Podcast Crashing

Good morning, peoples! I hope you all had a good weekend! I know mine was pretty good, what with the family being around, even though it was a bit cold and wet so we couldn’t go out and do much. It was a normal weekend, doing a lot of the same stuff, with grocery shopping, Disney films with the Geekling, spending time with my folks, and just general relaxation.

I did have one unique experience on Saturday evening that was really cool, though, that did rather break the norm.

In case you don’t know, I love the Twitter. It’s mindless, it’s fun, it’s 140 characters or less of pure enjoyment most of the time. I’ve stumbled into a network of local people who are fun and a joy to mess with, and I think they feel the same because I haven’t been blocked or reported for spam yet.

One of those people is on my list from Friday, the “regional celebrity” known as @BgKahuna. This man is very influential around Indianapolis in both the subjects of Unicorns and Kitten Pictures. He is famous in at least 3 zip codes, and can tell you how to keep your Personal Brand strong in his sleep.

And he mainly exists in cyberspace. At least, as far as this blog is concerned, because it’s his online identity to put out there, not mine!

On Saturday, he posted up that he was doing a podcast, and so we threw back and forth on that for a bit, then I thought nothing of it. Then, later that evening, after a full afternoon of playing catch with my daughter while watching Disney films , my phone told me I had a message on Twitter. It was the Kahuna saying that the podcast was going to be at a certain location, and feel free to crash it.

So, I did what any sane adult would do on a Saturday night. I drove over and crashed it.

I think the crashing went off well, but I’m not going to ruin it just in case that podcast ever gets released. I would like to say, though, that what was supposed to be a quick crash of a 30 minute podcast turned into 3 ½ hours of shooting the bull with a couple of great, funny guys, most of it on the mic. Recording with Josh and the Kahuna was a lot of fun, and I’m glad that they asked me to stick around. It’s something that I hope I can do again soon, but it’s their game, I was just lucky enough to play.

I don’t know the name of the podcast, when or where they’re releasing it, or if it even survived the recording process. If it did, I’ll post up where it is. If it didn’t, then I’ll describe what happened. Until then, no spoilers.

Either way, it was a great experience.

Thanks, guys.
Tony

Follow Friday

So, I have a group of people that I joke around with on Twitter that are great.

The most recent example: I tweeted my link to my Job Hunting blog post a few days ago, and now I have part time job links being lobbed at me right and left for real jobs from real people, not just job bots. And I’m just on there to kid around and have fun, not network or look for work!

These people are always friendly, supportive, and a joy to interact with on there. Even when there is snark being thrown around, it’s never taken personally, and it’s all in good fun.

At least, I think it is.

So, if you’re on Twitter, here is my “Follow Friday” list:https://twitter.com/#!/CS_indy
https://twitter.com/#!/BgKahuna
https://twitter.com/#!/sssemester
https://twitter.com/#!/ryanpreferred
https://twitter.com/#!/KiraZTA
https://twitter.com/#!/spencersokol
https://twitter.com/#!/avgwhtgrl
https://twitter.com/#!/GaryCTS

Now, of course, I’ve probably forgot a couple people, and their alternate accounts, but this gives you a good start.

Now, I understand that some of these people account for most of the readership of my little corner of the interwebs, but I still wanted to give them a shout and a thanks.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you Monday.
Tony

Busy, Busy, Busy

Coffee ingested. CNN running, with the Citi Rewards commercial being so incredibly loud. Projects being piled on my desk.

Yep, it’s Thursday.

This is late today, because, well, sometimes I have to actually do work at my job.

Still looking for work, but I have received a lot of support from friends online, and I have a pile of applications that I’m filling out, and resumes that I’m tweaking. Yep, I hate printing out the same resume for different jobs.

Needles to say, I’ve been busy, busy, busy right now, but it’s okay.

Oh, good news for any Doctor Who fans in the Indianapolis area. On Saturday, May 5^th, Who North America will be opening their building up from 2-6PM. They’re normally online only at http://whona.com but they do occasionally open up their warehouse/showroom. If you have a chance, check it out.

That’s all for today, folks. I’ll see you tomorrow!
Tony

Anxious Nightmares

I guess money and uncertainty have been stressing me out more than I thought, recently.

