What the fuck is that? Then of course there’s the weather guy who has at his disposal Live Mega Doppler 7000 HD radar to track the coming Armageddon. Live. Mega. Doppler. 7000. HD. Mega? 7000? Jesus.
But the funniest had to be the other night when Channel 11, the local Fox affiliate, went with a live shot not far from my home. There’s an intersection in the NoHo Arts District that sees three different roads converge. I don’t scare easy, but that intersection is what Satan would look like were he an intersection. I’ve seen way too numerous close calls or accidents in that crazy ass intersection.
At any rate, there’s Channel 11, doing their live shot, reporting on the “flooded” intersection (I went to check it out shortly thereafter and it really wasn’t that flooded). He filed his report, filled with ridiculous anecdotes by people affected by the rain (i.e. people who just happened to be walking by) and other stupidity, warning people to just stay in because the conditions are so “bad” outside and then finished his report by saying, “Stay safe. Stay alive.”
Stay safe. Stay alive.
What the fuck? It’s not like we’re anticipating a zombie invasion from Riverside, are we? If we go outside and get rained on, what’s going to happen? Will we get moist? Or is it actually a sign of the coming rapture?
So, yeah, watch the local news during Storm Watch 2008. It’s the awesome.
For going on about six months now, I’ve been considering getting a dog. I grew up with dogs. My first dog was a black thing named Shadow, but we had to get rid of him when I was a very young boy because he bit me. Sometime around the age of 5, my sister Liz came home with a puppy. She was just a little mutt, likely some sort of beagle/Sheppard mix, and we named her Rhiannon. She was a great little dog and lived until I was about 16 or 17, when she died of cancer.
When I was 18 or so, my family decided it was time for another dog. My Mom, Dad and my sister went off to a kennel while I stayed home playing DJ or something stupid like that. About two hours later my Mom came running into the house, somewhat frantic, yelling, “Come out here, I need your help! We have two puppies in the car!” They were two beautiful golden retriever/lab mixes that we ultimately named Gypsy (I named her) and Tiffany (my sister named her). They lived very long lives for Golden’s and were excellent dogs.
So, I’m a dog guy. Never owned a cat. I live in an apartment and, yeah, cats are easy in apartments, but I didn’t want a cat. I wanted a dog.
I began by going to some local kennels and found a number of puppies I really liked, but it became clear quickly that with mutt’s there was just no way of knowing how large these dogs would end up being. Living in an apartment, I didn’t want a dog bigger than 25 pounds. After some time I decided a pure bred was going to be the way to go. This way I could be better assured the dog would have a good temperament for apartments and wouldn’t grow beyond a specific size, in this case less than 25 pounds.
In looking at small dog breeds I quickly realized most of them are either A> retarded looking, B> yippy little shitfucks or C> well, if I owned certain toy breeds people would think I’m gay. Now, as the “Seinfeld” saying goes, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m not gay and being a single man in LA on the prowl, let’s not make it any harder on me than it already is, OK?
So, I settled on five different breeds – the Beagle, the Pug, the Boston Terrier, French Bulldog or Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
I’ve met many a fine Pug, Terrier or Bulldog, but it came down to my not wanting to look at my dog’s ass all that much. I dated a girl who had a couple of Pugs and while adorable and loving, there were a couple of times I watched her have to wipe her own dog’s ass and, well, I wanted to avoid that if at all possible.
The Beagle is a dog I’ve always wanted and came very close to getting. The problems were size and temperament. First off, I couldn’t find a breeder who had a litter from a smaller sized mother (or bitch, as they say!). I didn’t want a 35-40 pound Beagle. Secondly, they’re very smart and loving dogs, but they’re also hard to train. Living in an apartment I thought this might be a bad idea, so I passed on the Beagle.
It was down to the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. They have an excellent temperament for apartments, won’t get bigger than 18 pounds and, well, when you see the guy I got you’ll see he’s a lady killer.
My good friend Jason actually has three of this breed, so I wrote him on IM one day to explain my situation. He gave me the name and number of his breeder, and off I went to make a call.
That was on Saturday, October the 12th. The following day I had my little pup. I hadn’t exactly planned on getting the dog that Sunday, but the opportunity to get this dog, who was a best of breed, with a crazy heritage, was too much to pass up.
Meet Yeager – named after the test pilot, not the alcohol. I’m not some asshole frat boy who names his dog after his last alcoholic drink. Here he is on my first night with him. He’s just about 10 weeks here.
There’s a great page about the CKSC up on Wikipedia. Yeager is of the Blenheim variety, meaning he’s a two-color dog with a rich chestnut/orange color on a white background. He’s got the coveted Blenheim spot in the middle of his head, too. He’s just quite perfect.
I was also told by the breeder that Yeager is a half-brother of one of Al Pacino’s dogs. Only in Los Angeles.
I forgot just how tough it is to bring up a puppy. I’ve done it before, but frankly my Mom did a lot of the hard work. Sure, I did help a lot with the training of Gypsy and Tiffany, but Mom did most of the cleaning up of poop and pee. Learning that all over again, knowing when to limit Yeager’s play time in the house, understanding when he needs to go and when he doesn’t, that all takes time. That’s the hard part, but the fun part is the playing and training and quality time I get to spend with the little guy. I mean, come on, check out this photo, how can you not love this little bastard?
