November 26, 2003
I hope everyone is enjoying their Short Work Week. It's only Wednesday, but it should feel like Friday to most people, at least those that went to work today. I've got tonight off, so I may be out doing something. It'll feel odd to be out on a weeknight.

I do have to work tomorrow night, so I may not be able to get out early on Friday morning to hit up some of the Big Sales, but after scanning over the ads leaked on the internet I didn't see anything too interesting or worth changing my schedule around. There are some nice deals though. But I'll head out to some of the stores after work to check out the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and maybe I can bump into some of you.

For those of you who are able to wake up early enough, here's an early jump on some of the Sales on Friday, for those of you who want to plan ahead:

Walmart

Staples

Office Depot

Radio Shack

A good list of stores here

Another List of Several stores

Discussion including Circuit City, Sears, & Toys R Us.

November 22, 2003
I know for the past few weeks some of you have been bummed out and I know why. I was upset also when the Hilary Duff concert in Norfolk sold out quickly. But good news, due to the constant pressuring of hundreds of crying 12 year old girls, the Norva decided to add another Hilary Duff show (funny how a bunch of crying 21+ girls couldn't get another Justin T show). Yes, Lizzie McGuire is now doing 2 shows next weekend in Norfolk and tickets went on sale yesterday for the extra show!!! Expect this one to sell out quick too. This concert for America's #1 jailbait should be 21 and under though, so I probably won't be there, at least not without disguise. But I will happily escort some of your kids to the show if you'd like. Yeah I said it. What?!

Speaking of singing, I think I'm going to try to master Time Magazine's Game of the Year. After losing my voice at last weeks Redskins game, I haven't been able to work on Karoake Revolution, but my voice is back, and I'm sounding like a songbird again. If I could only bring the PS2 into the shower with me.

Okay now, the trip to see Carolina vs. the Redskins...
there was 8 of us signed up to go on the Navy's bus trip to Charlotte to see this football game. The bus was leaving the base at 5am on Sunday morning and since none of us were in the Navy, there was a slight trepidation that we may not be able to get on the base and catch the bus. Luckily we did get on and we were happy until we saw the bus. It wasn't even a real bus, it was one of those shuttle buses. A small bus means smaller, less comfortable seats. There was no where to store bags and stuff and there was no leg room. There was a big TV (probably 19") at the front of the bus that played movies the whole way, but the guy sitting in front of me had a big head that I couldn't see past. Darn Navy guys, always sitting straight. I would have been fine if he just slouched a little. I tried to sleep, since I only got 2 hours sleep the whole weekend, but it was just too uncomfortable. And the scenery to Charlotte sucks. Needless to say, it was a rough 6 hour drive.

We get to the stadium and before we depart the bus, the guy in charge of the trip reminds us to hurry back after the game so we can get a quick start back home. It seems all of the buses that came to Charlotte were filled with Redskins fans though, so I felt better about cheering for the visiting squad. I'll even admit that the people down there were pretty nice and inviting. Before the game I got an autograph from 3 of the Panther cheerleaders. They call themselves the Top Cats. Probably the dumbest name for a cheerleading squad in all of sports. The Mascot's name is dumb to - Sir Purr. But it was free hat day, so we all got ourselves some free souvenirs.

The stadium, Ericsson Stadium, is pretty big. It holds over 80,000 people so seats go far back and up high. We look for our seats and it turns out the section we are at is on the upper, upper level, the highest section up. It was a long walk up to the section. Then I start looking for the actual seat, which is on row 33. I begin to climb up the stairs only to find out that there are 34 rows. So my seat was in the second to last row for a stadium that seats 80,000 people. That means, about 79,500 had better seats that I did. At least everyone in my section was a redskins fan. It made the game really enjoyable even if we could barely see the football.

The actual game wasn't exactly top notch, the score at halftime was 3-3. But it was fun hanging out with all the loud Redskin fans as they battled with the Home Panther fans the whole time. The lead changed several times and it did get interesting at the end, with the Panthers scoring with just over a minute left to win. I would normally be upset with the Redskins losing, but I had a good time watching that a win would have been secondary.

