Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snooooorflt!

I was Warned about Austin and the allergy season. Apparenly some of the allergies are hunting without a license 'cause we are a few weeks before the season and they are already killing me.

I Picked up Star Trek Onlne. One bad ass game. Very similar to Pirates of the Burning Sea but this one has a much better progression scheme.
GamePlay:
The gameplay is a little clunky as they deal with thousands of online players in the same world. I have not decided on how I feel about the instancing. Basically, everyone is in the same set of servers, but there will be dozens of Earth's StarDock at any time. You can join your friends in the same instance reasonably easy, and it is smart enough to put all members of a shared pary in the same instace. The part I dont know if I like or not is that I only get 1 extra character slot (though a second extra slot (for a total of 3) supposedly does open up later). I often use the extra slots to try different things and get a feel for some of the things I could have tried.
Meh, I dont want to do a full reveiw. If you want a goo dreview, head over to www.gamersplatform.com. I am sure the bouys over there will have a good one up soon.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Cool new stuff!

In my line of work there is a lot of automation; the idea is to get all the routine tasks performed in a way with little human interaction. It was not a stretch when we got a roomba for the house. It is already seeming to help. If you ever get to see these roombas, they are pretty amazing! We already want a second one to clean the hard floors. Nof if they would just make one to clean the table and wash the dishes...

We met a few of the neighbors and they are all very nice people. There is a little girl next door for Ashlyn to play with. It is still very cold out (temps will flux between 30-65 degrees in a day) so no one is doing yardwork or grilling yet (well, I still do grilling, it needs to be below 40 to stop me).

Hoping to get the bike into the shop this weekend, I miss riding her every day.

The DirecTV got hooked up over the weekend. I am already enjoying the new shows. Oddly, three of the 4 receivers needed to be replaced.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Brewing away!

The new brew is fermenting nicely and will be ready to transfer into the carboy this weekend.

The new house is coverd in awesomesauce.

Kids are all in school and loving it.

New job is good, still ramping up and still scared half to death.

Star Trek Online rocks... loads and loads of fun.

Friday, January 15, 2010

The ultimate survial kit

Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff.

Beer!

I think I am going to go to the home brew shop at lunch today. I feel like brewing up a batch this weekend.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. --Thomans Jefferson

Just in case some of you didn't know this. It's easy to check out, if you don't believe it. A little history lesson on what's what and it doesn't matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts!!!

Our Social Security

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary

No longer Voluntary

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program

Now 7.65% on the first $90,000

3..) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year

No longer tax deductible

4.) That the money the participants put into the independent 'Trust Fund' rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would
only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other
Government program

Under Johnson the money was moved to The General Fund and Spent

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Under Clinton & Gore Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to 'put
away' -- you may be interested in the following:

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent 'Trust Fund' and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, wit h Al Gore casting the 'tie-breaking' deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

A: Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants who have moved into this country at any age will at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!


Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!


AND CONGRESS GIVES THEMSELVES 100% RETIREMENT FOR ONLY SERVING ONE TERM!!!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Ever have one of those days...?

Actually, to clarify, ever have one of those dreams where you are trying to get from Point A to Point B, but you feel like something is pulling your eyelids in 2 different directions, and you are running uphill with a locomotive going downhill behind you with chains attached to the iron suit you are wearing but you still somehow seem to be naked?

Frustration thy name is Internet Service Provider.

FIOS take me away! Begone you DSL demons! (sob, I weep for my FIOS)

Yes, my Internet really is that slow. However, I got wireless bridging up in my house today, along with encryption. the encryption is new because I never bothered before in Virginia. My neighborhood was so bad none of my neighbors could afford computers, let alone wireless or and ISP. I got a little lazy.

However, now I have to protect my assets. My crazy white collar neighbors might rob me blind! I do however have the MOST complex home network of anyone I know. Running at least six operating systems, a full Windows Active Directory Domain, web sites, FTP sites, etc etc. The only thing I am not running (yet) is a VoIP phone system.

Ok, all typed out.

More later.

This is seriously messed up!






Yes boys and girls, my upload is actually twice as fast as my download.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010