August 27, 2003
ODU and other colleges are back in session. And with that I'm getting killed at work. I've been busy with work for the past week and it doesn't seem to be letting up soon. I can't believe how many student's can't remember their email passwords.

The weekend coming up is Labor Day weekend, so guess what I'm going to do to celebrate the end of summer. I'm working. Yes I'm working the weekend, but I'm still planning to be up and around town saturday and sunday. Just don't expect me out partying at night. After a suicidal August of at least 2 parties every weekend, I need to chill. Especially after last weekend. Saturday morning was just so busy for me, and it was just filled with bad luck. It was a crazy morning and I won't get into it. It did involve the 76ers and a flat tire. I can't be going out spending money cuz I'm broke anyways.

Free test to check out the health of your eyes. (people at work - you may want to try this at home, it may leave you dizzy & unable to focus properly).

Bay Area peoples - new Ikea opening today!! in E.P.A. That's like putting a nice Ikea in the slums of P-town in VA.

August 21, 2003
It got me. I caught it and I think I gave it out. I got infected by a computer virus. I got the "Sobig" virus. I pride myself in being smart enough to not click on stuff that looks like a virus, but I got duped this time, and I feel bad about it. But now I read that this is the fastest spreading virus ever, so I don't feel so bad anymore. After avoiding the Klez and Blaster and every other big time virus, I wasn't even looking out for this one. I was tricked this time though. The email came from a co-worker, not just any co-worker, but one of the administrators that takes care of my network account. If something is wrong with my account, I get an email from this person telling me to fix it. I thought that this was one of those times. I was even warned about this too. They stopped all emails with the attachment at work, but this one got through before they implemented that. And for my Yahoo email, the attachments are supposed to be blocked, but for some reason 1 or 2 seem to still get by. And from checking different message boards, lots of people are getting bombarded by this thing.

So you may be getting an email from me with an attachment, well don't click it. In fact, I haven't sent any emails out in the past 2 days, so you can probably just delete anything from me. And DON'T CLICK ON ANYTHING WITH A .PIF EXTENSION. I thought I was getting a PDF file, and I didn't even notice it was a PIF file. Funny thing is that after I found it, I got about 15 more emails with it. So I'm sure that I've been spreading it, so if you get an email from me, my bad.

I've cleaned it up (i hope) and it was really easy. If you should happen to get this virus, here are 2 fixes. I used the Stinger program from Mcafee. There is also the Symantic fix that is also easy to use (read that as: any dummy that can click on a link can fix it).

One odd note, I was trying to update my virus protection on Tuesday, but when trying to download the program, I was told my "free" period had expired and it was time to pay. So I said, screw that, and didn't do a thing. That's what I get for not looking for a crack. (do you think I'd actually pay for something?) --

Virginia Beach's own The Neptunes released an album yesterday. It's a compilation of their Star Trak artists. It's pretty good, mostly radio fare, stuff you already hear on the radio or will hear. I'm enjoying it, offering a diversity in music styles. One neat feature is the DVD that came with it. It contains a 1/2 hour feature on the Neptunes. It shows them working at Mastersounds Studios in Va Beach and also features a few other local spots. Pharrel is seen messing around in his home (located at the North End of the beach). Chad is seen doing bike tricks in the Mastersounds parking lot. He's then seen playing around with all his expensive musical toys.

While on the subject of DVDs, I need to take the next few days and catch up on my backlog of DVDs. But then I still haven't defeated the Dark Side as I'm still a Padawan in the Republic. Maybe I should do that first. That is unless the weather outside is nice, then I got to work on getting rid of my slice. And I'll try to fit some sleep in there too.

August 15, 2003
Another weekend, another set of parties to go to. I really need a weekend to just chill at home.

You know if Hampton Roads ever had a major blackout, we wouldn't have half the problems that they are having in NY. That's because everybody here has a car, and we don't have mass transit. People here wouldn't walk a mile home if they had to.

Here is something for a lot of the fellas out there - a free gift. I should be giving these out for christmas presents. I'm sure a lot of my homies will benefit from this. Make sure to get one for yourself and all your web surfing co-workers.

Let's talk sports:

Today is the last day to sign up for the Virginia Beach Kickball League. That's right, kickball. It's a real organized league, and is sanctioned by WAKA, the World Adult Kickball Association. That's right, kickball. If you want to join a team, let me know because I know of a team looking for players.

This Saturday, Gil Salang, is hosting a bowling tournament. Gil is a local pinoy professional bowler who is trying to raise some money to join the PBA tour this year. He's holding the tournament at Military Lanes in Norfolk at 6pm on Saturday night. Here are the details from Gil himself:
Gil Salang has been a professional bowler for 11 years. His objective is to proudly represent the Filipino Community by promoting competitveness and sportsmanship through bowling.
He is seeking financial support to be on the Professional Bowlers Tour. He hopes to become the first Filipino American to win on the Tour.

In return, Gil offers his services to your organization such as a volunteer for fund raisers, bowling clinics and social gatherings. Please support one of our own.

Check-In @6:00 PM
Official Start time: @8:00 PM
Deadline Reservations August 15, 2003
Reserved Fees: $15.00/Walk-in $20.00
$7.50 Cost of bowling(3 games w/rental shoes included)
$7.50 Gil Salang Bowling Fund
Total $60.00 per team ($80.00 if walk-in)

Please contact:
Gil Salang @757-434-0446 or e-mail: [email protected]:
Eddie Schimizzi 757-479-3671, or
Terri Cruz
AMF Military Lanes/
Norfolk, Va. 23518
757-855-3366

There is a golf tournament on September 7 to benefit the Phillipine Cultural Center (PCC). I may join in if i get my game going good. It's $75 but that includes green fees, lunch and dinner, a bunch of goodies, and chances to win a bunch of other stuff. Let me know if you want to join and I can get you in touch with the right peoples.