After the game we hurried back to the bus. On the way back, we saw a bunch of Panthers coming out of the stadium to their buses. I would have stopped for an autograph or picture, but
1. I didn't recognize any of them without their uniforms. 2. There were a bunch of people crowded around them. 3. We didn't want to hold up the bus.
So we just walked back to the bus. Almost everybody had gotten back but there were a few people still missing. So we waited.
And waited.
and waited
and waited...
There were 2 navy guys still not back as the parking lot of buses around us emptied out. Darkness began to fall and some of the other navy guys went out to look for them. Nearly 2 hours passed before one of them finally came back, stating he was lost, but he was obviously very drunk. He's lucky the other navy guys on the bus didn't kill him. With 1 guy still missing, the people in charge decide to leave him behind. So we left 2 hours behind schedule and minus 1 person. So much for the "leave no man behind" mentality. I would have left him after waiting for 30 minutes though.

So now we're back to this long 6 hour trip back. We stopped at McDonald's to get some dinner, but it was again a long, boring, uncomfortable trip back. This time, it was dark and quiet too. I slept for a little bit, but I was awake for the last few hours of the trip, as I watched everyone else on the bus sleeping. It was a little past 1am when we finally got back. I was so tired and I was starting to get a headache from the bus ride. I spent all of monday just sleeping and recouperating.

So to recap:
-5am in the morning
-not a real bus
-6 hour ride
-met 3 cheerleaders
-redskins lose
-leave 2 hours late
-left 1 drunk sailor behind
-another 6 hour ride
-back in norfolk at 1 am
Still, I had the Best Time and I'd do it again!!! I can't wait to see another football game. It probably won't be until next year though. But I even signed up for the Redskins season ticket holder waiting list. I'm #120,136 on the list. Hopefully I can get some before I turn 80 years old.

November 21, 2003
Not much on the slate for me this weekend, and I guess that's a good thing with Thanksgiving coming up next week. After that it's all about the Christmas season, so this is sort of the last weekend of normalcy for the rest of the year.

I saw Master and Commander yesterday. I liked it a lot, but it's not a movie for everyone. It isn't exactly action packed, so don't expect a Terminator style movie. It's more of a movie about the different kinds of characters that all work together and live together on this old ship as they fight the French navy. It does drag at some points, but the overall mood of the movie is what sets this movie apart from other sea faring movies. It's also produced really well. During every scene, the camera does rock with the boat, and we constantly hear the boat creaking and the waves pounding the boat. One problem I did have was keeping up with all of the characters. There are 4 or 5 main characters, but about 20 supporting characters (I believe there are 128 people on this boat at the start). So when the story focuses on one of the supporting characters, I was a little lost as I didn't know who from who. But as I said, it's not for everyone, probably most people. It doesn't follow the formula of beginning-conflict-climax-end. It's set so that we are experiencing a voyage with the crew for a few weeks. It tries to stay true to life and that's why I liked it, and why some of you won't.

Note: I saw this at the new AMC theatre and the room I saw it in was the smallest theatre room I've ever been in. There were only seven rows of seats (3 rows up front, 4 rows stadium style), but they were huge, plush seats with lots of leg room. A little over 55 seats total (I counted). I just wasn't used to that. I've seen rooms on "Cribs" bigger than this room.

November 20, 2003
If you had problems trying to get into the Footaction Sale yesterday, you may want to try again today. It's not taking as much traffic, but a lot of the stuff is gone. Most of it is around 70% off, so it's worth it. I ended up buying myself another 2 pairs of shoes this morning, on top of the 3 pairs from yesterday.

If you can't get in, try closing the browser and reopening it. Clear the cache, etc. Just keep trying.

I would talk about the trip we took to NC this past weekend to see the Redskins lose, but there is a lot to talk about, and I just haven't felt like sitting at the computer for more than a minute to type out the story. Maybe tonight at work. I had fun though, even though it was a lot of traveling for one day. I did spend all day Monday resting and watching DVDs.