First, let me give you a bit of background. You see, I rarely have a dream that I can remember. I think it ties back to a closed head injury in high school, but I just never really have dreams, at least that I remember when waking. However…

This morning, my alarm clock scared me awake from a fairly vivid dream. Let me say that if you’ve never had the misfortune of seeing the film “2012” and you don’t want to be spoiled about the ultimate destination in it, well, stop reading, because my dream called back to that.

In the dream, I was helping load the final rush of people onto the “Ark” boat, feeling that sense of anxiety as I knew the water was rushing towards us. As we finish loading, I’m standing on the deck, not inside the boat as they were in the movie. At the time I wasn’t making the connection as I was looking around the deck, looking at the layout of the ship and feeling the anxiety of wondering if we were going to make it out alive, but after I was jolted out by my alarm, and thinking about it while doing my morning routine, I realized what ship it was.

The Titanic.

Yeah, the end of the world, and I’m stuck on a ship destined to sink.

Oh yeah, I’m real hopeful for the future.

I’ll try to be positive tomorrow, but for now, work.

Tony

So, Is Anyone Hiring?

So, is anyone hiring?

No, I don’t want to leave my current job. I like it here. The pay isn’t bad, the management team is great, and I love the people I work with. However, insurance isn’t cheap, and I’m losing about $350 a check to cover myself and my family. When money is tight, that’s more than I can afford, but I can’t go without insurance, can I? And I ESPECIALLY can’t have my daughter go without insurance, so my hands are pretty much tied there.

Since my job is Monday through Friday, 8AM-5PM, I’m trying to find a gig that’s nights and weekends. Honestly, even at minimum wage, if I could find someplace giving me 20-25 hours a week, that will help with the deficit enough to get us out of the hole, and perhaps let us not worry about food.

I’m not complaining too much. At least I have a job, and insurance, but it’s lousy that I have a job that pays over minimum wage where I still can’t afford to eat. We don’t have cable, we have cell phones but they are our main sources of communication since we’re not paying for a landline. We do pay for AT&T Internet service, which after the first year jacked itself up from $25 to $40 a month, but we can’t find anything cheaper. Our water bill is included in rent, and went up 50% last month for no discernible reason. Citizen’s Gas raised our bill about 20% last month, which is odd because I didn’t run the heat, and a new water heater was put in that should be more efficient. We don’t buy new movies or video games, that’s why I’m doing the online survey sites for gift cards. The newest clothes I have are some socks and underwear that I purchased right after Christmas.

We don’t spend much, yet we still are short almost $200 a month before we factor in food and gas. We are actually worse off now than we were this time last year, and personally, not much has changed.

Now, part of the issue with Shannon finding work is child care. That’s expensive. What is the point of Shannon finding a job, when it’s just going to pay for someone to watch the Geekling while she’s working?

I’m spending this week with job applications, since I know some companies are starting to staff for the summer, and they’re looking for part time workers. This is my best hope right now.

So, wish me luck.

And are you hiring?
Tony

Another Monday Again

Good morning, everybody! I hope you all had a good weekend!

I apologize for not writing on Friday but, well, family. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that if I have the choice between writing or spending time with my wife and daughter, the wife and daughter win. Period. So, tomorrow I’ll finish up my write up on Superpoints. Today, however, is Monday, and Monday is review day!

Last week, my family returned from Southern California, where they will go to visit her side of the family for a few months at a time. I picked them up from the airport Tuesday night, and they’re still fighting to get back on Eastern Time as opposed to Pacific Time. Ah, and you know how people talk about the Terrible Twos? Yep, they must not have stuck around for the age of Three. We’ll just leave it at that.

Thursday after I left work, I picked up my girls and went to my father’s office for his retirement shindig. Friday was his last official day, and Thursday evening was the cake and punch and goodbyes that they wanted the family to attend. I find these events awkward, because you always have the people walking up going “I don’t know if you remember me…” and introducing themselves. Yes, I remember your name, but it’s been 15 years since I have last seen you, and I have slept a LOT since then. However, we made it through okay, and I’m sitting here right now wondering if he’s actually tried going to work today.

Saturday was my OTHER nephew’s birthday. There ain’t no party like a toddler party because the crying just won’t stop. The Geekling was upset because she couldn’t open the gifts. Another one was upset because a balloon popped, and so on and so on. However, it went pretty smooth until we had to leave, which greatly upset the Geekling who fought me while getting into her car seat, and screamed the entire ride home. So, we did what any responsible parents would do and just turned up the radio.

