Saturday Night

Just catching up with Gary and Jenna Hubbert. There is nothing to do in Stroud on Saturday.

My Dad's Laptop

Today my brother and I went with my Dad to the local Best Buy and picked up a laptop for him. He got a nice 17" compaq with a 1.7Ghz processor, 3 GB ram, 160 GB hard disk, wifi, and windows vista.

Basically the only reason my dad wanted one was because he always sees me and my brother on the internet or whatever while watching tv or a movie. He wants to be able to do work and surf the internerd while watching tv basically. He is so high tech now...

My brother of course was trying to get him to buy the nicest laptop possible and all kinds of accessories. I was trying to find one that only had what he wanted and the sales person was trying to get him to upgrade to somewhere in between. Of course my dad didn't listen to his kids and instead went with what the sales person said. Oh well, it's his money not mine.

It's very funny watching him try to set it up. It's even funnier watching Andrew try and help him by telling him to set it all up the way Andrew wants it. They bicker like old people.

Mood: Entertained

School is Dumb!

My school is retarded. I found out that I can look up my classes for next year to see what times they are at and generally plan my schedule. Unfortunately they have changed the names of the classes I'm supposed to take and the classes I've already taken.

So I had to find out which classes I've taken and what I'm supposed to take. After figuring this out by looking up the course codes for everything I've taken and the course calendar of what I'm supposed to take, I finally started to figure things out. There are still some retarded problems though.

First off, last year I dropped a course in first semester because I wasn't doing well and wanted to concentrate on my other classes. That meant that in second semester there was a class I couldn't take. I figured I'd just take the one class first semester this year and the other in second semester. No big. I think this strategy will still work.

Now, according to the course calendar there is a class in first semester that I'm supposed to take that I shouldn't be able to because I don't have the prereq. I tried looking it up and it isn't there. Instead there is a class that I'm supposed to take second semester instead. I figured they must have changed things and haven't updated the course calendar yet. So, my first semester should consist of 5 classes, 2 business classes, 1 gaming class, 1 class I'm supposed to take in second semester and the class I dropped last year.

Second semester is a little more screwy. I found the class that is supposed to be in first semester and I still won't be able to take it because I don't have the prereq. Unfortunately one of the other classes for second semester has a prereq of the class that is supposed to be in first semester but isn't. How the hell can they have a course with a prereq in the same semester as the prereq. This is so dumb. So now I have to e-mail my advisor and try and sort this all out. What a clusterf*ck.

Mood: Confused and angry

Home Again

I'm back at my house with the rest of the week off. Kinda bored. Caitlin and I just went and watched the fireworks in Barrie. They were pretty pimp. There was a rediculous amount of people there.

We went and watched Get Smart earlier today. It is rather good. I think Steve Carell was excellent and Anne Hathaway was much better than I expected. I wasn't sure how she would do with the serious role of the ass-kicker. She handled it very well.

I read a review for "The Dark Knight" on IGN and they gave it 5 stars. You should really go check out everything they say about it because they just heap praise all over it. I'm hoping that doesn't raise my expectations too high.

Mood: Tired

It Turned Out Alright

So today turned out to not be so bad. The weather cleared up and I got to go swimming. We couldn't get the Jet-Ski to work for some reason but I was allowed to take the Sea-Doo out all by myself. It was awesome.

My cousin drove us into town on the boat and we got ice cream. It was awesome. Also I visited my other cousins girlfriend at work. She is super nice and I really like her. She came over after we finished dinner and everyone asked to go home and get her Wii. I said I'd go with her and she let me drive her Pontiac Solstice. It's so pimp. I want to steal it.

Everyone is playing Wii now and of course it's a blast when there is lots of people. We have been having issues with controlling connecting though. It turns out I'm the only one who knows how to connect a wii controller to a wii. Weird...

Mood: Entertained

RAIN!?!?

So lots of rain has ruined my long weekend. How lame. I could have stayed home and hung out with my girlfriend but instead I'm stuck farting around on my computer because I can't go swimming.