In fact, I've been trying to catch up on my DVD's all week. I tell you, Koreans are making the best movies today. This week alone I've watched Friend, Failan, My Wife is a Gangster, The Way Home (for the 3rd time), and Take Care of My Cat (for the 3rd time, and despite the title, it's a good drama). I'll try to put up some of my own reviews of them when I get bored.

But I don't know when that will be because I just picked up Mario Kart DD for the GameCube yesterday and it's a lot of fun. More time on the GameCube = less time on the computer.

November 19, 2003
BIG Sale at Footaction.com - Footaction Tent Sale (you need to go through this link to get the sale prices). I just did a big chunk of Christmas shopping there.

On the topic of sales, here are a bunch of coupons:
Kenneth Cole - 30% off
Tommy Hilfiger - 30% off
Macy's - various stuff, instore only.

November 14, 2003
The new Jay-Z album hits the streets today, on a Friday, as does the G-unit album. They say they are rushing the street day onto a Friday due to the album being leaked onto the internet, but nowadays, nearly every album has been out there a few weeks before the album release. And why is it only the rappers that bumped their release dates up to a Friday. I think it's a publicity thing, as this has been on the news for a week now. News = free publicity. In fact I didn't even know about the G-unit album release until I heard the news reports (but I don't really care anyways). Also, the next few Tuesday have got some Mega Albums being released. Releasing it on a Friday gets them a step ahead of the rest and doesn't drown the album from the flood of new CDs on a Tuesday. And if they were worried about a leak on the internet, why did they let MTV stream it off of their website for free. (It's still there if you want to listen, along with the Britney, Pink, and a bunch of other CDs). I'll admit that I've had a sneak peek for over a week now, but I liked what I heard and this morning I picked it up. I wasn't sure about buying it, but it was priced under $10, and that's what sold me. And music companies should know that if you want to sell more albums, don't fight the internet, put out a quality album at a descent price. I don't care how good an album might be, but if it's costing me more the $15, I'm not buying it. It's easy economics, and I don't know diddly about business.

So this sunday I'll be on a one day bus trip to Carolina and back to see the Redskins play. Hopefully I'll get to see an exciting game, because I really don't want to be on a 6 hour bus ride to see some boring blowout. Look for me on TV, I'll be one of the only 8 filipinos in the stadium.

So we've got this new movie theatre opening today in Va Beach. And I was excited about it, because as an avid movie-goer, I like the little details of the movie going experience. I say I WAS excited, that is until I found out that the newest theatre in the area is also the most expensive one. Now I know it doesn't compare to the big city prices, but we're talking about Va Beach here. The matinee prices are the same as the night rates of some of the other theatres. That will only lead to the other theatres raising their prices soon. I'll watch a few movies there (Master & Commander opens there today), but don't expect me to be a regular. Screw that, I've got my netflix to keep my "4 movies a week" quota satisfied. With the price of movie tickets going up, and the price of DVD's going down, it won't be long before they become the same. That's when I expect them to hand out a copy of the movie to everyone after they finish watching it.

November 13, 2003
Today is Ryan Yoder's birthday. He joins the 30 year old's club. If you guys see him this week, make sure you remind him. And if there is some secret handshake or sign you guys have, let him know, because us young people sure don't know about it.

The Christmas shopping season is just about here, so to help you out you may want to see this list. You are thinking of me this year, right???

I did some condensing of this page. Actually a lot of condensing, so load times should speed up. Maybe I'll start adding pictures. I'm probably going to change the colors too, I just need some kind of inspiration.

November 11, 2003
Today is my nephew's 2nd birthday. My has time flown by. He's gotten pretty big in the past year. To celebrate, I can be found over at Chuck E. Cheese partying it up with the 2 year olds. He'll be having a bigger party this weekend, but I probably won't be there because I am trekking down to North Carolina to cheer on the Redskins as they visit the Carolina Panthers.

I hope some of you are enjoying your day off on this Veteran's day. And if you don't have today off, don't worry, you're not missing much. I didn't get today off, but when you work nights, everyday seems like a day off.