The rest of the weekend was pretty calm and wonderful, just spending it with my family. So it’s now Monday and we’re ready to kick this week in the arse, so I’ve got to get going.

I’ll see you tomorrow!
Tony

Talking About Mturk

All right, today we’re going to talk about a website call Mturk. It is located at http://www.mturk.com and is short for Amazon Mechanical Turk. They call it the “artificial artificial intelligence” because it uses humans to do things that machines just can’t do online. Clients put in “HITs” or Human Intelligence Tasks, and people can work on them for them. These tasks range from simple surveys to transcription services to small logic tests. They don’t pay a ton for hits, most of the decent ones pay $.40 to $.70, but sometimes the clients will offer up bonuses.

Now, this site isn’t as in-depth as someplace like Swagbucks. You make an account, set up your Amazon Payments account, and get started. Payments can come through Amazon Payments to your bank account (minimum $10) or through the ever-popular Amazon Gift Cards (minimum $1). You jump in, start working on HITs, occasionally setting yourself up for a qualification test. Now, this isn’t something that you get paid for instantly. Like everything else, it takes time. After you do the HIT, the client has to review everything to make sure it was legit, and then after it’s approved, the money goes on the ledger. When you first start, it takes a while for the money to go from the ledger to your Amazon Payments account, but after you’ve done it for a while, it will go directly in when the client approves your work on the hit.

Now, when you go in, there is a TON of hits to do. Sure, there are some that pay a LOT of money, at least for something like this. I’m going to be very honest with you, I don’t trust those. Remember what I said about not providing information like my credit card number and stuff like that on these special offers, or in this case, HITs? Yep, I’m not even trying those, because if you back out of a hit, it shows as abandoned and it counts against you. So, if there are HITs out there that I don’t trust, how do I find the ones that I do want to work on?

Let us take a look at the website known as Reddit, shall we? If you’ve read my blog before, you know that is where I first found out about websites that are actually legit in letting you work online. Reddit has a fantastic “sub-Reddit” known as Hits Worth Turking For, located at http://www.reddit.com/r/hitsworthturkingfor for your browsing pleasure. It is a good community that lets you know about good hits. The only minor annoyance is all their links first bring you through an ad site, but that’s because those funds go to a community pool used to reward the Redditors that put up the best hits, so deal with it. ;)

Now, as far as I know, this site doesn’t work off referrals, so don’t worry about that. This posting is strictly to let my friends and readers know how to get a bit of extra scratch.

Now, tomorrow’s WILL be one that’s very referral heavy. Tomorrow, I’m going to tell you about Superpoints, one that is very much like Swagbucks, but takes longer to earn rewards, at least it did for me. However, since we’re looking at the long game here, it’s worth looking into.

See you tomorrow,
Tony

Talking About Swagbucks

Good morning, people! Who’s ready to start doing stupid stuff online for money? Yep, I keep talking about doing some more in-depth  writing about what I’ve been doing to earn gift cards, and today I’m going to start with the one that’s really been paying off for me, Swagbucks.

Swagbucks lets you “earn reward points and redeem them for free stuff” in the form of gift cards, t-shirts, music downloads, sweepstakes entries, and the like. Their “Swag Store” has a lot of items you can trade in for, much of which is very tempting. However, we have a goal and a purpose, and that is a little bit of “stupid money,” the kind of money you don’t feel bad about spending on something stupid.

First things first, if you would like to sign up, please feel free to use my referral link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/tokarrai so I can earn a little extra. I’ll explain how that works in a little bit. You can also use my widget on the right hand side of this blog, which is also a good place to look for codes for extra points and searching.

First things first, you have to sign up. Now, with any of these sites, I don’t use the e-mail address that I normally use for everyday items, since I’m cautious of spam. Now, you do want to use an e-mail address that you CHECK, but one you don’t mind spam going to. You do want to make sure you give them good info for the address, for items that you might want shipped, and for phone number, I have a Google Voice number that’s not really attached to anything that I use.

Once you’re on, here’s where the fun begins. The first thing you want to do is hit the “Earn” at the top of the page, and go down to “Trusted Surveys.” Inside there, you have a bunch of personal info you can fill out about your hobbies, your taste in games and movies, your family life, and your work that tailors the surveys to you and earns you points. I don’t get surveys often, but they are a good source of “income” when you have the time to fill them out. Doing this gets you started on Survey Swagbucks.

