Month: August 2007

Sending out an S.O.S.

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We did an awful lot of running around today. First we hit Walmart so Joe could look at paintball gear since he’s going paintballing with some friends in a few weeks. I also checked out the Guitar Hero guitar but wasn’t satisfied with the selection, so we went to Circuit City to check their prices. They only had the bundle with the game, so we left. We spotted a Panera, and even though it was only a little after 10 am, we had soup and a sandwich.

After our early lunch we went to Petsmart. Standing in line to check out was a guy with his yellow lab, Jack. He got a kick out of demonstrating for us how well-behaved Jack is. He had him sit, lie down, stay, shake, etc. and proudly told us how he taught the dog everything himself. I was impressed and I wish more dog owners took pride in training their dogs like that because they are more enjoyable to be around (unlike our next door neighbor’s dog).

We ended up buying a wireless guitar at Fry’s Electronics since they were priced the same everywhere. I used my AMEX gift cheque on it so our contribution to the price was minimal. It was funny later when my mom was on the phone and I listened as she told my brother we got it for $15. He was so upset until my mom admitted to him that was the price after the AMEX. Haha!

It was well worth every cent because once we got home we rocked out to I Ran by Flock of Seagulls, Message In A Bottle by The Police, and Heat of the Moment by Asia.

“You framed an Asia poster? How hard did the people at the frame store laugh when you brought this in?”

The game is fun, but hard! Even in practice easy mode I was having trouble. For some reason I did the best to Message In A Bottle, and I’ve had that song stuck in my head all day now. I can’t wait to bring the guitar to my parents to play against my brother who will no doubt kick my ass.

Cure tour postponed

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Oh my, I just spent WAY too much time over at The Cure’s site reading the 1200+ comments in reaction to their announcement that part of their tour has been postponed until next Spring. I’m pretty aggravated with them at the moment, but I know I’ll still buy the new album and attend the rescheduled show next year. After all, I still love their music.

Here’s my contribution to all the drama at their site in case you’re interested:

Disappointed in Chicago
8/25/2007 9:39:21 PM – by halo969

The postponing of the North American tour with such short notice is disrespectful to the many fans who have non-refundable hotels and airfare. I feel very strongly about this and I’m not even one of them. I will lose nothing from this because I live close to the venue.

What truly disappoints me is Robert’s flippant attitude toward the fans’ reactions – as if they have no right to their feelings. Sure, some people have been unbelievably rude in expressing themselves but they were venting and I think many of you should be more understanding of that. After all, you’re so understanding about the band’s poor decision.

I have to wonder how foolish you must feel to continue kissing someone’s ass while they disrespect your time and money. Does that make you a bigger Cure fan than myself, or the other justifiably angry fans, just because you refuse to stand up for yourself? What do you think, if you tell Robert how much you love him he’ll give you backstage passes?

Fact of the matter is Robert probably should have resisted the temptation to retaliate to some of the comments. It shattered my impression of him and I really wish I hadn’t read those posts at all. It’s not that I ever thought he was perfect, but I also thought he cared a bit more about his fans’ feelings than that. Quite frankly, it’s a slap in the face. Let’s not forget who’s making the band rich having to re-purchase their entire collection in order to obtain bonus material. And I’m happy to do it, because I love the music, but I’d be less resentful IF I felt ‘someone’ was a little more understanding about our concerns.

All this love and devotion toward a man who doesn’t even know our names. Seems rather silly to keep arguing over who the biggest fan is, doesn’t it?

As the British would say, what a bunch of rubbish!

Be a hero

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Last night we had my family over for The Girl’s 13th birthday party. My mom wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home, but my dad and both my brothers showed up. I was shocked that Brother #2 came because he has never been to our place in the three years we’ve lived here and he’s been invited many times. I made spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread for dinner and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Brother #1 liked it so much he later told me I have to make it again the next time he visits.

