Hey everyone, I just moved into my room today. We stayed overnight at a hotel that's close to my college. We packed up everything, and hulled away to school.
So we start bringing my stuff up after I check in. I will give a full room tour later. Well unpacking was a bit of a hastle. My grandparents tried to help but just got in the way a bit, god bless them. Well we said our goodbyes and it was a bit hard. I'm getting a bit choked up right now as I write while I remember.
So now we have some get to know each other activities. I can't remember all of them at the moment. We saw some things and got to know each other.
We ate dinner and went to a book thing. It was fun. I then waited in line for a couple of hours for a massage. Well then the place closes down so all of that was for not. Damn. Oh well. I need to go to bed because I need to do more tomarrow. Later.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Eagle Projects are sure hard
Hey everyone, today was my brother's eagle project. While it is probably harder on my brother, it was still really hard on me.
Here is some background. At the high school there is a practice field across the street from high school, and behind the maintenance building, the one that used to be part of a pre-school, there is a small playground right next to the practice field. His project was taking apart the play structure, taking off the fence, and getting rid of the concrete. Now you may be wondering, "why get rid of a play structure?" Well the thing was falling apart, it was tetnis waiting to happen, and the first time some one was on it in a long time was when I got on it to take measurements. It would add lots of room for the football team and any other teams that use the field.
So we get there, set up, and all is going according to plan. The few of us that were there at the beginning start taking apart the fence. We take off the chain link part, roll it up, and move the cross beams. So now all we need to do is wait for the concrete guy and his back hoe to take out the posts and concrete walkway. Well there was a bit of an issue with that.
Guess what, the guy that is supposed to handle the concrete, doesn't come!!!! So what does that mean? We volunteers have to take care of all the concrete. Ahhhhhhhhh, so much unnecessary work. First we have to dig out the fence posts, and then the contractor guys that my brother had that would hull away everything and do heavy machinery, tied the posts to his truck and yank the posts out. It looked cool, but it was unnecessary since the back hoe guy could have done it really easily. And if the contractor that we had wasn't there, the project couldn't have happened.
So now we have probably 2 tons of concrete walkway that we need to get rid of. Maybe even more than 2 tons. Here's how we handled it. We broke apart the slabs with sledge hammers and moved them to a place where some one can pick it up and have it out of the way. We did that for.........................................6 hours, or more, who's counting? Break it up into smaller pieces, load them up into wheel barrows, move it across the field to the drop site, and repeat. We ruined a wheel barrow doing that, and damaged others, all of which shouldn't have happened.
You won't believe this, the concrete guy had the gull to call and yell at my brother saying "what's you break it up for? I can't use it now." In not so may words, my brothers response was basically "IF YOU WANTED IT, YOU SHOULD HAVE SHOWED UP!! WE CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU SO WE DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE WITH WHAT WE HAD!!" This guy really screwed up, and gave himself such bad PR. Here was his reason for not being there when we needed him, "he was busy." WHAT???!!! You scheduled to be here, why on Earth would you schedule something on today? I don't think he was doing it for free, but for a reduced cost. And helping boy scouts with an eagle project is such an image booster, not to mention some advertisement. Like for my project we used "Ace Hardware" yard waist bags and had "Dunkin Doughnuts." What you're saying is "we care about the community" and that is really good for business. None of the 30 people that were there, nor all the hundreds of people they know, are ever going to give him business ever again. For a local business guy that is very bad for him. The contractor we had really helped out.
Now we get all the concrete hulled away from the work site, and now is time to get the top soil in the place where the poles and walkway used to be. We probably could have been done by noon or so, but because of the concrete issue, we went all the way until 4:30. Hulling the dirt wasn't nearly as bad as concrete. We fill up barrows with dirt, dump them where needed, spread it out along the area we need, and repeat. Raking the dirt to even it out reminded me a lot of raking sand traps at the country club I caddie at. It was second nature to me. In the time it took people to spread one mound I was able to get 3 done. Just wish my arms weren't aching after all the concrete.
The concrete shouldn't have happened. It just shouldn't have. Luckily we are boy scouts and we are resourceful. Well now the concrete is sitting in 3 large piles and one small pile near an opening in the fence out of the way waiting for someone to take care of it when we find some one to take care of it. Well this has been pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Here is some background. At the high school there is a practice field across the street from high school, and behind the maintenance building, the one that used to be part of a pre-school, there is a small playground right next to the practice field. His project was taking apart the play structure, taking off the fence, and getting rid of the concrete. Now you may be wondering, "why get rid of a play structure?" Well the thing was falling apart, it was tetnis waiting to happen, and the first time some one was on it in a long time was when I got on it to take measurements. It would add lots of room for the football team and any other teams that use the field.
So we get there, set up, and all is going according to plan. The few of us that were there at the beginning start taking apart the fence. We take off the chain link part, roll it up, and move the cross beams. So now all we need to do is wait for the concrete guy and his back hoe to take out the posts and concrete walkway. Well there was a bit of an issue with that.
Guess what, the guy that is supposed to handle the concrete, doesn't come!!!! So what does that mean? We volunteers have to take care of all the concrete. Ahhhhhhhhh, so much unnecessary work. First we have to dig out the fence posts, and then the contractor guys that my brother had that would hull away everything and do heavy machinery, tied the posts to his truck and yank the posts out. It looked cool, but it was unnecessary since the back hoe guy could have done it really easily. And if the contractor that we had wasn't there, the project couldn't have happened.
So now we have probably 2 tons of concrete walkway that we need to get rid of. Maybe even more than 2 tons. Here's how we handled it. We broke apart the slabs with sledge hammers and moved them to a place where some one can pick it up and have it out of the way. We did that for.........................................6 hours, or more, who's counting? Break it up into smaller pieces, load them up into wheel barrows, move it across the field to the drop site, and repeat. We ruined a wheel barrow doing that, and damaged others, all of which shouldn't have happened.
You won't believe this, the concrete guy had the gull to call and yell at my brother saying "what's you break it up for? I can't use it now." In not so may words, my brothers response was basically "IF YOU WANTED IT, YOU SHOULD HAVE SHOWED UP!! WE CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU SO WE DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE WITH WHAT WE HAD!!" This guy really screwed up, and gave himself such bad PR. Here was his reason for not being there when we needed him, "he was busy." WHAT???!!! You scheduled to be here, why on Earth would you schedule something on today? I don't think he was doing it for free, but for a reduced cost. And helping boy scouts with an eagle project is such an image booster, not to mention some advertisement. Like for my project we used "Ace Hardware" yard waist bags and had "Dunkin Doughnuts." What you're saying is "we care about the community" and that is really good for business. None of the 30 people that were there, nor all the hundreds of people they know, are ever going to give him business ever again. For a local business guy that is very bad for him. The contractor we had really helped out.
Now we get all the concrete hulled away from the work site, and now is time to get the top soil in the place where the poles and walkway used to be. We probably could have been done by noon or so, but because of the concrete issue, we went all the way until 4:30. Hulling the dirt wasn't nearly as bad as concrete. We fill up barrows with dirt, dump them where needed, spread it out along the area we need, and repeat. Raking the dirt to even it out reminded me a lot of raking sand traps at the country club I caddie at. It was second nature to me. In the time it took people to spread one mound I was able to get 3 done. Just wish my arms weren't aching after all the concrete.
The concrete shouldn't have happened. It just shouldn't have. Luckily we are boy scouts and we are resourceful. Well now the concrete is sitting in 3 large piles and one small pile near an opening in the fence out of the way waiting for someone to take care of it when we find some one to take care of it. Well this has been pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
For my last class, I want to cover evrything
Hey everyone, as mentioned in my last post titled "Goodbye, but only for now," I mention that my last karate class was tonight. In a typical class, we typically cover various aspects of forms and work on application of such. But tonight wasn't a typical class, it was my last one at the dojo that I have been working at for years. 11 strait years of practice ans studying, with a lot learned. So for my last class, what should we work on? Last forms? First forms? CBAs? Basics? How about everything? Yep, everything, that's what I want to work on. Now even if I was at a bigger dojo, I probably would still have dibs on what we work on. We are a very personal style. But especially since my home dojo is very calm and not crowded during the summer, it tends to be just me and one other person. Well tonight was just me.