Now, as you poke around, you’ll notice many ways to earn Swagbucks. I focus on  just a few, and I’m able to easily meet my goals every month. I don’t use any special “cheat” programs, like reloaders for the videos or things like that. I just go about it as honestly as I can, because I don’t want to be greedy and ruin a good thing, because they WILL kick you out if they feel you’re working the system. So here is my daily routine with Swagbucks.

Starting the day, I pull up the Swagbucks Mobile TV app on my Android Phone. I do believe this is also available on iPhone. This app let’s you play videos, and will earn you 2 Swagbucks every 5 videos, for a maximum of 50 Swagbucks a day. I prefer to watch the comedy ones, as they go by quicker than any of the trailers. I’ll just start it up at work, on my charge cable, and let it run for about an hour and a half or so until I hit the limit. I will occasionally have to restart it, but it’s just a minor annoyance.

I will also use the “Search” feature on the site throughout the day, which will randomly net you Swagbucks. I will average out 7-9, but I have received up to 35 on occasion. I don’t do it often, because it will warn you and suspect you for using a bot if you use it constantly, but it’s a nice supplement. Plus, when you use that feature, any Bucks you earn also get added to the account of the person who referred you, so that’s a nice little addition. I probably get an additional 30-40 bucks from my referrals every day, and I know that the person who I signed up under has earned over 500 from me since the end of January. So please, remember this link when signing up: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/tokarrai

When I have spare time, I will also look at Trusted Surveys and see if I can qualify for one or two.

Finally, there are little nickel and dime items, like the “Daily Poll” which is a daily question that nets you a Swagbuck, or the “NOSO”, where you look through about 5 special offers for a couple Swagbucks. I just click “No, thanks” on all of them, answer the captcha, and net a couple bucks. You also need to keep an eye on your Swagbucks Inbox, because at least daily they give you a 3 Buck task where you watch a video, click on the ad at the beginning, then tell them if there WAS an ad, and if that ad’s landing page matched the ad.

Now, things I DON’T do are Special Offers. If it asks for personal info, if it asks for a credit card number, or if it asks for me to download something, I ignore it. Remember: The goal here isn’t to earn a ton of points, it’s just to earn a little extra scratch.

Now, you have hopefully started earning some Swagbucks. Time to cash in! Personally, I focus on Amazon Gift Cards, since you can put the code into Amazon, and they will just add up in there, and never expire. One of the best deals is the $5 Gift Card for 450 points. Sure, there are larger amount cards in there for Amazon, but they are actually more expensive when you break them down, so I haven’t picked up any of those. Now, the downside with this is you are limited to only 5 of any type of gift card a month, so you’re limited to $25 a month. Plus, if you max out on a month and save up, at the beginning of the next month, you’re limited to 2 a day. These cards, after verified, can take up to 14 days to show up in your account, so don’t think you can use them immediately. However, you will get e-mail confirmation that you received the card, so you can immediately go into your Gift Cards, copy the Amazon code, and paste it into your Amazon account.

I’ve also used the Barnes & Noble gift card option, and it works the same. I have been tempted once or twice by the “Swagstakes” sweepstakes options, but those are kind of a waste of your hard earn bucks. However, if you like the lottery, it’s your bucks, do what you want.

Tomorrow, I’m going to tell you about another site I use, this one takes a little extra time, but it’s also directly through Amazon. Until then, feel free to take a look, sign up, and comment if you have any questions.

Happy Swagging!
Tony

I Like Free

Good morning, everybody! How are we doing, today? And why is it, whenever I ask that, I just envision an empty room with the sounds of crickets in the air? I guess that’s what I get when I mentally sigh whenever I read the comments on something like Youtube, or a news article.

So last night, I received some happy news on the “free” entertainment front: I have enough in Amazon to order the fifth series of Doctor Who! So yep, I’ve got that on its way. So far, through Swagbucks, Mturk, and a pathetically long amount of time with Superpoints, I have scored that, both Matt Smith Christmas Specials, and the David Tennant Specials on Blu Ray, plus the ebook of “Nerd Do Well” by Simon Pegg from Barnes & Noble.

