Undisputed's blog

Snow... too much friggin snow!

Snow like this only happens when I have a day off that could be better spent doing other things.  As my bike sits shivering the in the garage, I got a chance to try out the other new toy.  Years of back problems and annual shitstorm blizzards and my ensuing vendettas against douchebag snowplow drivers... pushed us over the edge last year and this year we armed ourselves about 2 weeks ago with gas powered snowthrower. After giving it a shot today... I must say... HELL YEAH, FTW!!!!!

The plows only managed to get about one strip down the middle of the street by midday and left us to fend for ourselves. I consider us  lucky, considering other instances all over the city where where taxpayers were left stranded on subways for 7 hours or entrenched  on the sidelines of expressways with babies and small children because the city didn't consider them "emergencies".  Apparently there was no state of emergency declared in NYC despite the above situations. I guess that would look bad on our mayor, who cheated his way into another term, and is trying to get a free pass for someone with no educational background to run the education system, so she can make some cuts and layoffs (apparently the previous layoffs of cops, firemen and teachers weren't enough).  But fear not educators, as I hear the Governor (a walking clusterfuck on an even bigger scale) is hinting is pleading hardship on dealing with life with a disability sans all the aides and assistants he enjoyed once he stumbled into the Governor's position-- don't ask who the would be good summaritans that would pay for that are .  Now I could be wrong, but didn't he have to live his whole life with this situation prior to becoming Governor.  Once you're out of office... you go back to being a nobody don't you. What could be so fucking important, that your girlfriend choking enforcers friend couldn't help you out... I mean he'd be out of a job too, wouldn't he? unless of course Diddy or someone needs a menacing enforcer type to  keep the fans away.. or the vodka cold at least.... But I digress...

as I finish watching the shelacking my Rangers are giving those schlubs from long island... Well wishes go out to those without heat and forgotten by the city they fund. Hoepfully the new year has promise and brings us an opportunity to rid ourselves of the fat cats, bullshit politicians  and abusers of power....Hey I can dream, can't I?

Dennis Miller's the Big Speech...

I really rediscovered a love for Dennis Miller's comedic rants. It's been years since I read one of his books or seen one of him on TV since his show on HBO was cancelled. His particular brand of comedy has influence a the sarcastic side of my own sense of humor growing up.  "Sarcastic, you? Impossible!" you say?... ok, maybe not... 

At any rate, I get such good laughs out of Miller and guys like Lewis Black. Their sense of humor is a lot like my own. A knee jerk reaction to building frustration with the lack of common sense in the world. It comes off with such a matter of factness, because if it didn't ... well, we might just explode... besides sarcasm and snarky comments are sometimes all we have in a world where bullets are sold legally under the premise that you're using them on animals that don't shoot back and are already scared of you and not on stupid people more deserving. Sometimes a well designed timely insult penetrates deeper and stings longer, simply because its based on irrefutable evidence. Keep Ranting guys and do it in style.

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" RIP, Friend...

We weren't always friends. In fact our association started with a headlock and a fight after school, as I suppose many friendships might. More than we'd like to admit anyway.  He lived just around the corner from my house and since the fight in about 3rd grade, we had gradually become friends... While we weren't inseparable really, but in my neighborhood, you played with who was out.  Through that a bond was formed and we spent many a summer day playing baseball and basketball in the street on makeshift courts and diamonds, lighting firecrackers and listening to the radio and hanging out on each others porches till the street lights came on... the next day we'd pick up right where we left off... or walk to school together.

Its funny just the other day, I had written about him and my other friends in an assignment for class. Its strange how we sometimes  never really think about the people that pass in and out of our lives till those memories are all we have left to hold on to. We kind of drifted apart after high school as our ambitions took us different places.  We'd still see each other in passing from time to time and exchange a little pleasantries on how things are doing. For a kid that started out rough, he eventually worked through the immaturity and became a cop and I'm sure went on to do good things. Its a shame we went our separate ways  before we got to know each other as well later in life.

He was off duty, and was killed by a drunk driver who had gotten on the Northern State parkway, driving in the wrong direction. He leaves behind a wife and twin girls.  Rest in Peace, Andre... I know you'll continue to do great things...

The Walking Dead...

The Walking Dead - So I checked out the premiere of this show on AMC. Ok, I'll admit I was kind of looking forward to it all day. There aren't enough well done zombie features now a days. With all the bad ones tossed out there on shoestring budgets or even worse.... Big budget brand name bad actor cough*Nick Cannon*cough*Mena Sauvari*Cough* Productions.... It's nice that theres one being produced with some thought and executed with some half decent writing and direction... I'll definitely setting my DVR for this one.

Ok I guess I'm getting money's worth...Scorpio i900 Motorcycle alarm

Ok .. I installed most of the Scorpio i900 RFID alarm system on my bike.  For the most part, I'm rather impressed at  how well it works and can read the tag on the pager system. To be honest if i didn't want the anti -hijack feature , I would have bought the 800 model and got off almost 200 dollars cheaper.