So you may be wondering, how did we cover everything? We started with the basics. Ichi punch, ni kick, son punch, and all the way up to ju. We worked on what each strike did, where it went, what we stuck with, and so on. We dissected the strikes and did it for an hour. It's a 2 hour class, but I typically tire out after an hour and thirty minutes. But in order to cover everything, I needed all 2 hours.
So after the basics, we worked on the CBAs. That's combined basics advanced. We combine the basics into multiple strike sets. We didn't dissect everything with them since we basically did that with the basics. That only lasted 10 minutes because we didn't need to dissect everything. After the CBAs, we worked on the forms. I know all 10 forms, and can typically do them do them within a few minutes. But this time we did them slowly working on aspects. Not a lot, on specific, but work on each. That lasted 50 minutes, and that was my 2 hour workout.
It was a rather nice end to over a decade of learning and practicing. Really good end. Instead of focusing on one aspect, I find it a good end to do everything. I'm glad I was able to end on such a nice note. I will try to visit when I can. But when I have breaks, there probably won't be class because it's a holiday. Hopefully I can continue my study while at college, but it won't be the same. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
So you may be wondering, how did we cover everything? We started with the basics. Ichi punch, ni kick, son punch, and all the way up to ju. We worked on what each strike did, where it went, what we stuck with, and so on. We dissected the strikes and did it for an hour. It's a 2 hour class, but I typically tire out after an hour and thirty minutes. But in order to cover everything, I needed all 2 hours.
So after the basics, we worked on the CBAs. That's combined basics advanced. We combine the basics into multiple strike sets. We didn't dissect everything with them since we basically did that with the basics. That only lasted 10 minutes because we didn't need to dissect everything. After the CBAs, we worked on the forms. I know all 10 forms, and can typically do them do them within a few minutes. But this time we did them slowly working on aspects. Not a lot, on specific, but work on each. That lasted 50 minutes, and that was my 2 hour workout.
It was a rather nice end to over a decade of learning and practicing. Really good end. Instead of focusing on one aspect, I find it a good end to do everything. I'm glad I was able to end on such a nice note. I will try to visit when I can. But when I have breaks, there probably won't be class because it's a holiday. Hopefully I can continue my study while at college, but it won't be the same. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Goodbye, but only for now.
Hey everyone, don't start jumping to conclusions that I'm leaving the Internet for a while. No I'm fine and hope to be able to make more videos when I'm in college. No this is referring to a few thing that I have to say goodbye to, but only for a while.
I'll start with the "man what a day" series of blogs that I post here. Because they tend to just involve me being busy, and maybe a laugh here and there, I am canceling them here on pokematic's blog and moving them to your 3 minutes. Your 3 minutes is just a look into my life with some of the semi interesting things that I go through daily. I just feel that my hectic days are better put on that blog as apposed to here since this is more for news and funny stories and cool big things that I do.
Next I will talk about karate. After working out and studying at the same class for 11 years, I must now say goodbye for now to that class. I'm going off to college 2 and a half hours away. Not only will my schedule be busy, it's also to far a commute. I hope to keep practicing at a new dojo closer to school, but I may just have to take a break. Tonight will be my last class at my home dojo. I got my sensei a nice gift as a thank-you for being my sensei all these years. It will be kind of hard though. I'm starting to tear up right now because this has been a part of my weekly schedule for 11 years and it's the last time I will be there for a good long while.
Now for hulu plus. Yesterday was my last day in my free trial of hulu plus. I got the "link facebook accounts and get a free month of plus" offer, and timed it quite closely to the end of my summer where I will be able to use it to it's fullest potential. I'm not taking the xbox up to school, it's more my brothers than mine, and I don't have gold, he does. So to continue with the service would be a bit of a waste. Sure I'd get the full seasons of TV shows I don't care for, but that's not enough. Not to mention my TV for my dorm is a computer monitor with a TV tuner so all I need to do is connect my computer and free hulu. Well last night I stayed up to use the very last of plus. I watched plus only content until 11:40 on my laptop. I then canceled my subscription. It asked me why if I was sure, then it asked me why I was canceling. This was probably the tiredness talking, but I begin whispering to my laptop like a close adult would whisper to a child as the adult leaves for an extended period of time. I whisper "I got to go to school and I can't use you to your full potential while there." Then when the survey thing pops up asking why you are canceling, there is an option of "it's only temporary, I'll be back." I then whisper "don't worry, I'll be back." I then click "cancel my subscription" and now it's done. I swear it felt like a movie.
I'm done saying goodbye, this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
I'll start with the "man what a day" series of blogs that I post here. Because they tend to just involve me being busy, and maybe a laugh here and there, I am canceling them here on pokematic's blog and moving them to your 3 minutes. Your 3 minutes is just a look into my life with some of the semi interesting things that I go through daily. I just feel that my hectic days are better put on that blog as apposed to here since this is more for news and funny stories and cool big things that I do.
Next I will talk about karate. After working out and studying at the same class for 11 years, I must now say goodbye for now to that class. I'm going off to college 2 and a half hours away. Not only will my schedule be busy, it's also to far a commute. I hope to keep practicing at a new dojo closer to school, but I may just have to take a break. Tonight will be my last class at my home dojo. I got my sensei a nice gift as a thank-you for being my sensei all these years. It will be kind of hard though. I'm starting to tear up right now because this has been a part of my weekly schedule for 11 years and it's the last time I will be there for a good long while.
Now for hulu plus. Yesterday was my last day in my free trial of hulu plus. I got the "link facebook accounts and get a free month of plus" offer, and timed it quite closely to the end of my summer where I will be able to use it to it's fullest potential. I'm not taking the xbox up to school, it's more my brothers than mine, and I don't have gold, he does. So to continue with the service would be a bit of a waste. Sure I'd get the full seasons of TV shows I don't care for, but that's not enough. Not to mention my TV for my dorm is a computer monitor with a TV tuner so all I need to do is connect my computer and free hulu. Well last night I stayed up to use the very last of plus. I watched plus only content until 11:40 on my laptop. I then canceled my subscription. It asked me why if I was sure, then it asked me why I was canceling. This was probably the tiredness talking, but I begin whispering to my laptop like a close adult would whisper to a child as the adult leaves for an extended period of time. I whisper "I got to go to school and I can't use you to your full potential while there." Then when the survey thing pops up asking why you are canceling, there is an option of "it's only temporary, I'll be back." I then whisper "don't worry, I'll be back." I then click "cancel my subscription" and now it's done. I swear it felt like a movie.
I'm done saying goodbye, this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
What a day
Hey everyone, what a day today. Today I did so much. I started off getting a hair cut. Initially I was going to get pictures at Rite-Aid, just because it's on the way to the barber, but they didn't have the size I wanted. So I go to the barber, read the rest of my Pokemon adventures volume while I wait, and get it cut short like because this will be my last cut in a while.
Well after that I go to fedex kinkos because I needed to copy my sho-dan papers. The reason I needed to copy it was because, well, I kind of did a number on it. It got all wrinkly somehow, and I sent it through a copy machine to get a new, flat copy. It turned out nicely. Well while there, I got my pictures made there. Rite-Aid loaded a lot quicker. I had to wait like 4 minutes for each page to load. The picture that I wanted was at the end, and it was a DVD of over 300 pictures at 10 pictures a page. 30 pages, 4 minutes a page, I was there forever trying to get pictures. Well that's not the end of it.
I print off my sho-dan papers, fill them out, and send them off. It's been forever since I filled out an address on an envelope. That was new. I send it off and all is good. I then go to a store to get a gift card for my sensei for being a good teacher all these years. Her mom told me of a store to go to that she likes to get a gift card for. I map quest it, and the directions are simple. So simple actually that I figure I don't even need a map or directions. It was just 4 turns on streets I know. Well on the last street, I overshoot, by like, a lot.
