Here it is…

Filling out NCAA brackets are fun.

What’s not fun is losing a Final Four pick in round one. (Then again, I’m the idiot that thinks it’s still the 90’s and had Duke going that far anyway, so maybe it’s deserved.)

I suck at this game.

My last entry was the 10th; many days ago. I feel the need to announce what I’ve been doing with my life since the 10th.

Comedy act #2: Performed and recorded for prosperity. However, since it’s longer than 10 minutes, it’s not going on YouTube. I could host the video myself, but I don’t want to share it, since I stink. I’m still learning how to do this. The next thing I share out on YouTube will be actual comedy as opposed to an attempt at comedy.

Final Fantasy XII: This is a fine game. I’m about 12 hours in, and it’s everything I ever wanted in a role-playing game.

Star Fox: Assault: A sequel to the Star Fox series, this game is everything I ever wanted in a space shooter.

Reading: I don’t usually read, but last week, I felt the need to purchase Animal Farm and 1984. I’ve read the first chapter of Animal Farm, and it’s everything I ever wanted in a short story.

Gym: I think my body is telling me that it wants to be active, and I’ll be damned to ignore that suggestion. I joined the Powerhouse Gym in Miller Place.  I took a quick, cursory tour of the place, and it’s everything I ever wanted in a fitness center.

That is all.

Which File Extension are You?

Which OS are You?

Which Nigerian spammer are You?

The Motion Picture Association of America is gonna wish they didn’t bring suit against Shawn Hogan, because unlike most of their victims, Hogan is not going to settle and the suit will be brought to court.  (wired.com article)

Hogan, a 30-year-old multi-millionaire, has been accused of illegally downloading, via BitTorrent, Meet the Fockers.  He’s denied this, stating that he owns the DVD and he didn’t download the movie.  What makes Hogan so special is that he will be the first person (that I can recall anyway) that did not accept the offer to settle the suit for $2,500.  He will now take the suit to court where he will most likely incur over $100,000 worth of legal fees. From the wired.com article…

… [Hogan] thinks it’s a small price to pay to challenge the MPAA’s tactics. “They’re completely abusing the system,” Hogan says. “I would spend well into the millions on this.” 

About. Fucking. Time.  Since the boom of internet file sharing (most notably the first version of the music-sharing application Napster and the following all-purpose file sharing application Kazaa), the MPAA and its music industry counterpart (the Recording Industry Association of America) have brought suit against thousands of Americans who they claim have infringed on their clients’ copyrights.  With the cost of litigation so high, Average Joe and Average Jane can’t possibly foot the bill to effectively fight these giants, so the result is usually a settlement.  This time, the MPAA went after someone with the capital to fight back, and, as I’ve said before, it’s about fucking time.

This entry was inspired while cleaning my room.

Way back in the day (back in the high school day), it was not uncommon for the graduating seniors to sign each other’s yearbooks, leaving messages wishing for a fun summer, good college experience and to keep in touch.

Now, I had a yearbook in 8th grade for middle school graduation, and also for 9th grade (since the freshmen were in their own building adjacent to the high school, it was pretty much it’s own entity and as such, recieved its own yearbook). Since I am a genius, I decided that I wanted something in which people would write me everlasting messages, but I didn’t want to pay the $75 for a yearbook and no one else in our grade was going to buy one until senior year. I had a cheap and effective alternative. I used a blue, plastic 1″ binder filled with looseleaf paper and asked all my friends (and aquaintances) to sign my “yearbook.” Looking back, this was a great idea simply because there were some people in the pre 12th grade yearbook that didn’t sign the actual yearbook.

While going through it, I found some noteworthy entries. One was from a girl that I knew through a mutual friend. She left her number in there, so I guess I was supposed to call her, but I never did (ball = dropped.) Another was from my 11th grade AP United States History teacher which reads as the follows:

Joe —
This is a great yearbook. It doesn’t contain any ugly pictures of students. Hope you have a good senior year + be sure to stay away from me.

— Tom Kane

An entry from a friend of mine that doubted the awesomenessisity of the fake yearbook:

Joey
This is stupid. Your (sic) a sophmore (sic). Get over it. Wait 2 years. That’s all I’m writing.