Yeager was born on July 21st and he’s now four months old. I’ve had him for about six weeks and we’re doing very well. He’s got sit, down and stay (well, he’ll stay for about two minutes) and we’re working on shake. The house breaking is going better than it was two weeks ago thanks to the help of a really excellent dog trainer I’ve hired to come out once a week for six weeks. I plan on really training this dog because I want to take him places. He’s just finished up his shots, so now it’s time to socialize the little guy with other dogs. Overall, it’s been great – he is a tremendous amount of work, but absolutely worth it.
I’ll post more pictures in the coming weeks. You won’t be able to stop me.
I’ve had a couple of people ask me why this here blog won’t allow them to post comments. Unfortunately I’ve had to kill the commenting system due to spam. I’m running an old version of WordPress and can’t install some of the nifty anti-spam features that newer versions of WordPress employ. Until I can upgrade, there’s no commenting.
I’ve been ruined. Simply ruined.
This past Christmas my lovely Mother got me an Xbox 360 for Christmas. While I already said thanks, I’ll say it again — thanks, Mom! It’s really a great machine.
That said, I don’t play it all that much. I haven’t been a huge gamer since I was a kid back during the Atari 2600 & Intellivision days. Wait, I take that back, I played the 8-bit Nintendo an awful lot. But since then, gaming hasn’t been a huge part of my life. Yeah, I owned a Playstation and outside of “Gran Turismo,” I didn’t play the thing all that much. I also owned a Playstation 2, but once again outside of the latest edition of “Gran Turismo” and some X-Men game, I really didn’t play it all that much.
While I don’t spend hours playing the Xbox, in the 8 months I’ve had the system I’ve played it more than the PS and PS2 combined. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the Xbox is just a fantastic gaming system, but there’s also the fact I bought a 40” high-def LCD TV in January and, well, playing the Xbox on a high def TV is a real experience. While nothing will replace the sheer pleasure and excitement the Atari 2600 brought me and my family in the ‘70s — there was nothing to compare it to at the time — the Xbox sure is fun.
That said, I don’t think I’ve finished any games on the Xbox yet. I’ve played some Marvel Heroes game, some Spider-Man game, the “Superman Returns” game and while all were fun, none held my attention for too long. “Gears of War” is an amazing game and I’ve played that more than the others, but I haven’t played that in sometime, mostly because I’m too busy. I’m very aware of the fact I work for myself, from home to boot, and the Xbox could kill my professional career, so I keep my Xbox playing to a minimum.
Now, all that said, there is a game that has recently come into my life that has the potential to destroy it.
That game is “Guitar Hero II.”
I’ve been thinking about picking up GHII since it came out, but resisted its call. This past Friday I was sitting around the house realizing that with the sun burn from my Big Bear visit still in need of much healing, I wouldn’t be going out that weekend. So, I decided to make my way to Best Buy to pick up “The West Wing” Season Four on DVD — I’ve been rewatching the series from the beginning and just finished Season Three. I needed me some more Aaron Sorkin.
While browsing the aisles of Best Buy, I heard someone from behind shout to me, “Hey, man, what’s up?!?” I quickly did a 180, but didn’t see anyone that could be talking to me. Just some very large woman carrying 16 or 17 DVDs. Considering the voice sounded like it had come from a 20-something burn out who’s spent the better part of the last 15 years stoned out of his mind, I was pretty certain it wasn’t the female killer whale. I went back about my business and again there was a shouting, “Dude, what is up with you?! Don’t you want to rawk?”
I turned around again and didn’t see a person, man or woman, but a long package emblazoned with the “Guitar Hero II” logo. It called to me. It talked to me. It flirted with me. It seduced me.
Less than five minutes later I was at checkout with “The West Wing” Season Four DVDs and “Guitar Hero II.”
Guitar Hero II — it’s like a needle full of heroin, without all the negative, life altering side effects.
For those of you living under a rock — or simply living life without an Xbox — GHII is the ultimate rock and roll simulation. You get this plastic, childs-toy looking guitar with five colored buttons where frets would be, a switch where the strings would be and a whammy bar. You throw the game DVD in the machine and play along to songs on the DVD, playing to sell out crowds at various venues around the United States. Popular songs from bands like The Police, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, My Chemical Romance and many others can be found. And you know what? It’s the awesomeness.
It’s the first game on the Xbox that’s really “addicted” me. I played so much that first Saturday that I actually hurt my left hand and wrist. I had to not play at all on Sunday just to heal. Almost seven days later my left index finger is actually a little swollen. Gotta give this thing a break.
I’m not far in the game, only half way through the medium skill level, but it gets better as you go along. You get to buy new players, new songs, new guitars and even unlock hidden songs by finishing certain sets. Unlocking “Tonight We’re Gonna Rock You Tonight” by Spinal Tap was a huge treat — especially how the set ends! This one truly goes to 11.
What’s funny about the game is the more you “rock out,” the better you’ll play. Sure, you can sit there calmly strumming and plucking away, but it’s when you start to groove and move with the music that your skills really start to shine. The first time I used the strap and stood to play a song, well, it’s a good thing no one was around because that rocking out had to be embarrassing. Hell, I embarrassed myself. I felt like a jackass. But I didn’t care because the thrill of the rawk called me and there was no turning back. I think I might have even shouted, “Are you ready to rawk, Los Angeles?” before playing a set. Wow.
Surprisingly, the game’s also inspired me to consider taking guitar lessons again. I haven’t taken a lesson for seven years now, but I think it’s time again. Certainly my GHII skills won’t come in handy at all with actual guitar playing, but if it gets me to pick up my acoustic again, that’s a good thing.
Anyone wanna play GHII? Come on over. And if you’ve got your own GHII controller, you really need to come over. Head-To-Head, baby.