I’m really enjoying doing these little tasks online to grab a little extra money. Considering how bad our financial situation is right now, any free entertainment is good. Plus, free entertainment that is based around the home is better. With gas being so unpredictable, and still hovering close to the $4 a gallon mark, even a short trip to someplace like the Children’s Museum with my parents, or to the park, costs more than we can afford. The thing is, it’s not my job. My job actually pays a decent amount, but… the insurance. When I have coverage for both Shannon and I, plus the Geekling, then we’re talking in excess of $300 a paycheck. That’s not a month, that’s a PAYCHECK. Every two weeks. That hurts, that REALLY hurts. Add that to rent increasing, along with our gas and water bills, and the money for anything “fun” has disappeared.

Looks like it’s time to start browsing r/frugal and reading some of my friend’s frugality blogs a bit closer, eh?

I’ll see you all tomorrow!
Tony

Busy Weekend

Good morning, folks! How are we doing? Did we have a good weekend? I know I did, and it was a full weekend as well. However, I’ve learned that I just don’t have the energy level that I used to have.

The barbeque on Friday night was a good time, and I was there shooting the bull until around 11PM. Wow, yeah, I guess when you’re up at 6AM, at work all day, then heading straight over, that starts to be a long day. However, it was worth it. The grouping of friends, alcohol, and seared animal flesh is always a good combination, and this did not disappoint. However, by the time I got home, I pretty much just crawled straight into bed.

Saturday was the same thing all over again, but this time instead of friends, it was family. Nothing wears you out more than a birthday party full of 6 year olds. Even just watching them run all over the place wears you out! Once again, while the party was only from 2-4, I got there a bit early, and stuck around until about 9PM to spend time with family.

And I had cake.

I like cake.

A lot.

I was up early on Sunday for cleaning. I washed bedding, dusted, cleaned bathrooms, scrubbed sinks, washed mirrors, and swept floors. Yeah, I’m very domestic like that. Plus, I went out for a bit with my father to help him move some items out of his office and pick up some necessities for the Geekling when they return this week, like diapers and wipes. So, I’ve got the apartment back in livable condition, but I still have some slight toddler-proofing to get done tonight.

This evening, I’m going to get some grocery shopping done, and look for gas under $3.99 a gallon. Heading home, I need to get some doorknob covers put back up, and I think I’m going to put one last evening of Fallout 3 in before I head to bed.

I hope you all have a great Monday, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
Tony

Busy Week Approaching

Good morning, my friends and random people who took a wrong turn and ended up here. It’s Friday! Does anyone have any plans for the weekend? I know I’m going to be pretty busy…

Tonight, friends are having an “impromptu barbeque” that I’m going to, so that’ll run pretty late. Tomorrow is my nephew’s birthday party, and Uncle Tony is rather expected to be there. Sunday is free, which will consist of frantic cleaning and re-toddler-proofing the apartment, along with either moving or destroying a couch to get it out of the apartment. Monday is grocery shopping, to prepare for my family’s return from California on Tuesday evening.

Oh, but the fun doesn’t stop there!

Family returns on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday they’ll be getting used to Eastern Time again while I’m at work. Thursday is my father’s retirement shindig in the afternoon, so I have to be ready for that. Friday, I’m probably going to be taking off for a three-day weekend to actually SPEND TIME with my family.

Yep, with months of nothing going on, everything is getting crammed into the next week. Gotta love that.

Either way, it’s going to help the weekend go by fairly quick, and I doubt I’ll have much time to devote to Fallout 3.

Oh darn.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and I’ll probably see you on Monday.

Tony

I'm back

Good day, peoples.

I apologize for the last couple of days. Quite honestly, I hit a point where I was totally over any form of social media, or really anything on the Internet. I didn’t want to get online. I didn’t want to comment on anything. I didn’t want to start any conversations. I just didn’t want to be online.

So, I didn’t.

I think I put a tweet up that posted on Facebook in case anyone actually noticed I was missing, and just ignored Social Media that day. Instead, when I got home, I played Fallout 3.

A lot.

I think in the last two days, I’ve put in 9 hours. For me, that is a lot of gaming. I had forgotten how enjoyable that game is, how creepy it can be wandering the Capitol Wasteland alone. I’ve been spending the time walking around, discovering locations on the map and doing my best not to die. I figure today, after “Payday Burritos” with a coworker, then I’ll stop wandering, and actually continue the quest itself.

I also had a chance to catch Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. It’s about what I expected; popcorn flick with Tom Cruise showing how awesome he believes he is, but I did enjoy Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner in it. I also enjoy that I can watch these films and forget precisely how crazy Cruise can be from time to time.