By the time I realize that I probably overshot, I end up at a mall and best buy. At the mall is a Boarders, and due to the going out of business deal, I decided to see what was left. Nothing, but one thing that I bought is still there, and at a much lower price. Darn. I'm lostish. I know how to get home, but not how to get to the store. Well near the mall is a Best Buy, with all the tablets and computers demonstration the wifi capabilities. Here's some ingenuity, I use the tablets and laptops to get directions to the store. It worked out really well. Wow it took forever for me to get there.
So now I'm home, and all is right. Tonight was the annual school bar-be-cue. I went thinking I'd see some friends. Hey, I know half the student body right. But unfortunately everyone there was the half of the student body that I didn't know. I ran into some friends, but not close enough to have big conversations with and stay a couple of hours. Oh well, had some fun.
And this kind of happened throughout the day, and for some months. My back right tire has had a slow leak and I'd have to fill it every week or so. Well I guess the leak got bigger, and when I got back from the gift card store, I see that my tire is completely flat. I get the air compressor to fill it up. I tried the tire gauge, and nothing. No psi at all. I put the air compressor on for many minutes, and nothing. I try again, and nothing. After my dad and I get the tire off, we see that the back is completely shredded. Now I'm using the donut for a while, or for the next 4 days while I'm still home. After that it's my brother's issue. Well that was my day. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Well after that I go to fedex kinkos because I needed to copy my sho-dan papers. The reason I needed to copy it was because, well, I kind of did a number on it. It got all wrinkly somehow, and I sent it through a copy machine to get a new, flat copy. It turned out nicely. Well while there, I got my pictures made there. Rite-Aid loaded a lot quicker. I had to wait like 4 minutes for each page to load. The picture that I wanted was at the end, and it was a DVD of over 300 pictures at 10 pictures a page. 30 pages, 4 minutes a page, I was there forever trying to get pictures. Well that's not the end of it.
I print off my sho-dan papers, fill them out, and send them off. It's been forever since I filled out an address on an envelope. That was new. I send it off and all is good. I then go to a store to get a gift card for my sensei for being a good teacher all these years. Her mom told me of a store to go to that she likes to get a gift card for. I map quest it, and the directions are simple. So simple actually that I figure I don't even need a map or directions. It was just 4 turns on streets I know. Well on the last street, I overshoot, by like, a lot.
By the time I realize that I probably overshot, I end up at a mall and best buy. At the mall is a Boarders, and due to the going out of business deal, I decided to see what was left. Nothing, but one thing that I bought is still there, and at a much lower price. Darn. I'm lostish. I know how to get home, but not how to get to the store. Well near the mall is a Best Buy, with all the tablets and computers demonstration the wifi capabilities. Here's some ingenuity, I use the tablets and laptops to get directions to the store. It worked out really well. Wow it took forever for me to get there.
So now I'm home, and all is right. Tonight was the annual school bar-be-cue. I went thinking I'd see some friends. Hey, I know half the student body right. But unfortunately everyone there was the half of the student body that I didn't know. I ran into some friends, but not close enough to have big conversations with and stay a couple of hours. Oh well, had some fun.
And this kind of happened throughout the day, and for some months. My back right tire has had a slow leak and I'd have to fill it every week or so. Well I guess the leak got bigger, and when I got back from the gift card store, I see that my tire is completely flat. I get the air compressor to fill it up. I tried the tire gauge, and nothing. No psi at all. I put the air compressor on for many minutes, and nothing. I try again, and nothing. After my dad and I get the tire off, we see that the back is completely shredded. Now I'm using the donut for a while, or for the next 4 days while I'm still home. After that it's my brother's issue. Well that was my day. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Monday, August 22, 2011
A weird dream
Happy 100th blog post on this blog. What a way to have my 100th post than with a weird little dream story. I originally was going to post it to your 3 minutes, but after writing it I realized it is pokematic's blog worthy. So here we go.
I had a weird dream last night, but they are always weird. First I'll start off with some-ones house I was at. I can't remember who's it was supposed to be, but I think it was an older persons house. Well they had a TV on a swivel, and 4 DVD players on the TV, a SNES that disappeared halfway through, a dish box and a comcast box. But then nothing was connected except for a cable wire thing that didn't go into any port I knew of. It was rabbit ear ready but I figured I try it. Normally I don't dream in first person, but I did when trying to figure out how the TV worked, but it was almost as if it were a video game. I had fingerless gloves, the image was shaky, and it was out in the middle of nowhere when plugging it in, but them magically turned into a basement when it came time to turn it on. The wire thing that came into the TV that I gave it cable from the ceiling. I wanted to watch something on CBC, I think it was animated, but I don't remember what.
Now I'm in a car with my parents and a bunch of other people I don't thing I gave enough detail to to make them memorable. So we're driving along trying to find somewhere to eat, and I pick this gourmet place. Somehow it's only 2 of my friends, but I think at one point it was 3, and myself. They seat us nearly immediately. We sit down and they have these appetizer things. I wasn't sure what it was just looking at it, I swear there was other stuff in it, but it turned out to be nothing but different ways to fry potatoes. The mushrooms that were there even magically disappeared. At one point they seasoned it, but it didn't do anything. Not even their doll size pepper grinder or salad dressing did anything. So we finish that, and then comes our main course. Here's the thing, we didn't order. None of us got anything we wanted. I don't remember what my friends got, but I remember I got butter noodles. My friends are trying to speak up, but I'm the only one able to get their attention. I say "this isn't what I ordered, I didn't even order, can I have a menu." They apologise and my friends also say this isn't what they wanted. They take away our food, and within a minute bring out new food, but it ends up being the butter noodles, with something that looked like these Japanese candies that my cousin gave my family a few years ago. I still say this isn't what I wanted and then the chef came out, but there isn't anything that happened after that. Somehow my mom ended up there, but I don't know how. I know this is at the climax of the story, but there really isn't anything after that. I woke up because I was done so my biological clock says. I tried to fall back asleep, and I think I did, but unfortunately no more of that dream. Right when it was getting good. I tried to imagine what the rest would be like, but it was just quick resolve and not fun. I did figure out that they profiled the customers to figure out what they wanted. How did they get butter noodles out of me? I'm a meat man.
Well this has been Pokematic your crazy dreamer signing off and bu bye.
I had a weird dream last night, but they are always weird. First I'll start off with some-ones house I was at. I can't remember who's it was supposed to be, but I think it was an older persons house. Well they had a TV on a swivel, and 4 DVD players on the TV, a SNES that disappeared halfway through, a dish box and a comcast box. But then nothing was connected except for a cable wire thing that didn't go into any port I knew of. It was rabbit ear ready but I figured I try it. Normally I don't dream in first person, but I did when trying to figure out how the TV worked, but it was almost as if it were a video game. I had fingerless gloves, the image was shaky, and it was out in the middle of nowhere when plugging it in, but them magically turned into a basement when it came time to turn it on. The wire thing that came into the TV that I gave it cable from the ceiling. I wanted to watch something on CBC, I think it was animated, but I don't remember what.