The ever-random message:

Flonase

I guess someone needed some allergy medication or something. Renee makes a cosmetic suggestion:

Yo Frankino!
We gotta dye your hair blue this summer! I can’t wait for your party! Have a kickass summer.

The other entries won’t be posted since they’re all funny-in-context or standard yearbook messages, but for the most part, people commented on attending my end-of-the-year party (10th and 11th grade only) or how smart and / or funny I was and that I should never change. The 12th grade yearbook follows along similar lines, except there’s actually more people in that one than in the 2 previous years combined. I guess that says something about my social development.

Truth be told, when going through these yearbook messages, I kinda realized some things: 1) If a girl leaves her number in the yearbook, it’s usually a good idea to call her. 2) People have been saying how funny I am 6 years ago. I still think I can make people laugh consistantly (even moreso than in high school). So, I figure, why not try comedy? If people say I’m funny, let’s see how funny I can be doing stand-up. There’s an open-mic night coming up at Govenor’s, a comedy club in Levittown; if I do well, it’s a step in the right direction. If not, I can try again or try something else. It’s an attempt at something new, which I’m always a fan of.

That last paragraph kinda trailed off the topic, but I’m just openly musing here. Being retrospective sometimes will yield new direction, and this is one new direction for me. Of course, if this doesn’t work then at the very least I’ll gain a new experience. “Carpe Diem” is a great mantra for life, and this is just another exercise in Carpe Diem. “Sieze the Day” was responsible for me running for a student government position I knew I had no chance of winning, but at least I can say “I did that” as opposed to “I wish I did that when I had the chance.”

Three movies rented on Friday: Sin City, Empire Records, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Of these 3, only one is on the list (Fast Times) but there have been times where my lack of seeing the other 2 movies was a source of “OMG HOW COULD HAVE NOT SEEN THAT IT WAS SUCH A GOOD MOVIE.” So now I’m gonna see them, just so I can say “Yes, I’ve seen that.”

Tomorrow I’m going to Foxwoods. This decision was kinda spur-of-the-moment, but I do have a free day, so I figured “why not?”

Monday is work, Tuesday is another day off, Wednesday is 3 days till the weekend. Not bad.

Game info: Box Score.

Last year, I was invited by a friend of mine, Pat, to a Mets game along with some other friends who I know from a previous job. This year, Pat calls again, and I’m never one to decline Major League baseball action, so off we go to Shea Stadium!

I left straight from work, because it’s always safe to assume that traffic into Shea will make you late no matter how early you leave. In actuality, the traffic wasn’t that bad. I got to the stadium at about 6:15ish, paid the parking fee ($13), got some dinner (street vendor hot dog and bottled water: $3.50) and waited in front of the train station exit for Pat and the others to arrive. While waiting there, I see a college friend coming in, Matt. He’s decked out in his Phillies jersey for obvious reasons. After talking for a little bit, he’s off to find his friends and I stick around to wait for mine. The end of the exchange went something like this.

Matt: See ya later.
Joe: Yep. See ya.
*fist pound*
Matt: Go Phils!
Joe:… fuck you!

Pat, Chris and another friend of theirs, Candace, arrive at around 7:15. I still have to buy my ticket, so I wait on line while Pat and Chris encourage me to cut the line, which I feign attempts at. I got the cheapest seats available (Upper Reserved: $9. That’s right: parking costs more than the actual ticket) and we head up to our seats.

We sat down while the Phillies were up to bat in the first. Rookie pitcher Alay Soler got in trouble early, giving up 3 runs, but quickly settled down to pitch 5 scoreless innings. The Mets were able to come back, with Carlos Beltran and David Wright hitting home runs each (Beltran was making good contact with the ball all night; he would’ve had another home run had he not hit the ball to dead center.)

Also, of note: The Phillies were playing Carlos Delgado with a RIDICULOUS infield shift! The 3B was playing where the SS usually does, SS was where 2B usually is, and 2B was playing in shallow RF. I’ve only seen this kind of shift with Barry Bonds and Russ Ortiz. It’s quite a sight to see live. Pat mused that if Delgado can drop a bunt past the pitcher on the 3B side, no one can get to it and he could easily get an infield single.