Finally, I got a set of old golf clubs from my father that I’m going to clean up and use to start hitting the driving range near my apartment. I’m hoping to get some rounds in with my brother and my father this summer.

I hope you’re all doing well, and I hope to see you tomorrow!
Tony

It's Monday. Again.

Okay, from here on out, this is a Monday through Friday blog, with the occasional weekend post. I’m just either too blasted busy, or too blasted lazy to get anything worthwhile out on a weekend. I really don’t like filling my post counts with “Too tired today. See you Monday.” So, in the future, this is my Monday through Friday gig. Now, on with the countdown…

How are you all doing today? Have a good Easter? Or just a good Sunday? I hope so.

I didn’t do much over the weekend. I was able to get a couple of items taken care of off my “To Do” list, but not that much, mainly cleaning the kitchen floor and swapping out the keyboard and mouse on the desktop. I was able to get some files transferred over from my old laptop to the new PC, as well. I spent way too much time playing Fallout 3 and watching Season 4 of Eureka on Netflix, which was just put into the queue.

Speaking of Netflix, I also noticed that the Hub shows Transformers Prime and G.I. Joe Renegade were also added to the Instant Watch, which makes the kid in me gleeful, and after watching, aren’t bad shows. Transformers Prime edges a bit close to the movies, but I can’t blame it for that, since it’s by the same writers, and it’s what kids know these days. G.I. Joe Renegade is the love child of G.I. Joe and The A-Team, and also looks promising. It’s only one season each, but it’s something light that’s not an hour long, if I want something shorter to watch when I pull up Netflix.

The final big thing was making Scottish Eggs, or Scotch Eggs, for the family’s Easter lunch for Sunday. For those that don’t know, they’re hard boiled eggs, packed in sausage, breaded and deep fried. Didn’t come out too bad, but now I have a deep fat fryer that I need to clean. I used it once, now I need to clean it out and return it to my folks, since I really don’t want it in the house tempting me. It’s bad enough that they sent me home with cupcakes and Easter candy yesterday, I don’t need anything else setting me back.

Seriously, somebody motivate me to get back to the gym. I’m back under 270, but I need to get back to the grind, or else I’ll never be in good enough shape for that two-piece that I want to wear to the pool this summer.

And with that pleasant mental image, I wish you all a good day. I will see you tomorrow!

Tony

Friday Brain Dump

Good Friday, everybody! I’m not religious myself, but hey, those of you who are, enjoy your thing!

Starting today, I think that every “Casual Friday” at work is going to be “Hawaiian Shirt Friday” for me. Technically, by the strictest definition of the dress code, every day could be Hawaiian Shirt day, but I really don’t want to push my luck. So now, not only do I need more bow ties, but now I need more Hawaiian shirts.

Many people are out of work today, so it’s making for a slow day so far. Now, sales people and scammers don’t take the day off, so I know the call volume will pick up in a bit. However, it’s nice to be in an office without a ton of people in it. Now, if only I could turn the TV away from CNN, I would be doing really well.

Right now, I’m making plans for the weekend, yet another one where I’m flying solo with the exception of a bit of time on Sunday. Considering that it’s Easter weekend, my plans do not involve going out of the apartment into the madness and fuster cluck that is a holiday weekend. I’m not sure what those plans will be as of yet, since I’m doing them AFTER I write this post, but I’m sure they’re going to contain a bunch of items that won’t get done because I’ll get hooked on reading Reddit, or doing projects on Mturk, or looking for more surveys on Swagbucks.

In reality, I need to study up on Wordpress and get my stuff back up and running. I’ve let my Geek Hand get weak, and I need to let it get strong again. However, I’ve been saying that for months now, and I have yet to do it. I just can’t get motivated to do it. I want to write, I want to put stuff up on it, but I don’t want to get it up and running to do that. Why must things be so hard?

I also need to scrub bathtubs and the kitchen floor. Yeah, because that is always an enjoyable experience. However, I’m thinking about throwing a Mr. Beer batch into the cupboard, so that will help kill a few hours. You know, if I do it.

You know how it is, you go into the weekend thinking you’re going to do this, this and this, when in reality you get sucked into TV or YouTube.

Or maybe that’s just me.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Tony

Eggs and Geeks, No Relation

There are times, when I’m in a crowded elevator, that I hate being the fattest guy there. You see, when that elevator breaks down, and panic ensues, I KNOW I’m going to be the first one eaten.

