When A Good Day Turns Bad

Just a short little bitch about how my good day yesterday turned into a bad day last night. I won't go over how work went - its a job and had no bearing on the rest of my day.

I stopped at the store on the way home from work and bought some groceries and some fresh steaks. It was a nice evening and I figured a grilled steak would be quite tasty. Then I stopped at my parents to take care of their mail and cat, while they are out of town. I also stole a couple of potatoes so I could make some fresh real mashed potots to go with the steak.

So I got home and relaxed for a little while, then started dinner. I got the potatoes going and then fired up the grill. I seasoned the steak and threw it on the grill and left it to do its magic. I went back inside and did a little quick cleaning up (basically to just kill some time while the steak was cooking). Checked the steak and it was ready for a flip. I love the sizzle that makes when you flip that succulent beef over to a fresh side!! Then I went back in to check the potatoes. Almost finished. My timing was working out to near perfection. By the time i mashed the potatoes and got a drink out of the fridge, the steak would be done to perfection.

I went back out and took the steak of the grill. It looked fantastic and smelled even better. Put the whole meal together, along with a small bowl of applesauce and a beer. The steak was tremendous! Perfectly pink in the middle and done on the outside. Mmmmmmmm not much better end to a day then a grilled steak and a beer!! Oh wait - there is always the television. Surely there is some good movie on or a football game or something . . . . . flip, flip, flip . . . . hmmm, nothing!

No matter, I have several excellent movies up on my computer, I will just go fire that up and enjoy a movie that way. So I went upstairs to fire up the computer. I turned on the DSL modem and router and then hit the button to turn the computer on. Nothing. At first I thought maybe I didn't hit the button all the way. So I hit it again, making sure I actually hit it. Again, nothing. Uh oh - this don't look good. So I began trouble shooting. I basically unplugged everything and tried a different outlet, a different plug in the power strip, disconnecting and reconnecting the power chord - still nothing. CRAPPERS!!!! So then I opened up the case to see if I could see anything glaringly wrong inside. It all looked normal to me.

So I called Devil and asked his help on diagnosing my computer problem. We tried a few things with no success and he diagnosed a dead power supply. Thankfully he has a few spares at his house and said to bring it over this weekend to see if we can bring it back to life. Devil is good like that, fixing broked pcs or just building them from parts.

In the meantime, my good night turned into frustration and anger by not being able to do what I wanted with my computer. Because just what do you do when there is nothing good on TV and your computer is dead?? Thankfully the answer was sitting right on my bedside table.

Merlin and Devil turned me on to a series of books written by George R. R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire. All I will tell you here is that they are amazing novels. I am presently in the middle of Book IV and waiting for Book V to be released. So I layed down on my bed and continued reading til it was time to turn the lights out and call it a day.

I guess in the end, it wasn't such a bad day after all.

My Current Halo Songlist

(I'm still working on it - this is just the beginning. Check back every once and a while for updated listing.)

List is arranged by artist, but all songs are randomized
**All songs are from my extensive live library**

U2

• Vertigo
• Walk On
• Bad
• Love Rescue Me (featuring BB King)

METALLICA

• Ecstasy of Gold/Breadfan
• Master of Puppets
• So What

LED ZEPPELIN

• No Quarter
• The Rain Song
• Dazed and Confused
• Whole Lotta Love (medley)
• Ten Years Gone

IRON MAIDEN

• Brave New World
• Dream of Mirrors
• Hallowed Be Thy Name
• Children of the Damned
• Sanctuary
• Drifter

MUSE

• Space Dementia
• New Born

GENESIS

• Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
• Mamma

COLDPLAY

• Poor Me
• Ladder to the Sun
• Fix You

TOOL

• Stinkfist
• 46&2
• Schism
• Disposition
• Pushit
• Vicarious
• Aenima
• The Patient
• Maynard's Dick

JUDAS PRIEST

• Solar Angels
• Riding on the Wind
• The Bloodstone
• The Sentinel
• Freewheel Burning
• A Touch of Evil

My 360 Does Tricks Too!

I'm sure that the capability has been there for a long time, but I am not as technologically savvy as Merlin and DJ Devil - so I didn't know about it. One day I am sitting at home bored. So I fire up the 360 and go to the Dashboard. I have never really explored the Dashboard, so I took a few moments to see what kind of stuff is in there. There are all kinds of neat little features in the DB. One of them caught my eye - I think it had something to do with shared media (ie pics, music and video).

I tried to connect to it and it gave me an error, but also gave a very nice explanation for what I had to do to connect. I ran upstairs and fired up Windows Media Player and added a few folders to the share section. Then I ran back downstairs and tried to connect again. All of a sudden there was my PC to go look at pictures from. I thought this is the coolest thing since sliced bread! Then I had one of those wondering moments. You know, the ones that are few and far between, but end up being a really good idea?? Yea, I had one of those!

I ran back upstairs and added my movies folder to the share directory of Media Player. Ran back downstairs and was suddenly tired. After a quick breather, I went back into the DB and went to the video section. There was my folder on my portable hard drive! So I browsed through and within minutes, I was watching the Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer through my 360, off my PC, on my big screen TV. It was truly a wonderful moment.

So now I can watch movies, view photographs and listen to music off my computer, all from the comfort of my sofa, all thanks to my little friend - XBOX 360.

S-I-X

Speaking of Music...

Since I've talked about the whole Halo Friday Playlist thing, here's what's actually on the playlist in its current form. It's still taking shape as I add stuff to it all the time but this is it as of right now (bands only as there are multiple tracks from each artist. I might list those out later).


40 Below Summer
808 state
Ac Dc
Breaking Benjamin
Caviar
Chevelle
Coheed and Cambria
Death Cab For Cutie
Deftones
Everlast
Expansion Union
Fall Out Boy
Fishbone
Fluke
Front 242
(Hed) p.e.
Helmet
Hybrid
Jimmy's Chicken Shack
Josh Wink
Justice
Korn
Mindless Self Indulgence
Mudvayne
Muse
NIN
A Perfect Circle
Poe
Prodigy
Queens Of The Stone Age
Senser
Silversun Pickups
Snapcase
Staind
System Of A Down
Taproot
My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult
Tool


So if you catch me singing into my headset during the next Halo Friday, I apologize in advance. This is a great bunch of artists to jam to and kick some Spartan ass!

|)3V!|_