Now I'm in a car with my parents and a bunch of other people I don't thing I gave enough detail to to make them memorable. So we're driving along trying to find somewhere to eat, and I pick this gourmet place. Somehow it's only 2 of my friends, but I think at one point it was 3, and myself. They seat us nearly immediately. We sit down and they have these appetizer things. I wasn't sure what it was just looking at it, I swear there was other stuff in it, but it turned out to be nothing but different ways to fry potatoes. The mushrooms that were there even magically disappeared. At one point they seasoned it, but it didn't do anything. Not even their doll size pepper grinder or salad dressing did anything. So we finish that, and then comes our main course. Here's the thing, we didn't order. None of us got anything we wanted. I don't remember what my friends got, but I remember I got butter noodles. My friends are trying to speak up, but I'm the only one able to get their attention. I say "this isn't what I ordered, I didn't even order, can I have a menu." They apologise and my friends also say this isn't what they wanted. They take away our food, and within a minute bring out new food, but it ends up being the butter noodles, with something that looked like these Japanese candies that my cousin gave my family a few years ago. I still say this isn't what I wanted and then the chef came out, but there isn't anything that happened after that. Somehow my mom ended up there, but I don't know how. I know this is at the climax of the story, but there really isn't anything after that. I woke up because I was done so my biological clock says. I tried to fall back asleep, and I think I did, but unfortunately no more of that dream. Right when it was getting good. I tried to imagine what the rest would be like, but it was just quick resolve and not fun. I did figure out that they profiled the customers to figure out what they wanted. How did they get butter noodles out of me? I'm a meat man.
Well this has been Pokematic your crazy dreamer signing off and bu bye.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Cruse Fest 2011
Hey everyone, this is a fun time blog. As a Michigan resident, the Woodward Dream Cruse is kind of a big thing. I'm a bit of a car fan, but not really big. I am no expert, in any car. But I enjoy looking at classics, like any red blooded American male. But here's the thing with Woodward Dream Cruse, it's crouded. But here's the thing my city does, Cruse Fest. It's classic cars that are owned by city residents that hapens on our main street. It's a fun time. I was sure that I took a picture of one of the scout dads that owns a classic and likes to show it off at events. It is nice car, and can proably go crazy fast with the nox. Oh well, here are some pictures from Crusfest.
For more cool car pics, go to my myspace page here.
Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
I'm not in over my head, like I thought
Hey everyone. Earlier today I made a post about being in ove my head with my nostalgia project. Well with a little, well a lot of rework from the ground up, I have started an end of the summer project that I can be proud of. I just worked on part 1, and plan to tackle part 2 tomarrow, and then part 3 the next day. This will truely be a real end of the summer project. I'll release it all once I'm done. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
I amy be in over my head
Hey everyone, I may be in over my head with a project. Every summer it seems as if one of us does a big project to round out the summer. 2 years ago catholiccontriversy did "The Truth About Harry Potter," last year I, Pokematic, did "CN/BS Real Review." Well this year I did only a couple of videos, and mainly text blogged. I might have unknowingly started my project last night.
Here's what I started. I made a review, rant, nostalgia reminisce, thing about cartoons, TV lineups, over the air cartoons, and all that. But here's the problem, it lacks direction. It's everywhere. I talk about everything, in every paragraph. One paragraph is crazy long. Then the next is crazy short. Ahhh it needs direction.
This one I think I might keep a text because I want it to be ever evolving, constantly changing with everything I am reminded of. I think a reason why it's everywhere is because I wrote it when I was tired. I wrote it after watching a video that talks about old cartoons for a little while. Well that prompted me to write the text review, and I just kind of rambled. I had direction at the beginning, but then went everywhere. I then decide to move from nostalgia to saying that there isn't any more of what I was talking about. And that was abrupt and again all over the place. It's gonna be hell trying to fix this. Here's to me getting this done. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Here's what I started. I made a review, rant, nostalgia reminisce, thing about cartoons, TV lineups, over the air cartoons, and all that. But here's the problem, it lacks direction. It's everywhere. I talk about everything, in every paragraph. One paragraph is crazy long. Then the next is crazy short. Ahhh it needs direction.
This one I think I might keep a text because I want it to be ever evolving, constantly changing with everything I am reminded of. I think a reason why it's everywhere is because I wrote it when I was tired. I wrote it after watching a video that talks about old cartoons for a little while. Well that prompted me to write the text review, and I just kind of rambled. I had direction at the beginning, but then went everywhere. I then decide to move from nostalgia to saying that there isn't any more of what I was talking about. And that was abrupt and again all over the place. It's gonna be hell trying to fix this. Here's to me getting this done. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Nastalgia, movies, and a trim to close.
Hey everyone, man do I have a story for you. Let give a little background for you first. Every Tuesday my grandpa and I go to the movies because they run a promotion where you get free popcorn any size with the purchase of a ticket. It's a draw to get you in and buy other concessions, but free popcorn is good. Well because my grandparents really enjoy having me over I stayed over at there house last night so we could go to the movies the next day.
They have the digital preferred or whatever and get way more channels than I do. We have the same cable provider but I have the basic with less than 100 channels and they have the one with over 200 channels plus hd. With the extra channels comes teennick. I like teennick because of the good shows and older shows not on nick anymore like True Jackson VP and drake and josh. Well when watching it I saw a commercial for "90s are all that." Wow nostalgia overload right there. Wait I had way more nostalgia overload when nicktoons actually showed old cartoons from the 90s. Why did you have to change for lesser cartoons? WHY?????????????????????????????????????? Huh, oh yeah, nostalgia at 90s on nick. If you have teennick and find an opportunity to stay up until 2 am, I recommend it crazily. It's All That, Kenan and Kel, Clarissa Explains it All, and Doug. It starts at midnight and goes on until 2 with an encore from 2 until 4 every weekday. If you don't get teennick or can't stay up that late on a weekday, or just want more 90s nick, log on to www.90sareallthat.com. It has more episodes and more shows. So cool.
After sleeping off that staying up late, my grandpa and I went to the movies. Our normal theater didn't have any movies we wanted to see or haven't seen yet. Luckily I brought my laptop and one of their neighbors had an open wifi signal. I looked up the movies at a different theater that shows last run movies. We went to see Green Lantern. My grandpa was a little sceptical because he apparently never heard of it. But he loved it. Read my review here. I did stay after the credits because I thought there would be a teaser afterwards, and then stayed even longer. They had a bunch of legal stuff at the end of the credits that was kind of funny. There was stuff about how "no tobacco company payed us to show tobacco" and stuff like that. Next they showed the Warner Brothers logo, then the rating of the movie. Due to film grain I could tell it was actual movie film, and at the end, it had the count down thing, the random screen test things, and then nothing. It was cool.
Last is a little story about miss judging the length of a trimmer clip. Since I'm going away in 2 weeks and I probably won't be getting a hair cut or trimming my beard while I'm at college, my parents have been nagging me to trim my beard. Well I trimmed and could only find one clip. I deiced to use it and this is what happened.
It's so short! Ahhhhhhh. It's not a beard it's shadow. Oh well it'll grow back and I'll be bushy again. Well that was today. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
They have the digital preferred or whatever and get way more channels than I do. We have the same cable provider but I have the basic with less than 100 channels and they have the one with over 200 channels plus hd. With the extra channels comes teennick. I like teennick because of the good shows and older shows not on nick anymore like True Jackson VP and drake and josh. Well when watching it I saw a commercial for "90s are all that." Wow nostalgia overload right there. Wait I had way more nostalgia overload when nicktoons actually showed old cartoons from the 90s. Why did you have to change for lesser cartoons? WHY?????????????????????????????????????? Huh, oh yeah, nostalgia at 90s on nick. If you have teennick and find an opportunity to stay up until 2 am, I recommend it crazily. It's All That, Kenan and Kel, Clarissa Explains it All, and Doug. It starts at midnight and goes on until 2 with an encore from 2 until 4 every weekday. If you don't get teennick or can't stay up that late on a weekday, or just want more 90s nick, log on to www.90sareallthat.com. It has more episodes and more shows. So cool.
After sleeping off that staying up late, my grandpa and I went to the movies. Our normal theater didn't have any movies we wanted to see or haven't seen yet. Luckily I brought my laptop and one of their neighbors had an open wifi signal. I looked up the movies at a different theater that shows last run movies. We went to see Green Lantern. My grandpa was a little sceptical because he apparently never heard of it. But he loved it. Read my review here. I did stay after the credits because I thought there would be a teaser afterwards, and then stayed even longer. They had a bunch of legal stuff at the end of the credits that was kind of funny. There was stuff about how "no tobacco company payed us to show tobacco" and stuff like that. Next they showed the Warner Brothers logo, then the rating of the movie. Due to film grain I could tell it was actual movie film, and at the end, it had the count down thing, the random screen test things, and then nothing. It was cool.
