Sunday, June 24, 2007

OK, Resident Evil 4, I'll Give You Another Go

posted by John Blanco @ 3:30 PM

 

So I will give Resident Evil 4 another try. I was pretty harsh the last time I tried it, but this time I got the new Wii Edition which promises better a better control scheme and, quite frankly, I've been a lot more excited about GameCube games (or in this case, GameCube-era) since getting the Wii. :-)

So RE4: Wii Edition it is. Also, Michele and I splurged, and we also got Wii Play -- which comes with a Wii controller so now we have 3. :-) Sweeeet...

And that sums up this 95-degree Sunday. Oh, and I also got a line trimmer, too. I AM NOW UBER MAN!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Father's Day & The Swetsville Zoo

posted by John Blanco @ 5:15 PM

 

Spent the weekend boiling -- but, whilst boiling -- we did have some fun.

First, on Saturday, Michele and I went to the Swetsville Zoo. This is a mechanical zoo just south of Ft. Collins that is unique to say the least. Think junkyard and art. Junkyart?



Here, Cedric gets up close and personal with some other -- err -- babies. ;-) The works there were real neat...though it was hot as fuck. I mean, seriously. Al Gore indeed.



On Sunday, I got to enjoy my first Father's Day as a dad. :-) What, fun! Michele's parents had a little BBQ in a nearby park. We munched on food and chips and the whole family there. It was a fun day.

Sadly, Michele and have just realized that I have no pics with my son on Father's Day! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??? ;-) I'm betting Andy has some. I know I took pics. I know there are film pics. And we do have video. But, still...for shame.



Cedric, you ham. :-) But guess what? Today, you're officially a 3-month old ham! Happy birthday, buddy!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Endless This War

posted by John Blanco @ 9:10 AM

 

Two days past eighteen
He was waiting for the bus in his army green
Sat down in a booth in a cafe there
Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair
Hes a little shy so she gives him a smile
And he said would you mind sittin down for a while
And talking to me,
Im feeling a little low
She said Im off in an hour and I know where we can go

So they went down and they sat on the pier
He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I dont care
I got no one to send a letter to
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you

Chorus:


I cried
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin for the love of a travelin soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin for the soldier to come back again
Never more to be alone when the letter said
A soldiers coming home

So the letters came from an army camp
In California then Vietnam
And he told her of his heart
It might be love and all of the things he was so scared of
He said when its getting kinda rough over here
I think of that day sittin down at the pier
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile
Dont worry but I wont be able to write for awhile

[chorus]

One friday night at a football game
The lords prayer said and the anthem sang
A man said folks would you bow your heads
For a list of local vietnam dead
Crying all alone under the stands
Was a piccolo player in the marching band
And one name read and nobody really cared
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair

[chorus]

Monday, June 11, 2007

Journey is Mov-err-Stepping Along...

posted by John Blanco @ 8:17 PM

 

Stepping along swimmingly indeed. :-) Journey is the Web site I am putting together in my own time as a way to continue the momentum of the Fiserv step competition. My site will log steps and do so in a very interesting way...by tracking your progress through a virtual journey. As an example, the first journey the site will support is "Trek Across America" -- this is a journey from Los Angeles to New York City. Cool stuff. You'll just have to see it.

It's probably a week away from beta. If anyone would like to help me test, then keep your eye out on this blog and buy your pedometer now. :-)

In other news, Michele and I did another monster walk this evening. We walked from our house to Kohl's. Whew! Over 10,000 steps. We did the same walk just yesterday morning. We're both beat!

OK, time to do some other work...catch ya around, blog.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Cedric @ 12 Weeks Tomorrow!

posted by John Blanco @ 8:41 PM

 

The cute little guy will be 12 weeks. Wow. 12 weeks ago TODAY seems like such an eon ago. I love the little critter. :-)



10 Seconds of Black

posted by John Blanco @ 7:31 PM

 

That's how The Sopranos end. I won't talk about it yet in case anyone hasn't seen it...no spoilers here. If series finales are judged by discussion afterwards, this one has all of it.



Fill. In. The. Blanks.

Friday, June 08, 2007

That's Just Wrong

posted by John Blanco @ 8:54 PM

 

I hereby renounce my willingness to change Cedric's diaper ever again. What I just had to clean off of -- well -- let's just say off his ENTIRE BODY was horrifying!

How can so much liquid HORROR come out of something so cute?!?

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Who's Mistake Am I Anyway?

posted by John Blanco @ 8:13 AM

 

On the heels of Marilyn's new album, it's inspired me to listen to what I think is the best album of all time, Marilyn's 1996 epic Antichrist Superstar.



Smeared by most of the media, this album is clearly one of the best ever created. Yes, really. I'd put this album up against any other: 16 tracks divided into 3 cycles. Amazingly intelligent lyrics and no album will give you a bigger introspection into the human psyche -- and your own.

Some of my favorite lyrics follow. The whole album must be listened to, in order...but, they still stand up on their own. Albeit, they sound like I might be suicidal. :-) I assure you I'm a well-adjusted guy. ;-)


I can't believe in the things that don't believe in me.