These are the sort of things that pop into your head when you’re alone in a shaky elevator at 7AM. I really should get my head checked out.

How is everyone doing this morning? Is anyone going to have tomorrow off for Good Friday? If so, you’re lucky. I’m going to be here in the office, answering phones, telling people that the person that they’re looking for is OFF because it’s Good Friday. Honestly, though, isn’t every Friday a Good Friday? You know, unless you work retail on Black Friday, then it’s not very good.

So we’re spending Easter Sunday at my little brother’s place, and I have decided that I’m making Scotch Eggs. If you’ve never had them, think of hard boiled eggs, wrapped in sausage, rolled in bread crumbs, and deep fried. Typical pub food, but since it has eggs, I figured it’d be good for Easter.

I don’t own a deep fryer. Half the ingredients are items that I will only use once. I am a fool. Luckily, I was able to borrow a deep fryer from the folks, and I’m almost tempted to request some Worchestershire  Sauce from them, since I know they keep it in the house. And sadly, Scotch Eggs do not actually contain Scotch.

In other news, I had a chance to check out some of the offerings from the Geek and Sundry YouTube channel last night. Geek and Sundry is a YouTube channel that I think was started by Felicia Day of “The Guild” fame, and it looks to have a lot of good shows. First, all new Guild episodes are shown there, along with the previous seasons. They have a new music video that’s hilarious, and I ended up watching both Tabletop with Wil Wheaton and The Flog with Felicia Day. Tabletop has Wil Wheaton playing board games with friends, and even if you don’t like the game (Small World did nothing for me) watching the interplay between the players is just awesome. The Flog is a video blog from Felicia Day, covering her top five things, something she is interested in, and answering fan questions. The first episode covered blacksmithing, and watching a real blacksmith handle a fangirl who only has experience smithing in video games was VERY amusing, which was the intent.

I’m going to be very honest with you. With Geek and Sundry, along with the Nerdist Channel which also premiered this week, I’m more excited about “television” on YouTube than I am by actual television. Seriously, look up the channels and subscribe if you’re into geekdom. They’re certainly up my alley.

Have a great day, peoples, and I’ll see you tomorrow.
Tony

Netflix Time Sink

So, the NFL has new uniforms? How nice, at least the Colts will have something going for them, I guess.

So how are YOU this morning? I know I’m doing pretty good, hoping that the sky clears up for my lunchtime walk, and just working through the day.

One of my biggest time sinks is Netflix. I don’t pay for any discs, though. I just have the Instant Streaming option, which can work on my Xbox, my Wii, my computer, or my phone.

I’m still boggling over the last one.

This is a major sink for me. I really don’t use it for movies, even though I currently have Ghostbusters queued up on it since, well, it’s Ghostbusters. I prefer to use Netflix for TV Series.

Doctor Who. Torchwood. Burn Notice. Eureka. Warehouse 13. All the Star Trek series. Firefly. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Being Human, both US and UK. The IT Crowd. Angel. Most are shows that I have never had a chance to watch, either due to a wacked out work schedule, or a lack of cable. Others are shows that I like, that I enjoy just being able to pull up and watch an episode of whenever I want. And I have SO MANY HOURS of these series that I can watch. I love it, and Shannon enjoys watching most of these with me as well, with the exception of Star Trek.

Even for the Geekling, this is nice. Sometimes, you find a Disney film up there, although when they lost Starz they lost most of those. However, you still have TV. Sesame Street, My Little Pony, Dinosaur Train, and Pocoyo are all shows that she enjoys watching.

With the girls gone, and that long list, I’ve actually been enjoying the heck out of Burn Notice, a series that airs on the USA Network, which I obviously don’t watch due to a severe lack of cable. It’s about a spy who’s been dropped in Miami with all of his assets frozen, and has been, well, burned. I’m most of the way through the first season, and it’s been funny and a joy to watch, and not just because of Bruce Campbell’s inclusion in the cast. However, I’ve had to give it a pause, since the fourth season of Eureka from the Sci-Fi/SyFy Channel is now up, and I’ve been waiting for that for a while. I just noticed it was up, and I made it through the first two episodes last night. However, it does look to have some episodes that are “Disc Only” which has me a bit disappointed, but you take what you can get.

What are some shows you really enjoy on Netflix? Is there anything you would recommend to me that is now Downton Abby?