Anyways, those were the highlights. If I had a decent camera, I would’ve taken pictures. Sadly… you know.

This is the first draft.

1 drink
A doctor uses a medical term consisting of more than 4 syllables
Someone hits on Cameron
House insults someone
Cuddy questions a decision House made
House has clinic duty
House is shown at home

2 drinks
Legal action is threatened against House
Foreman, Chase or Cameron make a suggestion that House agrees with.

3 drinks
Cuddy agrees with House on something.

Finish the drink
Two of the main characters kiss / have sex / etc.

Day 5: The final full day. Today is Busch Gardens day. Hilarious fact: Danielle didn’t know the Busch refers to Anheuser-Busch, as in the beer company. We laughed at her.

Sadly, I can only provide highlights, since I forgot exactly what we did and in what order, but I can say we hit most of the roller coasters and enjoyed the Hospitality Room. I conquered a rock climbing wall (almost) and we saw the Clydesdales (and the donkey).

I have many pictures, but they’re on Danielle’s camera and she gave me the wrong CD, so there’s going to be a wait on the pics.

So Day 4 begins just like the previous 3: late.

The plan today was to hit a Tampa-area beach. I forget the actual town name sadly, but we had to go through the city to get there. We pick up Adam’s friend Aaron before leaving the complex. From there, we stop at the center of the known universe (a.k.a. Wal Mart) to buy necessary goods before setting off. In our case, necessary goods including girl scout cookies (mmm…. Samoas…), a football, assorted beach toys for making sand castles (Danielle’s idea, since Real Men don’t make Sand Castles), and, or course, beer. Lots and lots of it. I get bottles of soda instead, as I still hate the taste of beer.
So off we go. The beach is about 45 minutes away, so I get to take a nap on the way there, but I can’t take a nap since Danielle and John are smoking in the car and I hate cigarette smoke.

We get to the town but we can’t park since every place has tow-away signs all over the place. We instead use the pay parking right by the beach and set up 15 feet from the water. We realize this is a public beach and that we could get in trouble for the beers but they don’t care and drink anyway. Since I have soda, I’m in the clear either way.

At the beach, we toss around the football, drink our respective drinks and enjoy the 75 degree weather we wouldn’t have if we were still in New York. I take a trek down the beach to see what’s in a building that’s down there. It’s a bathroom and a closed hamburger grill. With the nice weather I was surprised to see the grill not open. I walk back and get roped into helping Danielle make sand castles. Let me tell you: I can dig a moat like nobody’s business. It didn’t matter that my shovel was plastic and not very strong. I make the best use of all my tools. I’m awesome on many, many levels.

So after digging a moat, I take a nap. Adam, John and Aaron get back from a walk they took and we pack-it-up and go, not once getting caught by cops for drinking in public (although we did get reminded by some people that we could get ticketed for it). It should be noted that Aaron had to piss like 5 times while we were there.
To my shagrin, Danielle takes the wheel again, subbing for a drunk Adam. About halfway home, Aaron has to take another piss. Danielle doesn’t pull over on the highway or onto the grassy area on the entrence ramp, so he gotta wait it out till we get to a gas station. After getting to one, he goes in, and inexplicably, John follows (we assume he’s gotta go, too.) After they get back, Aaron says he has to go into the ladies room since a guy was dropping a duece in the guys room (and it only has one toilet). So John tried to be a dick and pound on the (men’s room) door when Aaron was in the (women’s) bathroom. So when Aaron comes out of the women’s room, John just looks at him, looks at the men’s room door… and shrugs his shoulders and goes into the women’s bathroom. Good stuff.

Dinner was at a steakhouse. Ironicly, I get the NY strip. Another one of Adam’s friends meets us there and we all get stuffed. Danielle complains that our waitress was too friendly, but I just say that it’s her job to be friendly, but she disagrees. Granted, she did sound very excited and was smiling a lot, but maybe she’s just a very happy person. Or, she’s on crack. One of the two.

And the final event of the long day, 5-man poker tournament. $10 buy in. Joe gets K9 against 33 in the final hand, 9 on the flop for the win!

Tomorrow: Busch Gardens. (Duff beer for me! Duff bear for you! I’ll have a Duff! You have one too!)