Ain't Nobody From My Church In Here!

You might not have noticed, but there's a new layout here. It took me almost a week to get everything coded correctly and get it up, but that's being I was being a perfectionist and not because I couldn't get the coding to work. It's somebody else's WordPress template (credited in the site information) so the hardest part was getting it to port over to Movable Type properly and then making sure all the information was up to date.

Aside from that, things have been going well. I think I've over inundated myself with multimedia lately, so I've somewhat of a zombie, hence the lack of updates. So let's do this section by section.

Work
This is going rather well. I like my job and I love the place I work. Occasionally, I have high stress days when people ask stupid questions or act like idiots. Then there's people, mostly everyone, who think their tasks are more important than anybody else's. Prioritizing isn't easy when everyone wants everything done yesterday. The whole "lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part" can really ring true on those days.

However, the people I work with are awesome. They make time pass quickly and work days fun. I get more of an opportunity to work on projects I enjoy. I'm learning alot. And we just got our raises and bonuses, which, even though they made it out as if it was going to be bad, was so much better than I had ever gotten at my old job. And as much I loved my old place, I finally feel like I'm getting to do some really cool things at this place and get paid what I'm worth, or, at least, what I think I'm worth.

Video Games
Not many people have seen much of Steve and I these last few weekends because two weeks ago, we bought an XBox 360. Ok, well, he bought it but we live together so for now, half of it is mine. We previously had a regular XBox so it's not like gaming was new to me. I was, and still am, a huge fan of that console (in better terms, I'm a big fan of the XBox line - I don't like Playstation as much and while I'll play it, my first choice always will be the XBox). Some of my favorite games were the Halo and Grand Theft Auto series. I loved The Godfather and I have a place in my heart for any of the Sims games, Tony Hawk or Mortal Kombat (because I played the shit out of that game when it was SNS).

But I usually played less than Steve. And that's not the case anymore. I LOVE the 360! It's as if a whole new world has been opened to me. The graphics are beautiful, the gameplay is smooth and so much more detailed than the original one and the games themselves are amazing! I haven't been this hooked on video games since I was 12.

In the first two days, we beat Gears of War. Such an impressive game! It really makes Halo looks like child's play. And damn, we played for hours on end then went to bed and I woke up wanting to finish it the next morning. Since then, I rented Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and well, let's just say, it's all downhill from there.

I always kept myself away from RPG's because I knew I'd get addicted to them. Seriously, there's a valid reason I never played Everquest or WOW. And now, I remember that reason. Because I am now throughly addicted to Oblivion. And to be frankly honest, we watched the video game awards back in the fall and I couldn't figure out why it won. But I had never played it. And now that I have, I agree (though, it's definitely a close tie with Gears of War). The scenery is absolutely gorgeous! And the interface and gameplay is smooth. The unlimited opportunities to follow the main quest or branch off on my own and do side quests make the game entertaining enough to probably last me months of playing. I could do without the long loading screens, but I have to remind myself that it's such a big game so it needs time to load everything.

Aside from my addiction, Steve is doing the same and as weird as it sounds, we're actually bonding over this. We are an awesome team in Gears and while it's not neccessarily your traditonal couple bonding, everytime we beat a level and high five each other, it brings us that much closer.

Football
As you couldn't tell from my post a few weeks ago, I was sorely disappointed in the Eagles for losing to the Saints and eliminating themselves from the playoffs. I was, however, a bit drunk when I posted that so I might have been a bit melodramatic. But, I'm still a bit down about it but everytime I watch the clip of Sheldon Brown annhilating Reggie Bush, I smile a little. I know, I'm awful but that play, in the first five minutes of the game, was amazing. Everyone is my house was screaming and my dad even quoted the Friday movie - "You got knocked the f*** out!"

But we're not in the playoffs and I'm fine with that because being a Philly fan, we're used to it. I may watch the Superbowl though because I think it'll be an interesting game. I didn't want the Saints there because they beat us and I didn't want to see the Pats in another Bowl (sorry Angela!). So I'm fine with Indianopolis and Chicago. I mean, what better excuse to get all drunk and ignorant and yell DA BEARS! and have it actually make some sense.

Home
I've got a minute hole in my ceiling that's been there for a month. The leasing company was supposed to come out and fix it. They haven't done it yet. The hole, I'm afraid, is probably going to get bigger. Everytime it rains, a little bit leaks onto the floor. I'm going to keep calling and I'm going to take pictures because when it finally opens up and ruins all my shit, someone's paying for something.