That being said, the factory settings for the perimeter sensor will have to be adjusted as my bike has the sensitivity of a ghetto club rat.  Any guy that has ever been to a bar/lounge/club and had a chick flip out and accuse you of making unwanted advances while sucking her teeth and flipping her hair 150 times....when you were just trying to walk past her and get to your table, when the place is at maximum capacity.... will know what I'm talking about. Its impossible to walk within 2-3feet of my bike without the perimeter alarm advancing straight to full alarm without even giving you the chance to step back before making this piercing,irritating shrieking sound. While i could say i'm annoyed, i'd be lying and to be honest ... I'm a bit giddy. More for the fact that I installed it on my own, it works and my bike hasn't exploded yet.  

Theres just no way i'd be able to leave it in front of the building without someone walking close to it parking near it or a an suv cruising past it too slowly on the concourse without setting it off every 5 minutes and killing my battery....right now. Tomorrow, time for some tweaking... lets just hope I tune it the right way and don't wind up on the "Crazy Knife Wielding Girlfriend" sensitivity setting.

The Helmet...

What do you do when you can't afford to fork over 500 bucks for one of those top of the line helmets. You get a reasonable plain one and get creative with the reflective tape, aftermarket car emblems and my St. Christopher Medal.... before you wind up the unexpected hood ornament on an Escalade barreling down on you in the darkness of NYC streets. 

Its better than nothing right now and the LED's were a nice feature of the helmet.

 

Cube-in Fever..

Not sure what it is, but I just can't wait to get the hell out of here today. Some days I stay 30-60 minutes overtime and never bat an eye.. but today....

Maybe its the stupid questions that I get asked at work. Don't get me wrong, I know as a techie...I'm supposed to be here to help answer these questions but geeeze, sometimes I think the only help I can offer some people is to grab a hammer and put them out of their misery. Try hitting a delete button before you spend 10 minutes writing me an email asking me how to get rid of a file.

It seems like the stupidty wild fire is spreading too. I got another class project with the same group of fuckers I had for the last group project. I knew in the beginning I should have chosen my own group members and tried... God knows I tried..but one didnt respond and for the lack of an email.. The professor went alphabetically and I got cast into this clusterfuck of a group. Noone other than myself wishes to correspond with the professor.. do the work or even put thought into a topic. I find myself serving as the middle man between the Prof and the group...  not for the good of the group but because I am trying to keep these people from sinking my grade with their half -ass attitude. Shit, I hate group projects.

Overall, I guess I am tired of the non involvement of people around me. I guess I've had my fill of wiping noses and patting bottoms. Perhaps my eagerness to get out of here is somehow tied the bowflex machine. I get out of it what I put into it and theres always a give and take. Without me, its is nothing and without it, I am a useless lump sitting on the sofa.  With my luck it'll break tonight. If it does, Look for me on the news.

 

Elm Street 2010 Review - Spoilers? Maybe, but you knew it was coming...

Another "gritty" remake. I guess I should put some kind of spoiler alert here but frankly the best parts of the Elm Street remake were the scenes taken from the original. If you haven't seen either...shame on you .. and Opt for the original. This was like Elm street the meatloaf edition. It could stand on its own as a meal (slasher flick), I suppose... but it still leaves you wishing it was a steak and not sepia saturated spare meat held together with the Michael Bay breadcrumb special effects and curiosity, often associated with a remakes. There was some decent effects, but other than that.. most of the "new" stuff was gritty filler. The scares came by way of shreaks and shrills with the volume set to 11 on the movie theater speakers but the feeling of tension created by the original was left out. The old one had this way of taking your own comfy bed and making you damn uncomfortable in it. The set in this movie seemed kind of drab, cold and monotone throughout...may as well have happened at a hotel. The visual explanation of what happened to Freddy was a nice touch ... but it could have easily been a deleted scene on the DVD of the original. Yes, if there was a way to sum this up in one sentence..it would be that this makes me want to by the original on DVD.

Freddy 2k10 tried his hardest to live up to Englund-esque standard but couldn't generate that much character. More violent and sometimes less oaf-ish.. but the dialog and one liners felt forced. The makeup was half assed in my opinion also. Like fire Marshal bill with a hat. I can't be sure if the blame should be laid at Haley's feet for his version of Freddy, but for the fans that have seen both... Haley's nightmare has me dreaming fondly of the old Freddy.

Damn, the previews will never be the same...

"In a world where......"  movie audiences sat in expectation, thrilled by the promise of movies yet to come. The lights would dim and his voice would guide us through the darkness and creep us out at the same time. 

Don Lafontaine died today.  Many of us just knew him as the raspy voice movie announcer guy... only finally seeing his face when he did a geico commercial and thinking "him? thats the guy?"  He didnt look threatening or menacing, but his voice will always be that of an 8 foot tall, grim, beastly guy that haunts us for all of eternity.  Heres to hoping hollywood finds a nice way to comemmorate his place in movie history. RIP, Don...

The train wreck of posts....

