The Winter Hawks never cease to piss me off. I pay like $500/seat for the regular season and they suck ass. All season long they lose. Then they try to gouge me for another $300/seat for the playoff tickets, after just barely making it to playoffs by the skin of their teeth. Thinking to outsmart them (and because I wasn’t keen to invest the $600 for more losing game tickets), I declined the offer. I’ll be going to the entire next regular season, though.

Now, of course, the bastards are winning - who’d have thought? - and I don’t have my God damn seat on the glass. Doesn’t that just fucking figure?

As luck would have it, Mom called me up earlier today and she got some free tix to the game tonight - game 6 of 7 - so I’ll be able to maybe see them move from the first to the second round. On the other hand, if I go, I’ll probably end up jinxing the whole thing and they’ll just lose. Which would make some sick sort of sense.

Went running errands this weekend and while at Fred Meyer I noticed that their video games are all 20% off. That’s a pretty good deal, so I picked up Metroid Fusion (for my GBA) from them. The sale’s on until the end of tomorrow, so if I can find a place that has The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (also for GBA) available, I’ll pick that up, too. I looked around for Amplitude (for PS2) but didn’t find it.

I’m pretty much over my chest cold now, and aside from some minor congestion, I’m doing well. Thanks to all the folks who left concerned comments on my blog (Tanya). Those who didn’t can take a long walk off a short pier.

My dad and I have been working out together on Monday and Thursday evenings in the fitness center at my apartment complex. Not that it makes weightlifting fun or anything, but it helps a lot to have someone to go work out with. Besides which, it’s cool to hang out with Dad. Dad rocks.

Anyway, that working out is helping to get me a little more active than I normally am. Which is good, because I’m back to wearing my older (larger) pants size again - up to a 36 inch waist from a 34. I suppose I should expect a little of that. My diet, while I’ve not been eating too much, hasn’t really changed, while I’m now working out and beginning to build muscle mass under my flab.

Of course, I’m not wearing larger pants because I’m buff.

Saw the latest John Travolta/Samuel Jackson film, Basic, on Saturday. I liked it, as did Jenn and my dad. Mom wasn’t too keen on it, but Mom’s not much for movies that twist and turn to hard. If you like movies that twist and twist and twist again, this is definitely for you. If you have trouble keeping track of who is really double-crossing who, I’d say you might want to pass on it. Or rent it so you’ll be able to pause it and write stuff down. It’s pretty confusing if you’re not paying attention, but for those who want to invest the time, you’ll be amply rewarded.

I added some new crap to the paraesthesia junk store including some t-shirts, a camisole, panties (extra points awarded for sending pictures of you wearing the panties), and a rather cool wall clock that I myself may have to pick up.

Give it a look, then buy lots of stuff, eh?

There’s something about porn spam in my Inbox that just gives me the warm fuzzies. Especially the myriad ads for “Enhance Your Penis” or “Extra Length!” That’s just great. Please, send me more of those because you know as well as I do that I click on every single one of them and find them all worthwhile.

NOT.

Some are legitimately clever, though. I think my favorite recent one had the subject, “Satisfy your woman you pindick.” That definitely makes me want to click it. Morons. People who spam people should be fucking shot.

Okay, so I found some GBA accessories I need to get…

• MP3 Player - This actually comes in two varieties: the SongPro ($100) and the Innovation ($60). The SongPro is better with more features and higher quality sound, so obviously that’s the way I’d like to go.
• TV Converter
  • So you can play the game on the TV instead of on the little screen.
• Personal Organizer
  • Turn your GBA into a PDA…
• Macro Kit
  • A kit with a small carrying case, a headphone adapter, headphones, and a car charger. At $15, I think I’ll probably just order this and call it a day.
• Ergo Grips
  • Hand grips that attach to the GBA to relieve cramps.
• Flash Advance Card - A card that allows you to put downloadable game ROMs on it and then play them on your GBA.

By the way, I’m still loving my GBA SP. However, I’m realizing that, as simple as the unit is, that doesn’t make the games any easier. I’m still as bad at Mario Brothers games as I ever was. That doesn’t make it any less fun, though.

My chest cold continues. I thought I was getting better this morning when I woke up because the phlegm in my chest and throat started breaking up. By the time I got to work, it had solidified again in a war against me and my poor lungs.

I’m also feeling sort of tired and achey, almost like I have a fever but not quite. I’m generally feeling sluggish, and that’s not so good when you’re at work and people actually want you to do something. So I’m going to go home at 3:00p, which is in about an hour. That’ll give me enough time to get the rest of the stuff done that I have pending (for today, at least) and still allow me time to beat the rush hour traffic.

When I get home, I’m going to lay down and take a huge nap. Somehow a nap always seems to fix everything.

Maybe I need to get this book so I can convince my boss of that, too.

The weekend itself wasn’t terribly eventful, but I do have a lot of little, unrelated information to catch folks up on, so I’ll do that here.

First, the weekend news.

Went to a local club Saturday night to see “an intimate show” by Josh Kelley and the band “Pay The Girl.” By my definition, “an intimate show” implies about 100 - 150 people. There were probably a good 500 people in this place. I’m sure the fire marshal would have been pissed - I mean, it was packed in. They started wheeling out chairs for people to sit in, but there was nowhere to put them so folks were sitting in the aisles and walkways… not good. We saw a few songs by Josh Kelley, but then the smoke in the place started severely hindering Jenn’s breathing (it wasn’t great for me, either) so we left before Pay The Girl came on stage.

Went to Fry’s Electronics during the day on Saturday and picked up a Platt heavy-duty polyethelene case with custom foam cutout to store my GBA SP in. I got the foam all punched out and all the parts are in the case with plenty of growing room in the event I get other accessories that need storage. I’ve always wanted one of those cases (sort of like the sniper rifle cases you see in action movies), but I never knew what I’d store in it. Now I know.

Sunday I didn’t do much of anything. Played a little PS2 with Jenn, hung out… that’s about it.

Random stuff:

There’s a class action lawsuit against movie theaters for showing paid advertisements that run past the time when the movie’s supposed to start. The idea is that if the movie is supposed to start at 7:00, then it starts at 7:00 and not 7:30 because you, the captive audience, just had to watch 30 minutes of advertising. This is the greatest thing ever. I hate the stupid ads at the beginning of movies. One or two doesn’t bother me too much, but I’ve sat through seriously like 10 ads at a time. Fucking ridiculous.

I took a Star Trek Personality Test and it says I’m an “ENTP” and identify most with the character Harry Kim. I’m not sure I entirely agree with that, but whatever.

The Alias Season One DVD set is available for preorder from Amazon. Looks like it won’t be out until September, which is not soon enough as far as I’m concerned. Buffy Season Four is coming out in June. I should preorder both of those.

My instructor from the training class I went to a couple weeks ago is fairly new to the area of Portland. I thought about it, and there’s really not a simple guide to What’s Cool in the Portland, OR Area. There are tourist books and stuff, but nothing I really agree with. I am thinking I may have to come up with that and post it here. Then again, that’s a lot of work, so maybe not.

The new Kelly Clarkson album looks like it should be coming out April 15 and Justin Guarini’s should be out later this Spring. I’m stoked - curious to hear their music.

I think it’s interesting - if you look at this site (AmericanIdolMusic.com), they basically treat Justin and Kelly the same as opposed to one being the Idol and the other being runner-up. I think that’s pretty cool, actually, because it sort of implies a tie, which I think it was. They both rock.