On my way home today, I watched my beat up old sentra hit 160,000 miles. Just when I think it's on it's last leg, it continues to chug along. There are however a few "free miles" on that odometer, about a years worth. Shhh! don't tell anyone.

November 7, 2003
I watched Chris Rock perform last night at ODU and he was hilarious. Probably not as funny as some of his past shows, but still funnier than most comedians out there today. There probably isn't another comedian I would actually pay big money to see anyways (Seinfeld was here a few months ago, I didn't care). What's so cool about Chris Rock's shows are his mixture of social commentary and comedy. He also spent some time about relationships and his life as a married man. I'm sure you've seen him on HBO and other stuff so I won't dwell on this too much, but it is much funnier in person. And I'm sure he'll be bringing the "Black Ambition Tour" to HBO anyways so I won't spoil any of the jokes. Mario Joyner opened up for him and he was equally funny. I've actually been a Mario Joyner fan since high school, I used to always catch him doing stand up on TV. I'm sure you guys know who he is, even if you don't recognize the name. He's been in Pootie Tang, Head of State, Hanging with the Homeboys, and a bunch of other things. Most of you will probably remember him from Seinfeld, the episode where Jerry and company were stuck in a traffic jam while the Puerto Rican Day parade was going through. Mario Joyner was the guy that was blocking Jerry's car in and he refused to move. He was just straight up comedy last night.

This weeks jam - Milkshake by Kelis (now also known as Mrs. Nasir Jones). This is one of those songs you either love of hate. Her "rapping" sort of reminds me of Debbie Harry. Production by the Neptunes. This one could get old quick, but I'm enjoying it for now. It's also a good strip club joint, not that I would know what they play at strip bars.

Another coupon for Starbucks inside of Barnes and Nobles. You get a free cappucino for buying anything from them, I guess that includes those 25 cent chocolates by the register.

I'm feeling some more 80's nostalgia after another dose of I love the 80's shows. Continuing with the idea of taking it back to the old school, remember these old Atari commercials?

Busy weekend ahead for me, with little site of any rest.

November 4, 2003
I was driving home from work today and I noticed that there were kids everywhere, playing and running around in the streets. It's a really nice day today, but I didn't think that they were all skipping school. So I figured that there was no school today. But it's not a holiday, and public schools don't have a fall break. Then I realized that it's election day, and lately, election day means no school for the kids. It wasn't always like that because I remember going to school and having a section of the school closed off to be a voting site, but I guess it's convenient to just close schools and make it an in-service day.

I was going to vote today, but I screwed up my change of address voting thingy. I went to the DMV to straighten out my voting registration stuff. I gave them all my info and they said that it would be taken care of. So I forgot about it after that. It turns out, all they did was print out all of my info onto an voting registration form and then they mailed it to me to sign and mail back. I didn't know this and I brushed off the letter from the DMV as junk mail and never opened it, until last week. It's not a "big" election year, but I voted last year and I figured that I was on a roll and should vote again this year but I'm probably not going to. I'm not political anyways. I could still vote, I'd just have to drive to the other side of the city to the site that I'm registered at, but I don't feel like it, I've got some movies to catch up on instead.

It's already November, and it was 80 degrees yesterday. This is one of the warmest Novembers that I can remember. I'm not complaining though. I do remember a string of about 10 days during the month of December sometime in 1993 or 1994 where we had temps in the upper 80's.

The final Matrix movie comes out tomorrow. Is it just me, or is there a lack of promotion that the previous movie had. Aside from the ocassional commercial, I haven't heard any buzz over this one. Has the franchise died that quickly? I remember seeing all of the actors out and promoting Reloaded. I would get pop up ads and banners all over the internet. There were toys and special TV tie ins. I don't see any of that for Revolutions. I've been hearing more "Brother Bear" hype than for the Matrix. It's supposed to be opening simultaneously around the globe at the same time, 9am everywhere here on the east coast, and I thought about going right after I get off work at 8am, but the early reviews aren't so favorable. And as a sign that the apocalypse is coming, early reviews of ELF are mostly positive.