So, I havent posted in a long while.  With everything going so crazy this summer, I hardly found time to collect my thoughts much less save them for later or typing them in a way that is remotely organized.  So lets give this a shot, Shall we...

The online School thing

My journey through the world of education continues in 2 days as i start another class after having the summer off.  Lets hope this one has promise and is more organized than the time wasting clusterf*ck the last one in the series of the communications major became because of a half assing professor.  I wont hold my breath though as i am already queazy at the sight of the $116 price tag attached to the text book. Yippee it comes with a student DVD.  That makes it all worth it.  wee...

The Job Thing

So I have been sent all over the city in the pass few months on Job Interviews and Hiring pools etc as the city qualifies its IT people.   Even for jobs I didn't want.  Its pretty much an offer I cant refuse.  If you're requested for an interview with a school within the University and you turn it down, you're pretty much blacklisted from further consideration for any position till after everyone else has interviewed.  That includes the ones you want.  So its been best to go and use the ones for jobs i didn't want as practice interviews.  Last week I interviewed for a place that didn't see as run of the mill as the others did.  I mean they actually ask you behavioral and technical questions and i must admit it kind of raised some interest.  They mentioned some late hours and weekends being involved... which kinda makes anyone pause but... I guess, sometimes you have to bite bullet and go get something if you want it... if nothing else other than to prove you still have what it takes. Eh well, we'll see... I guess.

Buying Frenzy

Over the summer I have amassed more than the usual amount of gadgets, trinkets, toys and other miscellaneous techno and other crap.  I call it crap because its cost me money.  But other than that, I have to admit that they make me happy and feed the needs.   So a list of a couple with things.  I'll expand on each worth of its own post later and give the great details.

• The Asus Eee PC - At the beginning of the summer, I decided i couldn't wait any longer to get my hands on one.  So I went out and got one of the old 701's as the prices dropped for the 900's and the anticpation rose for the 1000's.  For a few bucks more i could have got one of the more updated models, but the ultra hack and modibility of the originals has had a grasp on my imagination for a while now and i wasnt quiet sure if that would be retained through the later models.  Plus it was the perfect excuse to get my feet wet with the many flavors or Linux. So small, yet so versatile.... 
• The Creative Zen x-fi - A few weeks ago, I found myself in dire need of a new MP3 player. My last one (creative zen touch) was up in years and had taken a lot of a abuse and finally got to a point where it was no longer being recognized by windows. Leaving about 5-6 gbs of music trapped on it.  I was bored of all the music i had on it but still it will be a real pain or really expensive to collect all over again.  I have to say i love the x-fi.  Its technically not out in the states yet, but thank god for online retailers (newegg.com) with suppliers in Singapore, right.... Video, audio, an external speaker and a crystalizer that simulates X-fi to make the music a bit more crisp. Whats more its Wireless!!! Haven't tried the chat messenger on it yet, but..soon.
• 46" Sony Bravia - With our Old TV giving out. It appeared it was time to step it up and finally buy a new one.  Its a complex choice with the difference in prices, brands, gimmicks and technology.  I decided to just go with a Sony.  I've heard some horror stories with Samsungs support and the extra money that sony demands was worth it for the quality and more dependable support.  Its just funny that when the TV is hanging on a wall with so many other TV's at the store, that you never really realize, how damn big it is till you get it home and you find yourself pushing things away from it to make room for it.   It's a great TV though.  I still have to get the HD Cable Box, so in the mean time my only HD expeience has come from the playstation 3.  I must say i never really saw what the big deal was with HD (when watching 320 x 240 res Streams and listen to radio of your Favorite Team is the alternative, any picture will do), but now I have to admit I am humbled by the difference it makes.
• A trip to The WoodBury Common Outlets - The culmantion of the buying frenzy was a trip to the outlets a week ago.  My dress code at work is fairly flexable and because I can find myself crawling under a desk to install a workstation or running all over a cetrain area to image and configure sevaral machines, my everyday style has always been rather casual except for the times where I knew I would be at my desk all day (rarely) or had a meeting. With all these interviews lately, I had to round up some more business attire.   I found a decent dress watch at fossil for a fairly inexpensive $95 (that Tag Heuer is just going to have to wait till i hit the Lottery.)  A good deal on some slacks at Perry Ellis for $25 each. Unfortunately I pretty much gave back any money I saved to Kenneth Cole for a Briefcase/Laptop which still wasnt all that bad for a leather case with a lifetime warranty ( I didnt know about that previously) but still was not in my usual scope of necessities.

The NHL Off-Season - My Team (New York Rangers)

WTF is taking so long?!?!?!  It had to be said....

 

Up till now the summers been one big hot, humid blur...  As things may start to settle over the next few weeks, and it appears my biggest problem will be keeping my co workers and friends from find out when my birthday is. (I have side stepped some casual questioning till now, but i things have gone as a far as an extortion attempt from someone today to come in and give me one of those Family restaurant style  Birthday Salutes throughout various public areas of the workplace, if i didnt reveal the exact day to her) ... But anyway, as I was saying.... I think just as things will begin to settle... its only the beginning.