Last is a little story about miss judging the length of a trimmer clip. Since I'm going away in 2 weeks and I probably won't be getting a hair cut or trimming my beard while I'm at college, my parents have been nagging me to trim my beard. Well I trimmed and could only find one clip. I deiced to use it and this is what happened.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Rib-off the 13th day three and another party
This is a bit of a boring blog. Read days one and 2 for more entertaining stories.
Hey everyone, the rib ff officially ended today and I almost went to see Michael W. Smith in concert and went to a party.
What was left of the rib-off was just some clean-up and breakfast. All I really did was take our big cooler back over to our house, grab some chairs, and grab some of our tables. Breakfast consisted of bagels, doughnuts, and leftover non-ribs. My brother and I took back a pic-nic table that belongs to our neighbors, and because he had his car in the driveway we weren't able to take it back to his backyard. We probably could have found a better place for it for the time being, but we just put it in his front yard. It looked kind of funny.
Now is the time where I almost see Michael W. Smith. Pizza Hut had this promotion thing where they had these flier things that had a promotion code what we enter online and get discounted tickets, like half off. Well Pizza hut didn't have them anymore, but my mom's friend got them when they did. She had them in her car at her work, so we agreed to meet her and pick them up. There was some miss communication that caused us to be at the wrong entrance, but it gave me some tie to read about the wifi options there. I got the things but when I went to get the tickets, the promotion had expired. I've seen him in concert many times, but it's still fun. Oh well.
Now on to the party. This was the annual after camping party with all the camping friends. It was fun, even though there wasn't much. My one friend and I played backgammon for a little while. This was the first time he's ever played, so I taught him how to play. I think I set the board up wrong, but it was still fun. He one 1 game and I won 1 game. After that we played chess. It went on for a really long time. I won, but only after I found moves for him that proved that it wasn't check mate. I play to win, but if my opponent needs help I'll help him, and still win.
Well that was my day. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Hey everyone, the rib ff officially ended today and I almost went to see Michael W. Smith in concert and went to a party.
What was left of the rib-off was just some clean-up and breakfast. All I really did was take our big cooler back over to our house, grab some chairs, and grab some of our tables. Breakfast consisted of bagels, doughnuts, and leftover non-ribs. My brother and I took back a pic-nic table that belongs to our neighbors, and because he had his car in the driveway we weren't able to take it back to his backyard. We probably could have found a better place for it for the time being, but we just put it in his front yard. It looked kind of funny.
Now is the time where I almost see Michael W. Smith. Pizza Hut had this promotion thing where they had these flier things that had a promotion code what we enter online and get discounted tickets, like half off. Well Pizza hut didn't have them anymore, but my mom's friend got them when they did. She had them in her car at her work, so we agreed to meet her and pick them up. There was some miss communication that caused us to be at the wrong entrance, but it gave me some tie to read about the wifi options there. I got the things but when I went to get the tickets, the promotion had expired. I've seen him in concert many times, but it's still fun. Oh well.
Now on to the party. This was the annual after camping party with all the camping friends. It was fun, even though there wasn't much. My one friend and I played backgammon for a little while. This was the first time he's ever played, so I taught him how to play. I think I set the board up wrong, but it was still fun. He one 1 game and I won 1 game. After that we played chess. It went on for a really long time. I won, but only after I found moves for him that proved that it wasn't check mate. I play to win, but if my opponent needs help I'll help him, and still win.
Well that was my day. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Rib-off the 13th Day 2
Read Day one First!!! Click here to read it.
Hey everyone, today is the second day of rib-off the 13th, on the 13th of August. The big joke was that this was this one guys year because he has entered every year and has never won. We would have gone much later into the night, but it is raining triennially so it ended early.
Let me start off with the first thing that happened today. One of the contestants and founding fathers is friends with a priest. So to start the day, we always have mass. It's definitely not an ordinary mass, but it has all the necessities; communion, readings, and everything except songs. It's a Catholic mass.
There are rules so that everyone has a fair chance while still being like everyone else. We all use the same ribs from the same provider, so that no one has an unfair advantage meat wise. And the ribs have to be on a heat producing grill 30 minutes prior to selecting a rib for judging. Beyond that, anything goes. Well what we do is smoke them. Smoking the ribs is one of the ways we make our ribs so amazing. We do some other tricks and secrets, but secrets is the key word there. While my neighbors don't read my blog, to my knowledge, so I can't reveal my secrets. All you will know is that we smoke them, have a special sauce, and a special rub. One more secret, but telling you anything about it would be to much.
This is kind of a big thing, as 10 people cook and other neighbors pay to get in and eat. We all cook ribs to our own specifications, and while we get them, there is some ribbing that happens. Pun slightly intended. I mentioned this last blog, but I'll repeat it if you didn't hear it or just forgot. It has a lot of testosterone, so us men like to give each other a hard time. A bunch of "here's the winner" and "you won't repeat there is only one." There is only one person to win it 2 years in a row. I liked predicting that we were going to repeat, and then threepeat. Really fun time. Our set up was originally grills in our driveway and party in our neighbors where they have the canopies. But due to rain fear, we all move over to the neighbors and set ups easy ups over the grills. Of course after that it stopped and cleared up, but hey it was fun. But getting the grills to the house is a bit of a big deal. Initially when we all lined up, we did a thing called the parade of grills. Everyone lines up and we walk our grills to the host's house. And we all deck out our grills with flags we want. Mainly people use college flags. Then after the grills are all set up it's social time. It's all in good fun and socializing with neighbors.
Well come 5:30 and time to put the best rib on the plait. Dad and I found the best slab, and I found the best rib on that slab. I put the finishing touches on the rib, and set it on the plait. In psychology terms, this is a double blind study. The plaits have a number on the bottom of it, and there are only 3 or 4 people that know who the numbers are. Even us cooks don't know the numbers, only some girls who have been the keepers of the numbers for years know who each number belongs to. We put our best rib on the plait, and then the number keepers take them up to the judges table, just to prevent any knowledge of who the rib belongs to. Well it was judgement time, and our judge made his decision. Last couple of years the judge has been hammered, but because of some issues last year, and because we didn't want to put our judge through that, he was sober. He made a decision and........................................................................................................................................................
We didn't win:(
But that's OK, winning means hosting and hosting means cleaning and cleaning is bad. We received some heckling and the only repeat guy bragged about how he was and will be the only back to back. We handed off the pig flag to the new winner and gave him the pig gifts. It was a beer stein with a big design on it and an apron with the same design. It was all in good fun. I said that with this stuff with you next year, you'll repeat for sure. With the transfer of the flag, we all walk the flag from the old winner's house to the new winner's house. It's all in good fun. Some people wanted my brother and I to play our instruments like we have in previous years, but quite frankly I don't enjoy doing it and haven't really since I first got my trombone back in 5th grade. I liked it then but that's because it was new and I was enthusiastic, but afterwards it wasn't all that fun. I did it 2 years ago some but haven't since. Well this year I had an excuse, I was holding the flag. Can't play trombone with 1 hand.
It is a lot of ribs. With everyone cooking ribs, you want to try all of them. In getting everyone's ribs, I had a big plait full. Lot's of meat. Vegetairian night mare. They were all amazing. If I were judging I would have picked this one rib, but because I was just getting all of them and not paying atention to who's was who's. all I was able to do was know my own. And I got some special ones saved away on my ribs. I like the ends. They have the most flavor and carmalized sause and are my favorite. Yummmmmmmm.
Well we got rained out right at the end, and now it's just some of the hard core fans out in the rain under the awnings. There's one more day, tomorrow when we take everything down, but I'm not sure I will blog about that since it's pretty boring. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Hey everyone, today is the second day of rib-off the 13th, on the 13th of August. The big joke was that this was this one guys year because he has entered every year and has never won. We would have gone much later into the night, but it is raining triennially so it ended early.
