Grrr. Arrghh. That was my day.

Tonight I had to go in for the last hour and close the store. Not the first thing I really wanted to do on what was suppose to be a day off. Unfortunately, no one else could, so it falls to me. I rarely ever close. After closing tonight, I am glad that I normally don't. What the hell is with some people? We close at 7pm and I have people walking in at 6:55! I'm like, we close in 5 minutes, get out.

Listen, folks, just cuz the store is "open" to a certain time, does not mean you can walk in and hang around. Honestly, if a store closes at 7pm, you should not even think of walking in that place after 6:30. Why? Because the employees want to go HOME! Inconsiderate bastards!

Hmmpph.

This week I have been putting together a new computer rig. I throw rigs together pretty regularly. This one is suppose to be for me.. my new, more advanced system. So far though, nothing but grief on this one. It's been crashing like an SOB.

Now, please note. I learned a long time ago to always build that new system on the side. Never scavenge your current system for the new one. See, if you do that, and the new rig gives you problems, you have NO computers at all!

Anyways, not sure what the issue is yet. I am doing a fresh install of Windows and taking it slow. The system board I am using is an Asus. First time I am using an Asus board (it was a killer dealer in a recent promotion.) So far though, even though some folks swear by Asus, I have not been impressed. I usually build Gigabyte boards for myself. Reliable, stable motherboards. For those interested, I will keep you updated.

This "interested" list definitely does not include the Woman. She always tells me if I post about computers or cameras, she clicks over to the Oprah homepage or some shit.

Cool.. I'm a Dark Elf...

I was over at LittleVlahGirls web page a bit ago. She manages to find all these little online tests or quiz things that always seem to get me in trouble when I decide to take them. Nothing new on this one. This new test is "What type of Fae are you?". For those unfamiliar, Fae is a fantasy class that usually consists of Faeries, Pixies, Nymphs and the like. I have managed to score as a "Dark Elf" ...

Pretty close, actually. I don't agree with the "Violent" part.. that's not me. Not so sure on the "Cold" part either.. but hey, it's just a silly online quiz. Right? RIGHT!?! :-P

So, what else.. the woman is a bit under the weather.. which sucks. Hope she gets better soon. Hope I don't get it either! There is never a good time to be sick.. but I certainly have no time for that crap this week. Working like crazy this week, no time for down time.

The variable number 2

GAH!

I've been fighting a nasty ass headache since yesterday morning. It is finally going away this morning. Thinking it is allergies, since we just had a few days of rain. But hell, as long as it is going away, I don't care.

Just came back from running errands and getting my hair cut. I have noticed one thing about getting my haircut - even though I say the same thing each time, I get a different cut each time! I don't understand it. You know, they rate cuts in terms of blade size. So, I use a number 2, right? Yet every time I go in and say "it's a 2", I get a cut anywhere from long to ultra damn short! You think "2" would be a consistent number and not something variable. I mean, when I add 2 + 2 I get 4. Apparently in the hair styling industry they can get anywhere from a 1 to 9.

So, today, even though I said a "number 2" and "just a trim" I now look like I am ready to go into the Marine Corp! Now, honestly, I can live with this as hair grows out in about a week or so. My main problem comes with the fact that my woman HATES me with short hair. Every time I come home from a hair cut with short hair she yells at me then promptly beats me. It is quite discouraging since its not my fault! So dear God, have pity today woman! :-)

For the rest of my day I plan to cuddle up with my 12 pack of Mountain Dew, my sandwich from Port O Subs, and World of Warcraft. The rest of my week is going to be full up of work, meetings, and inventories. So, I plan to enjoy today as much as I can! So, off I go!

I am not a ham

Recently, I have had a few folks ask me about my name. My web name, that is. "Why do they call you MayhAm?" Ok, first, it's not MayhAm. I am not a ham. It is MayhEm. hem. Mayhem. There is an E there, not an A.

So, Mayhem is actually a call sign. It was coined back in the days when I played Mechwarrior in online league play. Mechwarrior was a player vs player online game that pitted teams against each other. Weapon of choice: Mechs - Giant robots with insane firepower.

I had toyed with a few handles at that time. But after playing a few league games I tended to favor lighter mechs and fast strike tactics when everyone else was using big lumbering mechs. I was easily able to outrun, outmaneauver, and outfight much larger opponents this way. So it ended up very appropriate that "Mayhem" fit my "fighting" personality more. (as was suggested by more than a few people at the time). So there it is. Mayhem was born.

Oh, the Sennet part? That also goes back to Mechwarrior. It is a "blood" name. In each fighting team the players were in, if you were good enough to defeat three of your fellow warriors a the same time using only one mech, you earned a blood name. I did and chose Sennet. Seemed to flow the best out of all the choices.

So, now you know. And know is half the battle! (if you never watched the old craptacular GI Joe cartoon, that funny reference will be lost on you.)

The big expensive picture

I just read an article on Yahoo talking about how theatre owners want to jam cell phones within their theaters as a way to "win back crowds." As if people talking on cell phones during flicks is keeping people away! This, ladies and gentlemen, is what I like to call "you are too stupid to see the obvious".

It's not the damn cell phones that are driving people away! It's your outrageous prices! Hmm, let's see... $10 per person, plus, what? Another $10 per person for a drink and some popcorn!? So if it's just me and a date, I'm dropping $40.00 bucks? God forbid you are taking the family out.