Mood: Disappointed

Up North!

I have arrived at my Aunt and Uncles. We brought my sisters stupid dog and it keeps fighting with my Aunts dog. The weather is relatively nice here and I'm hoping the water is excellent too.

On the ride up I watched "A Goofy Movie" on my computer. It's not quite as good as I remember but it was still alright.

Diablo 3 was announced this weekend. I've never played the other Diablo games but I'm definitely considering playing this one. Blizzard knows there stuff when it comes to RPGs.

Mood: Lackadaisical

Saturday!

It is finally the weekend. Awesome. Sadly the weather is crap. I think I'm going to go swimming anyway though.

Mood: In love with Caitlin

Hooray for time off work!

So glad I don't have to go to work next week. Looking forward to a party my sister is throwing tomorrow and going to my aunt and uncles this weekend.

Mood: Excited

I don't want to go to work

Pretty much self explanatory.

Mood: Depressed

Laid off...

So I found out that after tomorrow afternoon's shift I will be off for at least one week. In a way this is so totally awesome and I'm so glad that I'm laid off, but it also means no money for me. I'm not too worried if it's only for the one week but if it lasts any longer than that I might be screwed.

I'm going to my aunt and uncles house this weekend for the Holiday. I'm hoping the lake will be nice and warm because I love to swim. I'm also hoping to get some wakeboarding or jetskiing done. I'll probably take my laptop up with me too so I can get a start on making some of the games I've been wanting to make all summer. I figure I should make some crappy games and get used to the language and pipeline before diving into making my own epic masterpiece.

Mood: Conflicted

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I just read a preview for the new Star Wars animated movie on IGN and it's looking pretty neat. The movie will be around 2 hours long and is basically the first three episodes of the new animated TV series. The show will be hitting cartoon network in the fall.

According to the article, the plot centers around the kidnapping of vile gangster Jabba the Hut's daughter. The Jedi are given one "Tatooine rotation" to find the girl or the Hut clan will ignite a war against the Jedi. Of course this all happens during the current fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Yoda tasks our heroes Obi-Wan, Anakin, and his new Padawan Ahsoka Tano the job of finding the little Hut which leads them across the galaxy to several different battle zones. The only returning voices to the movie are Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Matthew Wood as the lovely General Grievous.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars force crushes theatres on August 15th.

Mood: Excited

Sonic's Birthday

A couple days ago Sonic turned 17 and I never got a chance to say Happy Birthday. Sonic is the man(hedgehog?), unfortunately all the games he has been in lately have been suck-tacular. Recently announced is a new Sonic game called Sonic Unleashed which is looking pretty good right now and might mean a return to glory for the blue flash.

Also coming out soon is a Sonic RPG for the Nintendo DS. Developed by the one and only Bioware, makers of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, it looks to be an excellent offering that may actually leverage all the crazy side characters and put them to good use.

I really hope Sonic can turn things around because he is one of the greatest names in video gaming and if he isn't in a good game soon then he may lose his entire fanbase.

Mood: Nostalgic

My Brothers War

I think we have some kind of earwig infestation at our front door. Earwigs are probably the most disgusting of all bugs and Andrew can't stand the fact that they seem to be everywhere when we get home from work. Tonight on the way in I watched him try to kick several of these small bugs off the front step and knock some off the front door so they couldn't get inside. It was quite hilarious.

I'm hoping they retaliate by coming back in greater numbers and we see an arms race on the scale of WWI. I could just picture Andrew attack all these bugs with a machine gun or flamethrower.

Mood: Entertained

20 Console Ads From 1977 - 1995

Just watched this hilarious video. Check it out.

Mood: Nostalgic

A Goofy Movie

Does anyone remember this movie? It had Goofy's son Max trying to impress a girl by telling her that his family vacation will actually be a trip to the Powerline concert where he will be on TV. It was pretty pimp. I used to have it somewhere but I can't find it so I'm trying to download it. I'm pretty sure it was from 1995 so I don't know how likely it is that I can download the whole thing, which sucks.