Let me start off with the first thing that happened today. One of the contestants and founding fathers is friends with a priest. So to start the day, we always have mass. It's definitely not an ordinary mass, but it has all the necessities; communion, readings, and everything except songs. It's a Catholic mass.
There are rules so that everyone has a fair chance while still being like everyone else. We all use the same ribs from the same provider, so that no one has an unfair advantage meat wise. And the ribs have to be on a heat producing grill 30 minutes prior to selecting a rib for judging. Beyond that, anything goes. Well what we do is smoke them. Smoking the ribs is one of the ways we make our ribs so amazing. We do some other tricks and secrets, but secrets is the key word there. While my neighbors don't read my blog, to my knowledge, so I can't reveal my secrets. All you will know is that we smoke them, have a special sauce, and a special rub. One more secret, but telling you anything about it would be to much.
This is kind of a big thing, as 10 people cook and other neighbors pay to get in and eat. We all cook ribs to our own specifications, and while we get them, there is some ribbing that happens. Pun slightly intended. I mentioned this last blog, but I'll repeat it if you didn't hear it or just forgot. It has a lot of testosterone, so us men like to give each other a hard time. A bunch of "here's the winner" and "you won't repeat there is only one." There is only one person to win it 2 years in a row. I liked predicting that we were going to repeat, and then threepeat. Really fun time. Our set up was originally grills in our driveway and party in our neighbors where they have the canopies. But due to rain fear, we all move over to the neighbors and set ups easy ups over the grills. Of course after that it stopped and cleared up, but hey it was fun. But getting the grills to the house is a bit of a big deal. Initially when we all lined up, we did a thing called the parade of grills. Everyone lines up and we walk our grills to the host's house. And we all deck out our grills with flags we want. Mainly people use college flags. Then after the grills are all set up it's social time. It's all in good fun and socializing with neighbors.
Well come 5:30 and time to put the best rib on the plait. Dad and I found the best slab, and I found the best rib on that slab. I put the finishing touches on the rib, and set it on the plait. In psychology terms, this is a double blind study. The plaits have a number on the bottom of it, and there are only 3 or 4 people that know who the numbers are. Even us cooks don't know the numbers, only some girls who have been the keepers of the numbers for years know who each number belongs to. We put our best rib on the plait, and then the number keepers take them up to the judges table, just to prevent any knowledge of who the rib belongs to. Well it was judgement time, and our judge made his decision. Last couple of years the judge has been hammered, but because of some issues last year, and because we didn't want to put our judge through that, he was sober. He made a decision and........................................................................................................................................................
We didn't win:(
But that's OK, winning means hosting and hosting means cleaning and cleaning is bad. We received some heckling and the only repeat guy bragged about how he was and will be the only back to back. We handed off the pig flag to the new winner and gave him the pig gifts. It was a beer stein with a big design on it and an apron with the same design. It was all in good fun. I said that with this stuff with you next year, you'll repeat for sure. With the transfer of the flag, we all walk the flag from the old winner's house to the new winner's house. It's all in good fun. Some people wanted my brother and I to play our instruments like we have in previous years, but quite frankly I don't enjoy doing it and haven't really since I first got my trombone back in 5th grade. I liked it then but that's because it was new and I was enthusiastic, but afterwards it wasn't all that fun. I did it 2 years ago some but haven't since. Well this year I had an excuse, I was holding the flag. Can't play trombone with 1 hand.
It is a lot of ribs. With everyone cooking ribs, you want to try all of them. In getting everyone's ribs, I had a big plait full. Lot's of meat. Vegetairian night mare. They were all amazing. If I were judging I would have picked this one rib, but because I was just getting all of them and not paying atention to who's was who's. all I was able to do was know my own. And I got some special ones saved away on my ribs. I like the ends. They have the most flavor and carmalized sause and are my favorite. Yummmmmmmm.
Well we got rained out right at the end, and now it's just some of the hard core fans out in the rain under the awnings. There's one more day, tomorrow when we take everything down, but I'm not sure I will blog about that since it's pretty boring. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Rib-off the 13th day one
Woo-hoo, time for a long blog. Today was the first day of our neighborhood rib competition called the rib-off. Every year a bunch of neighbors have a friendly competition where we all cook ribs and have one person judge them. The winner chooses the judge for the next year and host it next year. It's just all in good fun. All the men like to heckle each other and give each other a hard time. But it's all in good fun. Basically it's a roast of everyone and their ribs. The easiest way to describe it is a frat party with a bunch of 40 to 50 year olds. It's all fun and neighborly friendship.
Now that the back story is over, time for the this year. Well last year my parents had to go to a wedding so my brother and I wanted to participate in our dad's place. We had to write a request to the founding fathers. They are the 4 men, and one 1 woman, who started it all and they have big egos with this. They make all the rules and have it all writen out. Well their ideology was probably "2 teenage boys are going up against us? We'll beat them easy, what do they know about rib cooking?" Here's the kicker, we won. We took them by surprise. They didn't like it, but were able to stomach it because that means heckling to my dad. I let him find a judge because everyone I know is either a minor, family, or Jewish. There's drinking with the judge, so can't have my minor friends. It's a pork competition so can't ask the Jewish people I know. And then the rules state that it can't be family of the winner, so can't do all the family I know. I don't know anyone that doesn't fall under that out of those categories. So it was up to my parents to find the judge.
Well we're hosting it. Well sort of. Our next door neighbors have these canopy tents set up in their driveway, and with the summer being so hot, we're cooking the ribs in our driveway and hosting the eating and visiting in the neighbors driveway. Tonight was the pre-party where all the neighbors gather and have pizza and reconnect. Some heckling goes on and it's fun. I had some heckling coming my way, but then I heckled back. It's not mean or anything, just some fun. They liked to rub it in my dad's face that "I" won, and not him. They gave me some heckling about how I wasn't going to win this year, but that's alright with me. Winning means hosting, and hosting means cleaning. I despise cleaning, especially for people who won't care and probably won't even notice. Well not much else for this because it was just the pre-party. More to come tomorrow. Be back tomorrow.
Read day 2 here.
Now that the back story is over, time for the this year. Well last year my parents had to go to a wedding so my brother and I wanted to participate in our dad's place. We had to write a request to the founding fathers. They are the 4 men, and one 1 woman, who started it all and they have big egos with this. They make all the rules and have it all writen out. Well their ideology was probably "2 teenage boys are going up against us? We'll beat them easy, what do they know about rib cooking?" Here's the kicker, we won. We took them by surprise. They didn't like it, but were able to stomach it because that means heckling to my dad. I let him find a judge because everyone I know is either a minor, family, or Jewish. There's drinking with the judge, so can't have my minor friends. It's a pork competition so can't ask the Jewish people I know. And then the rules state that it can't be family of the winner, so can't do all the family I know. I don't know anyone that doesn't fall under that out of those categories. So it was up to my parents to find the judge.
Well we're hosting it. Well sort of. Our next door neighbors have these canopy tents set up in their driveway, and with the summer being so hot, we're cooking the ribs in our driveway and hosting the eating and visiting in the neighbors driveway. Tonight was the pre-party where all the neighbors gather and have pizza and reconnect. Some heckling goes on and it's fun. I had some heckling coming my way, but then I heckled back. It's not mean or anything, just some fun. They liked to rub it in my dad's face that "I" won, and not him. They gave me some heckling about how I wasn't going to win this year, but that's alright with me. Winning means hosting, and hosting means cleaning. I despise cleaning, especially for people who won't care and probably won't even notice. Well not much else for this because it was just the pre-party. More to come tomorrow. Be back tomorrow.
Read day 2 here.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Going to the Verizon Store and Cleaning Out My Room, and converting
Hey everyone, yet another day in the life of Pokematic. Today I converted VHS tapes to DVD, went to the Verizon store, and cleaned out my room. While that may not sound super interesting, it actually was. Let me start out with the converting.