Have a great day,
Tony

Thoughts on a Tuesday

It’s a quarter after 8 in the morning as I’m writing this, and I just got a call from the Pacific Time Zone. When I answered it, there was nobody on the line. Seriously, it’s a quarter after 5 in the morning. Why are you making calls when you don’t intend to say anything? Are you sleep dialing? I just don’t understand.

But anyway…

How are you this morning?

I know I’m doing pretty good. Walked a bit at lunch yesterday, but I went a bit harder than I was planning, and ended up straining some muscles. Yeah, I’m back at square one, where .9 miles at a little shy of 17 minutes a mile is kicking my bum. However, when I got home, there was a box from Amazon waiting for me, and receiving more Doctor Who blu-rays is always something that improves the mood. After making a sandwich, I got online, did a survey for Swagbucks, did some projects on Mturk for a couple of dollars, and then went to the Xbox and turned on Netflix.

I found out that the new My Little Pony cartoon is on there, so I know what I’m going to have to watch that eventually with the Geekling. However, you will never hear me refer to myself as a “Brony.” I was also interested to see that GI Joe: Renegade was also on there, so I watched the first episode, and went, “Okay, that was… hrm. I’ll give it a few more episodes, but it’s better than that movie that came out a couple years ago.”

I am a little irritated that Netflix is streaming fine on the Xbox, but YouTube is being a pain in the arse. Over the past few days, both Geek and Sundry and The Nerdist Channel have premiered on YouTube, and I was really looking forward to checking out some of their offerings, like Tabletop with Wil Wheaton or Celebrity Bowling with Chris Hardwick, but nope! I would pull up the video, it would play for 30 seconds, and then it would start loading again. And keep loading. And keep loading. And it wouldn’t stop. So, I’ll try again today, and if it doesn’t work, then I’ll pull it up on the PC. If that doesn’t work, I’ll pull it up on the phone.

So here we go, it’s another day of inane ramblings. No focus, no plan, just me.

Thanks for sticking with me,
Tony

100 Posts, All The Same

Good morning, everybody! Yeah, I know, it was another weekend of no blog posts, but honestly, this is the 100^th post on this blog, and I didn’t want it to be a short blurb about why I can’t post, or a lame April Fool’s Joke. Instead, I wanted it to be just another day, another Monday update that also happens to be post number 100.

So here we are, with another Monday. We’ve had a couple of these since I started writing, and it’s always the same.

What did I do?

Well, as you probably know, this past week I had a chance to try out a new restaurant called Brewstone Beer Company, located at the old Music Mill location at Clearwater on E. 82^nd Street. For those who don’t want to read the whole review, yes, yes I would be more than happy to go back. I actually had a chance to get a free appetizer and drink on their grand opening this past Thursday, but I didn’t want to go solo, so I ended up sitting at home instead.

Yeah, I lead an exciting life.

This weekend, I didn’t do much. I ended up running out to some Antique Stores with the folks on Saturday. They were looking for a key to a curio cabinet, I was looking for Doc Brown’s wall clocks from Back To The Future. Neither of us had any luck, but such is life. One item I did find was one of those creepy Cymbal playing Monkeys, but it’s still on the shelf because first, it was eighty dollars, and two, it’s CREEPY! They were creepy before Toy Story 3! So, it’s still on the shelf, and I really need to remove the picture from my phone because I keep coming across it and freaking myself out.

Moving over to the fitness front, there’s nothing going on. I keep talking about it, but I don’t do anything, so we’re just going to move on until I actually DO something.

On the beer front, I have learned two things: Imperial Stouts are WAY too hoppy for me, and my peach lambic came with a cork, so I needed to buy a corkscrew to drink a bottle of beer. Yeah, that was a new one on me. However, I’m going to be taking a break from experimenting for the next few weeks, for both financial and “I’m Fat” reasons.

On the online money front, it’s a new month, so I’ve already traded in for $15 in Amazon Gift Cards on Swagbucks, and I’ll be maxing out by the middle of the week again, and I’ll still have some points left over when done, so I’ll be stacking up for the beginning of May, and then I might go for some Barnes and Noble points so I can get Simon Pegg’s book for my Nook.

Well, that’s good for this morning! Like I said, this is the 100^th post on the blog, but I haven’t hit 100 for the year, yet. That’ll be my first REAL milestone, at least the first real one in my mind.

Have a great day, everybody!
Tony