My Mood: cautiously optimistic

Webcomics are the funny?

I've been reading webcomics probably for about as long as I've had internet. Most people have heard of Penny Arcade and know how awesome it is. There are several other great webcomics out there too though.

2P Start is and excellent webcomic that is updated weekly. They only started last year but they are very funny. Most often the subject is Sonic, the Wii, Super Smash Bros Brawl, or Sonic.

Dualing Analogs is a comic that doesn't always hit the mark but every now and then has pure gold. Most worth checking out is the "Rejected MegaMan villians" comics in the archive.

Fanboys Online has probably one of the best individual comics I've ever seen. It's a Seinfeld comic where they are all playing Dungeons and Dragons. Hilarious! Some of the other ones aren't bad but they often are a little too weird.

Ctrl-Alt-Del lately has been my favourite webcomic. It's weird because you'd think the funniest ones would be the best ones but the current story arc is actually really sad. While there are still funny comics mixed in he has tackled a very sad issue absolutely excellently. It's just excellent writing. The issue I'm talking about is that one of his characters just had a miscarriage. You should definitely check out the comic. If you have the time to burn, starting from the beginning is an excellently wild ride.

Also just for fun check out Natalie Dee, her comics are so retarded they are great.

My mood: Laughterous?

GTTV

There is an excellent TV show on Spike TV at 1 am on Friday nights. This is a ridiculous time for a TV show but luckily you can watch it on the internet anytime after it initially airs. It's called GameTrailers TV and is all about upcoming games and exclusive interviews. I think it's pretty pimp. You can check it out at GameTrailers.com.

Also of note at GameTrailers is a cool section where they do "retrospectives". The just finished doing a series of retrospectives on Metal Gear. They have also done ones on The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart, and they are in the middle of doing a Star Wars one which is really cool. Basically its a cool site to watch video game trailers and movies.

Mood: Unexcited by the prospect of going to work soon.

The Incredible Hulk

I just watched a video review for the Incredible Hulk at IGN and it looks pretty cool. They gave it 4 stars. I really like what Marvel Studios did with Iron Man and I think that they would probably know best how to make a good movie about their characters. I know a lot of people didn't like the first HULK movie but I didn't think it was too bad. I'm also a pretty big fan of Edward Norton so I'm thinking The Incredible Hulk will be pretty pimp. I'm hoping to see it this weekend or next week maybe.

Mood: Intrigued

DRiP Investments

So I'm 21 now and if everything pans out alright then I'll probably have a future of some kind. I realize while I'm in school it might be a little to early to start thinking about retirement but from everything I've heard, the earlier you start saving, the better.

I've scoured the web and read several books about the best ways to save for retirement and I found a really unconventional method that I think would be an excellent strategy for me. It's called Dividend Re-investment and Share Purchase Plans. Most companies that are openly traded on the stock market pay out dividends to all share holders. These dividends are small amounts of money for every share you own and are paid out quarterly or monthly. It's important to mention that not all companies pay out dividends and that some don't pay them out regularly, often missing a month or quarter. However, there are a number of companies that have paid out dividends consistently for over 50 years! Even better, some of these companies have raised their dividends every year!

Some of these companies offer dividend re-investment and share purchase plans. If you enroll in this plan then instead of receiving a dividend cheque, your money is used to buy more shares in the company. Also, you can send a cheque in to buy more shares whenever you feel like it. This is called DRiPping or DRiP investing. The idea is that by sending money in every month or quarter and re-investing your dividends, by the time your ready to retire the dividends being paid out will be enough to live off of. Then you can cancel your Dividend Re-investment Plan and just get the cheques sent to your house.

If you want to read more about DRiP investing head to DRiPInvesting.org and read some of the articles and talk to people on the message boards.

Later on in the week I'll go over this some more.

Mood: Meh...