We have a family friend who has a son that is 4, and we have a bunch of tapes from when I was that age. The tapes right now were basically collecting dust, because I have no use to watch them. While partially because I have outgrown them, I have seen them all at least 200 times. Back then we didn't have cable, so I would watch the tapes because there was rarely anything on over the air that was age appropriate. Well I'm converting over Veggie Tales, Donut Man, 321 Penguins!, Bible Man, Adventures in Odyssey, and McGee and me. Now I don't really consider this violation of copyright. I would have given them the tapes but they don't have a VCR so to pass on the videos, I am putting them on to DVD. Here is a video of my set-up.
Well aside from converting tapes to DVD, I also went to the Verizon store. My mom was having some troubles with her phone, and being the tech person in the family, it was up to me to take it in and see if I could get it fixed. The problem was that it wasn't turning on. Well I took it in and apparently the battery was dead. We have a feeling that the charger is bad and that's why there is no charge on the battery. Well I had some fun playing around with the demo phones and tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a keyboard docking station. More tablets should have those. It makes them more practical. I also played with the Sony Xperia Play. Happy Gamer really enjoyed that. He even wrote an entry in the ccpandhg site. You can read that here. Well we shall see how the phone holds out.
Well the last thing I did was clean out my room some. It wasn't a full clean. I've kind of been working in parts. First was I cleaned off the top of my dresser, but that was a few weeks ago. Today I cleaned off a desk with 4 drawers. I found a lot of pencils and put them with the family set of pencils and pens. I found a Kennedy Silver Dollar. I added that to my collection of coins. I also found a lot of cool stuff, like a mood ring that fits perfectly on my pinkie. I organized the drawers into categories. It sure seemed like I would have to get rid of a lot to get it all to fit. But surprisingly, I just had to move some stuff around and now there is plenty of space. Now I just have to go through the shelves and it'll be all good. It was a bit like Auction Hunters. I go in and find all this cool stuff.
Well it was an interesting day. Kind-of fun. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
We have a family friend who has a son that is 4, and we have a bunch of tapes from when I was that age. The tapes right now were basically collecting dust, because I have no use to watch them. While partially because I have outgrown them, I have seen them all at least 200 times. Back then we didn't have cable, so I would watch the tapes because there was rarely anything on over the air that was age appropriate. Well I'm converting over Veggie Tales, Donut Man, 321 Penguins!, Bible Man, Adventures in Odyssey, and McGee and me. Now I don't really consider this violation of copyright. I would have given them the tapes but they don't have a VCR so to pass on the videos, I am putting them on to DVD. Here is a video of my set-up.
That's a DVD/VCR recorder combo with a small black and white tube TV that isn't cable ready and has only one input jack for video only. I was hoping that there was a copy function like with an other one that my mom brought home from school. So I have our personal VCR/DVD combo connected to it (not in picture) running to the DVD recorder/VCR combo (in picture) then running to the TV, just so I can see what I'm doing.
Well aside from converting tapes to DVD, I also went to the Verizon store. My mom was having some troubles with her phone, and being the tech person in the family, it was up to me to take it in and see if I could get it fixed. The problem was that it wasn't turning on. Well I took it in and apparently the battery was dead. We have a feeling that the charger is bad and that's why there is no charge on the battery. Well I had some fun playing around with the demo phones and tablets. The Samsung Galaxy Tab has a keyboard docking station. More tablets should have those. It makes them more practical. I also played with the Sony Xperia Play. Happy Gamer really enjoyed that. He even wrote an entry in the ccpandhg site. You can read that here. Well we shall see how the phone holds out.
Well the last thing I did was clean out my room some. It wasn't a full clean. I've kind of been working in parts. First was I cleaned off the top of my dresser, but that was a few weeks ago. Today I cleaned off a desk with 4 drawers. I found a lot of pencils and put them with the family set of pencils and pens. I found a Kennedy Silver Dollar. I added that to my collection of coins. I also found a lot of cool stuff, like a mood ring that fits perfectly on my pinkie. I organized the drawers into categories. It sure seemed like I would have to get rid of a lot to get it all to fit. But surprisingly, I just had to move some stuff around and now there is plenty of space. Now I just have to go through the shelves and it'll be all good. It was a bit like Auction Hunters. I go in and find all this cool stuff.
Well it was an interesting day. Kind-of fun. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Monday, August 8, 2011
I suffer like a student with Microsoft office student
Hey everyone, time for another episode in the life of Pokematic. This episode, Microsoft can suck at times, but still is better than apple.
So I'm going to college in a couple of weeks. I just recently bought my laptop and need to get a bunch of needed programs. Well one of them is Microsoft Office, with Word, PowerPoint, Excell, Onenote, ect. Well in order to get it I had to get it off of the Microsoft website under the student option. We decided to get the downloaded version with back-up disks. Well in order to get it for students, I had to go through a verification process. They asked for my windows live and student email. I initially gave them my hotmail windows live and student email. Well I went through that same process about 4 times and it never sent the verification email. Ahhhhhh. I gave it a few day in case it just didn't send, but it never did.
Well now comes today. To maybe cover all my bases, I made a windows live account with my college email hoping that would make it better. Well it didn't. This brings my total of windows live accounts to 4; one for my xbox live, one for my hotmail and Bing rewards, one for my parent account for my xbox live account, it was a bad idea to give my real age to Microsoft 4 years ago, and now one for my college email. I will probably never use the college email again. Well I tried for maybe 5 more times, and it said that I should go to support. I surf around support for a while but find no help.
Well I reread the directions and it said to get the contact number for customer support from the support link. By now I am ready to rip my hair out, and since I'm going bald, it won't grow back. Luckily grabbing my hat didn't harm what hair I have left. We're running low on minutes on our cell and even calling a 800 number might go against them. Luckily my family is still in the stone ages some because we still have a land line. Only problem was that dad was using it, so I had to wait. I should have figured that when I called, I'd get a machine. But hearing the automated voice nearly put me over the edge. Thankfully I didn't have to surf through pages and pages of machine buttons, I got through in 3 pages. And it also didn't take long for someone to pick up on the other end. It took multiple times for them to send me the email with a verification code, and since my name is long, it can take a while for the person on the other end to get all my info one letter at a time.
Well it was sure hard, and took a couple of hours for the thing to download, but now I'm working on installing it.
OK, just installed all of it and have it configured. Oh wow that was stressful. But to all you mac-heads out there, even that fall won't get me a mac. You know that Microsoft office is the standard for all word processing and slide show making and what not. I would need to dual boot and all that crap, get the mac version, and still probably have all that trouble for a higher price and more headaches. Mac sucks, pc's better. Well until next episode, this has been Pokematic signing off and bubye.
Want Office 2010. Click here to buy.
So I'm going to college in a couple of weeks. I just recently bought my laptop and need to get a bunch of needed programs. Well one of them is Microsoft Office, with Word, PowerPoint, Excell, Onenote, ect. Well in order to get it I had to get it off of the Microsoft website under the student option. We decided to get the downloaded version with back-up disks. Well in order to get it for students, I had to go through a verification process. They asked for my windows live and student email. I initially gave them my hotmail windows live and student email. Well I went through that same process about 4 times and it never sent the verification email. Ahhhhhh. I gave it a few day in case it just didn't send, but it never did.
Well now comes today. To maybe cover all my bases, I made a windows live account with my college email hoping that would make it better. Well it didn't. This brings my total of windows live accounts to 4; one for my xbox live, one for my hotmail and Bing rewards, one for my parent account for my xbox live account, it was a bad idea to give my real age to Microsoft 4 years ago, and now one for my college email. I will probably never use the college email again. Well I tried for maybe 5 more times, and it said that I should go to support. I surf around support for a while but find no help.