Anti-people now you've gone too far. Here comes your Antichrist Superstar.



Let's just kill everyone and let your god sort them out. Fuck it.



You cannot sedate all the things you hate.



The beautiful people, the beautiful people, it's all relative to the size of your steeple. Capi-tal-ism has made it this way; old-fashioned fascism will take it away.



Without the threat of death there's no reason to live at all.



There is a dream inside a dream, I'm wide awake the more I sleep, you'll understand when I'm dead.



I went to God just to see; and I was looking at me; saw heaven and hell were lies; when - I'm - God - everyone - dies.



Repent, that's what I'm talking about. Who's mistake am I anyway?

Monday, June 04, 2007

New Manson Album!!

posted by John Blanco @ 9:01 PM

 

Zero hour is almost here. :-) Finally, a new Manson album! I shall shine get tomorrow!

Dems Done Me Proud!

posted by John Blanco @ 8:48 PM

 

Last night was debate #2 for the Dems. Remember, they skipped the Fox News debate. Well, the 5 leading candidates anyway. And rightly so. :-)

The three leading contenders...and all three I do like...done good. Barack, Hillary, and John Edwards. (John, you need a more unique first name.) What was most impressive about Barack and Hillary is how they MADE SENSE. Some of Wolf Blitzer's questions were obviously trying to bait a catfight. They had none of it. Hillary showed the kind of leader she is by nearly taking control of the whole debate, correcting Wolf on his questioning ability. (Wolf, a no-fly zone is NOT the same as military action!)

Here's a great highlight of Hillary laying down some funny. Oh, Cheney, we can't wait til you leave town.

I think my top 3 have switched a bit. Obama is 1, Hillary is now 2, and Edwards drops to 3. I love John's views, but when I close my eyes I can better envision Hillary as leader of the free world than I can Edwards.

I also really like matching up Biden with Hillary. They work well together. So a Hillary/Biden ticket. For Obama, I might like to see Obama/Edwards. I can't envision Hillary as VP.

RIP Bobby Bacala and Silvio Dante (Almost)

posted by John Blanco @ 8:38 PM

 



Rest in peace, Bobby. You were the good guy of mobsters. We all loved you. We loved you so much that even as we watched Silvio killed (or thereabouts), we still missed you. You loved those trains so much, and you shared it with your son...

:-(



And Silvio Dante, owner of the Bada Bing. Why didn't you have your gun ready?? You knew they were on to you. Tony will avenge you, I swear it. Assuming you actually do die. We shall see...

Saturday, June 02, 2007

LIVEBLOGGING: Can I Beat Mike Jacobs?

posted by John Blanco @ 10:05 AM

 

As I stated in earlier blogs, we are having a step competition at work. On our team of 5 is Mike Jacobs. He holds the team record for one day of steps at 30,303 (yes, the palindrome is intentional). My goal has been to beat him.

Michele and I started today with a loooong walk to the bank. I currently stand at 12,258 steps and it's not even noon yet. My goal is to beat Mikey boy today. Stay tuned!

11:06 AM - After a long walk to the bank and Einstein's Bagels, which took almost a couple hours, I am at 12,258 steps. Need to do some work now, but I have plenty of activities lined up today including a DDR party later. :-)

12:54 PM - At 16,257. Did some steps while I worked. Yes, I look like a fool, but today is the day to beat Jacobs. Just came back from a walk with the family to King Soopers to pick up drinks and trash bags for the DDR party. Why the trash bags? Because it's time to mow the lawn. :-)

1:36 PM - Now at 18,368. Done mowing, and doing some laundry. Also, did 2 minutes on the treadmill when I was getting close to 18,000. :-) We're gonna head to the hardware store as soon as I shower. The next couple hours might be slow as I need to re-screen some screens as well for the first time. I hope to sneak in some DDR, though, before the party which we need to leave for just after 5 PM. HURRY!!!

4:40 PM - I'm now up to 21,927! My second highest total and it's only 4:40. :-) Went to Ace and Home Depot and Tony's and then re-did the screens. I AM SO PROUD! I am a handyman. WHOOO! OK, gonna squeeze in 15 mins of DDR before we leave for the party! Cross yer fingers! (Unless your name is Mike Jacobs of course.)

12:52 AM - 31,283!

12:53 AM - Jacobs has been defeated! Before leaving for the party...so, right after the last blog...I did 15 minutes of DDR to get to the 24,000 mark. I was approaching 25,000 by the time we left. Whilst at the party, I did a lot of pacing and played, of course, DDR. Not as much as you might think. It took a lot of walking around Brian's place to make it to the record-breaking mark! And, although Jacobs and I celebrate the team leading mark by taking a pic of the pedometer and hitting a palindrome (or 1-upping it!), I am too tired to take a pic and since it's past midnight, it would seem illegal to work on steps. The record has been broken by about 1K (the old record is 30,303) and that will have to be good enough.

Whew, what a day.