I know a bunch of you like to push the speed limit a tad bit (you got to DC in 2 hours?), and this is for you. Coming up on September 13-14, there is a race, the first annual R5, a 500 mile race (cannonball run style) with 100 2-man teams from Richmond to DC (and back I think). You drive from station to station, finding clues to lead to the next station. You supposedly need to know math and have a certain amount of knowledge to figure stuff out. It should be legal as long as everyone stays within the speed limits (yeah right). The thinking is that if you get pulled over, you'll pretty much have no chance to win, and I'm sure the po-po already know about this. Details are on the Oxity website. Registration deadline is August 31 and the registration includes a hotel stay and admission to a secret party.

And for you armchair athletes, Madden 2004 is out for all consoles. Mike Vick is on the cover. ESPN football, formerly the Sega 2k line, will be out in 2 weeks.

And while I'm on the topic of video games, look out for a pretty good sale at Toys R Us starting on Sunday. There should be a Buy one, Get one free sale with several top games for every console.

August 8, 2003
Still not much going on, hence the lack of postings.

Yesterday I was driving home from work and I pulled over to let a fire truck get through. There was the regular morning traffic at 8am (except I'm going home while everyone else is going to work) and I'm in downtown norfolk when a fire truck wants to get through. There is lots of construction going on, so the 2 lanes we do have have been made skinnier than normal and now nobody is able to pull over to let this truck through. So I just stop and let a bunch of people from the other lane get in front of me, just to let the truck pass through. The truck stops a few cars ahead of me from where I'm stopped and has now blocked the road. It turns out that someone working on the road construction just hit a gas line and gas is now spraying into all of downtown norfolk. It's pretty loud and I am inhaling it all because my car is about 15 feet from the line break. Now I can't move because the fire truck has blocked all traffic from going through. And so I watch as they are frenetically evacuating everyone from the area. Even the buildings are being evacuated. So I'm thinking that we're in a volatile situation, and I'm 15 feet from where an explosion may happen. So why did this fire truck just block me in? And the traffic behind me is just getting worse. So as I'm inhaling the fumes noone has yet acknowledged the fact that there is a line of cars that needs to move away from the area. I was the third car in this line, so I didn't feel the pressure of being the first one to do something, but I happened to be the closest one to the gas. So the first car just gets onto the curb to circle around the truck. Then the second car gets onto the curb and onto the intersecting street. I follow suit and do the same. After I do this, the truck moves up and now everybody is moving along, while I'm watching from this side street that leads out, but it's a long winding, poorly paved road out. I did get home and turned the tv on to see it on the news. It was just a little delay, but it's stuff like that that just sets my day off wrong.

I did see S.W.A.T. last night (gotta love those free sneak previews). It was pretty good. Your typical action filled end of summer blockbuster. The action was tense, the guns were loud, and there were lots of explosions. It even contained a lot of funny one-liners. The plot was sort of weak though. It took a long time to develop the characters and create this SWAT team, and then the story kicks in about an hour into the movie. Extremely predictable and there is nothing new here. In fact, this could have been Speed 4, just without the bus (or any moving vehicle). It's like they took the first sequence from Speed and built a movie around that. And there are a bunch of other elements stolen from other movies, but this movie is all about the action. When the SWAT team is actually performing a mission, that's when it gets exciting and that's what people are watching this movie for. Colin Farrell is pretty good as the lead, and he works well with Sam Jackson. The French guy from Unfaithful is pretty good as the slick, smooth evil millionaire mobster. Some of the other characters could have been a little better though, there is some overacting going on, and it gets distracting. But this is just a popcorn flick that is meant to entertain, so it does just that. Good,fun movie, just wish there was more Ashley Scott in it.

Another weekend, another round of August parties to go to. And it just isn't going to stop anytime soon.

August 1, 2003
Not much going on here, that's why I haven't been posting anything lately. That and the fact that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has taken over all of my time. And now Mario Golf is coming out. And then this years football games - Madden & ESPN (formerly the Sega 2K line). I'm just living my life with a controller in my hands.

The month of August is a busy one for me. Several parties and events each weekend. Meaning lots of presents and stuff to buy. To help some of you out, this weekend seems to be a big weekend for coupons (I have no idea why). I've posted a few of them here:

Friends & Family Sale at Footlocker or Champs - 30% off EVERYTHING except Nike Air Force 1s (sorry Nelly - no Er Foes Wuns for you).

50% off at Footaction - good online only. The 50% discount will show up in the middle of the checkout procedure.

Buy 1 Frappacino, Get 1 Free at Barnes & Nobles in-store cafe.

And KBtoys - they've got a lot of stuff on sale online too.
Save 20% on your next order of any amount when you use this coupon code: SURVEYTHANKS.

Discount Guidelines: An order of any amount qualifies for the 20% discount. Discount excludes Gift Cards and PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Advance SP and PlayStation consoles. Offer not valid on previous orders. Discount offer expires 8/30/03. Valid for online use only. Discount offer good for one time use only. We reserve the right to cancel or suspend the offer at any time. Purchases must be made using a credit card or KBtoys Gift Card.The 20% off discount offer cannot be combined with any other coupon. Discount coupon has no cash value.

This is for August 14 - August 17: 40% off at Reebok/Rockport outlet stores.

Bored? Check to seek how much of a GEEK you are. 18% here.