Well I reread the directions and it said to get the contact number for customer support from the support link. By now I am ready to rip my hair out, and since I'm going bald, it won't grow back. Luckily grabbing my hat didn't harm what hair I have left. We're running low on minutes on our cell and even calling a 800 number might go against them. Luckily my family is still in the stone ages some because we still have a land line. Only problem was that dad was using it, so I had to wait. I should have figured that when I called, I'd get a machine. But hearing the automated voice nearly put me over the edge. Thankfully I didn't have to surf through pages and pages of machine buttons, I got through in 3 pages. And it also didn't take long for someone to pick up on the other end. It took multiple times for them to send me the email with a verification code, and since my name is long, it can take a while for the person on the other end to get all my info one letter at a time.
Well it was sure hard, and took a couple of hours for the thing to download, but now I'm working on installing it.
OK, just installed all of it and have it configured. Oh wow that was stressful. But to all you mac-heads out there, even that fall won't get me a mac. You know that Microsoft office is the standard for all word processing and slide show making and what not. I would need to dual boot and all that crap, get the mac version, and still probably have all that trouble for a higher price and more headaches. Mac sucks, pc's better. Well until next episode, this has been Pokematic signing off and bubye.
Want Office 2010. Click here to buy.
Friday, August 5, 2011
I kind of wish tom was real
A special treat for my fans. For similar entries like this, please go to the video site here. Since this is more story instead of rant, it's going up here.
If it's not a good game or catholic...who do you call...why Pokematic "hi"
Ever get those annoying telemarketers on your cell phone? Well I keep getting these calls from this security company trying to get me to buy there security system. The first couple of times I hung up right after hearing "I'm Tom for homeland security." I must say it was a really good recording. I thought it was some real guy on the other end. Like on TV. Well after 4 times I decided to hear him out. That was when I realized it was a recording. I asked "why do you keep calling me tom?" And the answer was something about signing up for a free trial. He then asked if I own the home I'm living in? I said no but apparently the automated voice recognition thing didn't register the no so it asked the same question? I yelled "NO I DON'T OWN THE HOUSE I'M LIVING IN!!!!" He then said "thank-you, we will have a supervisor call you back with offers."
We're low on minutes, probably in part because my aunt doesn't realize that she can get an iPhone on Verizon and be on the network with the rest of her family. So this guy continuing to call me is jacking up our minutes. This is bad. If I get calls from this number or others that I don't recognise, "ignore." If they call back quickly, I know it'll be for real. While the automated telephone system saves money and other resources for the company, it sure as hell screws over us. So many hours with tech support for comcast with no over ride function. "We'll send a refresh signal to your box. It didn't work so we'll connect you to a real person." And without fail, the solution would work for maybe 10 minutes and then crap out. Call back and the same thing. Luckily my grandparents are now on WOW and have much better support, but then I don't know what the call is like since I haven't had trouble with them.
Wow, automated phones suck. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bubye.
If it's not a good game or catholic...who do you call...why Pokematic "hi"
Ever get those annoying telemarketers on your cell phone? Well I keep getting these calls from this security company trying to get me to buy there security system. The first couple of times I hung up right after hearing "I'm Tom for homeland security." I must say it was a really good recording. I thought it was some real guy on the other end. Like on TV. Well after 4 times I decided to hear him out. That was when I realized it was a recording. I asked "why do you keep calling me tom?" And the answer was something about signing up for a free trial. He then asked if I own the home I'm living in? I said no but apparently the automated voice recognition thing didn't register the no so it asked the same question? I yelled "NO I DON'T OWN THE HOUSE I'M LIVING IN!!!!" He then said "thank-you, we will have a supervisor call you back with offers."
We're low on minutes, probably in part because my aunt doesn't realize that she can get an iPhone on Verizon and be on the network with the rest of her family. So this guy continuing to call me is jacking up our minutes. This is bad. If I get calls from this number or others that I don't recognise, "ignore." If they call back quickly, I know it'll be for real. While the automated telephone system saves money and other resources for the company, it sure as hell screws over us. So many hours with tech support for comcast with no over ride function. "We'll send a refresh signal to your box. It didn't work so we'll connect you to a real person." And without fail, the solution would work for maybe 10 minutes and then crap out. Call back and the same thing. Luckily my grandparents are now on WOW and have much better support, but then I don't know what the call is like since I haven't had trouble with them.
Wow, automated phones suck. Well this has been Pokematic signing off and bubye.
Home Alone
Hey everyone, something happened that hasn't happened before. My parents left for the weekend and my brother is at camp. I have the house all to myself! Before you start jumping to conclusions, I didn't have the stereotypical no parents party. I couldn't, none of my friends were available. 2 of my friends and I have been compiling a list of movies we need to all watch together. This would have been the perfect time to do that. I was even given expressed permission that they could stay over and watch the movies. Only problem, they were both unavailable. I invited others over, and they were busy too. I couldn't have a party if I tried, and I did.Well one thing I have been enjoying was having the family room and TV set up all to myself. Typically my brother and I have to fight over the TV, typically ending in even share over time. Well not having to fight over it is great. I don't have to watch call of duty or other stupid xbox 360 games. I like using the hulu plus option. I have a free trial because I connected my facebook and hulu accounts. I don't have gold, but my brother does. He doesn't have hulu, but I do. We share the plus account because we each have one half to the puzzle. I've also taken a computer monitor that has a larger screen than my laptop and have been using that to stream crackle videos on. If you don't know crackle, go to www.crackle.com right now. It's a video site similar to hulu but owned by Sony so it's all Sony owned movies and TV shows. Quite good, they got Seinfeld. Would do an amazon link, but it's free on Crackle.
And here's a kind of funy thing. I went to the surveys page of swagbucks and this is what happened. There was a survey that said I had a 100% chance of acceptance, and it rejected me after the first qualifying question. What the hell? Well this is what happened next. I tried for a survey that said I had a 5% chance of acceptance and I was accepted. I'm glad I was able to take a survey and get 50 swagbucks, but realy, 100% chance and rejected after first question but accepted on 5%. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't 100% typically mean certain and 5% means a step above impossible? Oh well, still love swagbucks.
I'm going to watch more hulu plus and spin some vinyl. I love records. Later.
Monday, August 1, 2011
I will be making new videos, but only when I can
Hey everyone. Last post I mentioned that I have a web cam now and can make videos again. Well that might not be the whole case.
Here's kind of the thing with videos. I need to be in a situation where I won't be disturbed and where I won't be disturbing the others in my house. That hasn't happened much this summer. The only time when I won't have people waling around in the background and making noise is when everyone else is asleep. Well because I need to be courteous I can't be making a lot of noise while everyone else is trying to sleep. And our house has horrible sound insulation. If the TV is just louder than the happy volume at night, my parents say "turn it down." And this isn't blasting, it's slightly louder than the comfortable volume. And my voice doesn't get picked up by microphones well so I need to speak louder than normal. And it caries very well, just isn't picked up well by mics. So no videos at night.
I will continue to make text reviews and such and will make them into videos when the time allows. Sorry for not being able to make real videos.Please read the text reviews at the video site here. Latest reviews will be at the top of the list. Well that's all for now. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
Here's kind of the thing with videos. I need to be in a situation where I won't be disturbed and where I won't be disturbing the others in my house. That hasn't happened much this summer. The only time when I won't have people waling around in the background and making noise is when everyone else is asleep. Well because I need to be courteous I can't be making a lot of noise while everyone else is trying to sleep. And our house has horrible sound insulation. If the TV is just louder than the happy volume at night, my parents say "turn it down." And this isn't blasting, it's slightly louder than the comfortable volume. And my voice doesn't get picked up by microphones well so I need to speak louder than normal. And it caries very well, just isn't picked up well by mics. So no videos at night.
I will continue to make text reviews and such and will make them into videos when the time allows. Sorry for not being able to make real videos.Please read the text reviews at the video site here. Latest reviews will be at the top of the list. Well that's all for now. This has been Pokematic signing off and bu bye.
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