Brother #2 brought Guitar Hero for the PS2 and everyone took turns trying it out. I really wasn’t planning on playing, but it looked fun so I gave it a try. I didn’t do great, and couldn’t get through half of Message In A Bottle by The Police, but I did improve with each try. It’s pretty addictive, in fact! All we need is the guitar since my brother let us copy the game, so we’re going to look at Walmart tomorrow. I might just end up spending my American Express gift cheque from work on it. I could just imagine what my boss would think of that. Hmm, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that the brain on LikeBetter guessed I was a male, huh?

Paisley

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Tuesday on my drive home from work Joe called me, yelling at me to turn my radio to 99.5 FM (a country music station). I had a hard time finding it and when I did it was on a commercial. He was all excited because he was just on the air for winning a contest. “What did you win?” I asked. “Not sure, but I think concert tickets”.

Turns out he won four tickets to the Brad Paisley concert (with Taylor Swift, Jack Ingram & Kellie Pickler) this Sunday evening. However, he’s not really sure he wants to go since it’s a long drive and it doesn’t start until 7 pm. Plus that venue sucks. I don’t really want to get into it but they rip you off any chance they get. Anyway….

I asked him, “So if you really weren’t interested, why did you call in?”
“I thought they were giving away $1000”.
Oh Joe, you’re so pretty!

I’m not really a country fan, and if I had to pick a country artist to see in concert, I’d much rather see the Dixie Chicks, or better yet, my favorite country singer of all time, Kenny Chesney. However, a coworker told me Mr. Paisley, whose music I have never listened to in my life, puts on a good show, so I’m not sure what to do.

I’m wondering if we should go just for the hell of it. After all, we’ve got four free tickets waiting for us at will-call. I just wish I knew how good the seats are. I imagine they must be close, right? Would you go to a concert with music you’re not that thrilled about and people who you don’t recognize just because you got free tickets, knowing you’ll be getting home late and have to get up early the next day? Not sure it’s worth the trip.

Firefox Extensions

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I was browsing through all the extensions for Mozilla Firefox recently and thought I’d put together a list of the ones I enjoy so maybe you’ll find one a new one to love too.

WebMail Notifier – Keep up with your multiple Yahoo!, Hotmail, or Gmail accounts with this awesome notifier. It’s unobtrusive and prevents you from checking your accounts needlessly. The thing I like most about it is since I have two Yahoo! accounts I use daily, I don’t have to continuously log in and out of them. After I’ve seen there’s mail, I click that account and it logs me in behind the scenes and takes me right to the inbox. That alone is awesome! I only wish I could check my domain webmail with this application. Maybe in future releases…

Tab Mix Plus – A must have for any Firefox user. My favorite feature of this one is being able to force pop-ups, like my XM streaming radio, to appear as a tab instead of a new window. Keeps my taskbar cleaner. Long live tabbed browsing!

Session Manager – The name says it all. Manage your browsing sessions so when a web page crashes Firefox, which it inevitably will, you don’t lose your spot. Of course, I never use this since I figure it’s going to try to load the bad tab too and I’ll be back to square one. It gives you a nice fuzzy feeling having it installed, however. Of course, if you have Tab Mix Plus you don’t need this as it has its own Session Manager.

Forecastfox – A cute little weather application that keeps you abreast of what’s going on outside when you’re stuck in a sunless cubicle like I am 9 hours a day.

Grocery List Generator – Configure your own personalized list of items you shop for frequently and then generate a list to be printed to take to the store.

Morning Coffee – Set up multiple sites you would like to load based on the day of the week. There’s an everyday option too. I tend to check Twitter, Yelp!, Bloglines and Flickr when I first log on so now I only have to click one button instead of opening multiple tabs and loading those sites manually.

Coupon Craze Coupon Notifier – If you’re like me, as soon as you decide to purchase something online you’re looking for codes and specials to try and save some mon-ay. This extension alerts you of all relevant deals for the site you’re currently browsing.

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