Well, theater owners, compare your prices to my prices. $3.00 for rented DVD (personally, I'd probably download the movie in Divx and burn it to a CD that my DVD player can play - so that costs me 0.00) I can order a WHOLE pizza ($15.00 - I have a coupon!) plus drinks.. oh, 50 cents. No lines, no screaming children, no smelly people, and NO 20 minutes worth of crap ass previews! Now that's a bargain!

Why can't the theaters see the "big picture"? We sure can.

X-Factor

A friend of mine asked in a comment below if I was ready for Xmen3, as I am a fairly big fan of Marvel and the Xmen series. I'd like to be excited about it. Unfortunately most of what I am seeing and reading in regards to X3 sounds really disappointing.

Instead of the Sentinels and a decent Dark Phoenix story line we get a "cure the mutants" story line which seems cheap by comparison. The production is way rushed. Remember, they lost two directors on this but kept the same release date.

Juggernaught looks like some dude on steroids when he should be an immense powerhouse the size of the Hulk. Some of the other new mutants look like they were cobbled together from a bad bondage and domination convention. Also, no Nightcrawler this time out. I read an article stating why he was not in this one. They said because he was too expensive! That's not a good sign.

Plus (spoiler warning) word has it that two or three of our main characters are "taken out" in one way or another. I mean, jeesh, why do we have to start killing off characters to make things seem more important. It's just stupid in a venue like this.

So, hopefully it will be good and all this stuff will be off base. But at this point, it sure doesn't look like that will be the case.. Unfortunately.

No Justice

Well, today marked that final day of a 140 some odd day drought here in Arizona. We finally got rain. Actually, a LOT of rain. It has been raining since last night. It is a pretty nice change though. Being from Chicago, I hated the rain. You get that way when it rains or is at least cloudy almost 24/7. In Arizona though, it is a welcome sight. A nice rainy dain.

Of course, the problem with rain in Arizona is that it brings out the stupid people. For example, even though most Arizonans are from other places - places which most likely have rain - none of them seem to know how to drive in it! I either see these morons driving at 10mph or driving like maniacs as if there is no rain falling at all. Regardless to say, you have to watch your ass on the road out here when it rains.

In the pissed of and shitty news category, DC Comics/Warner Brothers has canceled on of the best shows on TV - Justice League. This animated show, which has been on for 5 seasons, followed many of DC's hero's and villains including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl.. and dozens of others. The great thing about the show is that they got it right! They did what the majority of shows fail at. That is, they had great character development, wonderful stories, and fantastic continuity. Just a great show.

Apparently, DC has decided that it wants to start making live action movies about the characters and god forbid that they exist in an animated format at the same time. Ridiculous! So just because they want to make love action movies, they axe the animation?! I don't get it. It makes zero sense to me. Honestly though, one part of me thinks it is because any live action movies they create will pale in comparison to the universe and characters that Justice League has already set in place. Well, one more reason to despise Warner Brothers and one less reason to watch Cartoon Network.

Sanford & Son

Went out with the woman today. We hit a park close by and hung out. The weather was beautiful. We even got to watch some kids launch (badly) toy rockets. I remember doing this as a kid. Great stuff. Overall, I thought the day went well. Of course, I was wrong. Why? Well, you know. Just cuz, thats why!? Let's just say perception should not be the only sense you use. Leaves me in a quandary to be sure. Yes, I know this is all vague. But, no details today!

So, my project for the week is going to be to clean up around here! I swear, I feel the like the Sanfords. We manage to acquire more crap than I can sell or throw away in a similar time frame. There are boxes, computer parts, miscellaneous shit all over! It's driving me nuts! I swear I will make a dent in it this week if it's the last thing I do.

Never Ending Blizzard

Does it ever stop!? Not that this is a bad thing, of course. But it is truly amazing. Blizzard Entertainment announced this week that its immensely popular MMORPG (for the unfamiliar, that is Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) has hit the six million player mark. Yes, six million people play the game world wide. That is one hell of a virtual world.

World of Warcraft has simply swept aside all other MMORPGs. It is a history maker. Never before have so many people come together to play an online game like this. Not really surprising, since the game itself is incredibly well made and has just about everything you could imagine to keep players entertained. Sometimes I think it is actually a secret experiment in sleep deprivation.

Enough with the blowing already

Alright, I had one hell of a night last night. Was at a damn corporate function that lasted until 10pm. Gods, was I tired by the time I got home. Nothing better than a 12 hour work day. On the bright side, today is my day off, so I plan to do a lot of nothing!

I was hoping to sleep in. That plan was working well until the Super Special Illegal Aliens of Landscaping showed up at like 8am with those fucking annoying "blowers". I would really love to know who invented those God damn things. First, they are as loud as a friggin 747. I just love when they pass by my bedroom window. Second, these "blower" devices have to be the biggest bullshit item around. "oh, yeah, I'm gonna blow all these leaves from over here to over there!"

What a joke these things are. Do these guys think they are actually doing anything productive with them? But every damn landscaping crew uses them now just to wake my ass up!!! I think I am going to put a sign in my bedroom window that reads "Department of Immigration" and see if that quiets them down in the future.

Alright, on the fun side of things, I ran across this simply fantastic parody video of "What if Microsoft designed the ipod packaging." Simply fantastic.. because it would be so damn true. You can see it HERE!