What I'm really, still, freaked out about is that critter I spoke about a few weeks ago. In checking out the holes and the critter, they discovered that it was rats! RATS! The leasing company tried to calm me down by telling me it was mice but the wildlife specialist said rats. And I tend to believe the wildlife specialist, partly, because, well, they're specialists and partly because the noise the "critter" was making was too damn loud to be mice. And apparently, they've chewed into the air ducts, which explans the insulation falling from our vents when we turn the heat or A/C on.

This sent me into a complete freak out mode. Because ew, rats! RATS! Mice, I can handle. They're tiny and keep to themselves and generally are just looking for food. Rats are huge and mean and dirty and just gross. Steve wanted to be proactive and decided to set a big trap in the ceiling. I told him if we caught one, that I wanted to be no where in the vicinity when he pulled it out. I kept envisioning something the size of a cat only grosser with a long ass tail being pulled out of the ceiling. And he said I was being overdramatic. To which I replied something along the lines of if he can freak out about the palmetto bugs (and trust me, he freaked out about them), then I can freak out about the rats.

But alas, that never came to be because apparently someone came by and set traps or threw Defcon down or something. They said if they put poison down, the rats would eat it and probably go off somewhere to die, which meant we'd smell something funky for a few days but that never happened so maybe it really was mice. We haven't heard anything since they did whatever they said they did so that's good. I even had to close the air vents in some of the rooms because I had visions of looking up into that vent and seeing beady little rat eyes staring down at me. And then it would've all been over.

They have yet to fix the hole or duct work though, so we'll see how that all plays out.

Politics
I'm really excited that Hillary announced her decision to run for President in 2008. If you haven't guessed, I'm a Democrat. This was a bit out of place in the county where I used to live in Pennsylvania. I know, I know - doesn't Philadelphia have a democratic majority? Yes, it does and so do many of the surrounding counties. But the one I lived in was dominated by Republicans. But even with that being the case, it wasn't as noticeable as say, I don't know, living here in South Carolina, in Charleston. I feel the conservatism so much more than I did when I lived up North.

All of that aside, my excitement about Hillary running stems from many things, not just my Democratic beliefs. I never wanted Bush as a President and I, like many others, have become increasingly dissastified with his policies and overall, his time in office. I was initially worried about his ability to stack the Supreme Court with conservative judges, thus essentially giving them the ability to overturn Row v. Wade. That didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would though we have yet to see the outcome since those judges he appointed have many years ahead of them on the court.

I'm excited about Hillary running because she is a woman. So cliched and stereotypical, I know. But note this, I'm excited she's running. I'm not going to vote for her because she's a woman. I'm going to examine her stance on the issues and if they don't fit with mine, then I won't vote for her. However, I'm excited about the possibility that a woman could run for and potentially become the President of the United States. And I'm excited that I get to see how all of this plays out in my lifetime.

I liked Bill Clinton. I've always held the stance that his personal life, regardless of how scandolous or immoral it was, should have had nothing to do with his career. And some people have pointed out that they can't believe Hillary took him back and on that pure idea alone, they wouldn't vote for her. But sometimes, people fuck up and sometimes, forgiveness works. And I would find it incredibly amusing to be able to refer to Ol'Bubba as "First Man" or "First Mister" or whatever you would call him.

Aside from all of that, I'm excited to see a change in the administration. No matter who wins, I'd like to see someone who can get into office and remove us from Iraq. I'd like to see someone who is a little more articulate. I'd like to see someone who has an easier time separating the whole church and state ideology. Basically, I'd like to see someone other than Bush but it would be nice if it didn't play out like the last election where many Democrats seemed to vote for Kerry because he was NOT Bush - not because of what HE stood for as a candidate.

It will be an exciting couple of years, to say the least!

Family
Not much has been going on in this department. Today is my little brother, Tyler's, twelfth birthday so I want to wish him a very Happy Birthday. He's actually spending the night with us tonight and is presently playing Gears of War with Steve. Tomorrow, we will probably take him to Guitar Center to get him a present then go out bowling with him and some friends and my parents.

We've spent a couple of weekends visiting my other brother in Myrtle Beach and that's always fun. It's nice to get away from home sometimes and to just hang out with people.

The parentals are still trying to sell their house so if you know of anyone looking to buy in Park West, let me know. I just might know someone who has something to sell. And Mom just bought a Chrysler 300m, which is a pretty sweet ride, so kudos to her for that.

I think that's it for now. I've been watching too much TV and quite a few movies lately so maybe I'll take the time to write a little bit about them over at Vox. For now, I'm just going to sit down, surf the Net some more and enjoy this nice bottle of Cabernet I opened up.