After yesterday’s fight with the evil Star Watch newspaper, I figured that my mood would be pretty foul for the rest of the weekend. But something happened today that changed everything.

I finally, after about five years of wanting and waiting and saving and wishing, I bought a notebook. And after approximately nine hours of ownership, I’m thrilled about it. Behold, the laptop:

This is what I was referring to in my earlier post (posted the day I ordered it.) It is a Dell Inspiron 710m. Pentium M Processor 735 (1.70 GHz/400MHz FSB, 2MB), 512MB, 40GB 5400rpm HDD, CDRW / DVDROM combo drive, 12.1-in WXGA, XP Home. Pretty much everything I wanted. My main goal was portability. I wanted a notebook that I would actually want to carry around with me instead of saying “it’s too much trouble, I’ll just leave it at home.”

I wasn’t really thrilled about buying a Dell. Seeing as how they sell more computers than just about anyone else on the planet, I get to work on them all the time. They love to load the new systems up with programs that no one needs or wants (when I first unwrapped the system, it had 52 different processes running at startup. 52.) like Musicmatch, Dell Media something or other, Dell Support, and blah blah etc. And for the most part, the Inspiron notebooks tend to be a little cheap and plastic-y. This 710m has a nice sturdy feel to it though. I’m pleasantly surprised at the build quality. But the real reason I went with the Dell is that no other manufacturer could even come close to the price of this machine. I think the cheapest Sony or Lenovo I could get into in a small form-factor would have been about twice the price. Oh yeah, the price. I purchased it as a refurbished machine from the Dell Outlet store. $639. New, this configuration is currently $1149. So you could say I feel pretty good about what I paid for it. I was a little nervous that it would have a screen defect or a big chunk taken out of it, but it is in pristine condition. It looks like a brand new machine.

Because of the bloatware I mentioned in the above paragraph, I wanted to get the machine running properly. So I promptly inserted my XP disc and did a clean install. NOW we have something. The laptop is quite snappy, I think the faster hard drive really helps it feel faster. I’m used to working on laptops at the shop, and they just usually feel laggy no matter how new they are. This one doesn’t feel that way at all. I’m very pleased. The screen is absolutely beautiful. The above picture doesn’t really show it off, because it is so reflective and bright I had to angle it away from the camera to avoid glare. Trust me, it is bright and beautiful. And then there is the size…

This is a picture of my laptop sitting on top of my boss’ 15″ HP. It doesn’t really look all that much smaller, but it really feels more compact and portable. 4.1 pounds is all this baby weighs. Not the 6+ pounds those 15″ behemoth’s weight. There is a great review in this forum post of a similar notebook that has lots of pretty pictures if you want to see some more real life pics.

This post, as you might expect, was submitted using my beloved new lappy. Whee!

OH! If you are wondering where I obtained that beautiful desktop wallpaper…It is an illustration by the incredibly talented and criminally not-yet-super-famous Brandon Reese (that I altered by dropping in a black background–hope he doesn’t mind. Eek!) Drop by and visit his Sketchdump blog for more fantastic illustration goodness.

Yup. Starwatch. Again.

I was in a fine mood as I left the house and got ready to jump in my car. Then I saw it. That cursed green bag that I despise so much. Instantly my expression changed from “nondescript morning face” into “full-on raving psychopath” mode. I picked it up, threw it in my car and left for work. I tried to re-enter my normal morning routine, put on a podcast and started driving. After about 5 minutes, I realized that I had no clue what they were talking about on the podcast because I was stewing about the stupid Starwatch paper.

Got to work and placed a little phone call. The first girl that answered gave me the tried and true “give me your address and we won’t deliver it anymore” line. I responded with, “Ma’am, that doesn’t work. I’d like to speak with someone a little higher in the chain of responsibility. I’m going to yell at someone, and neither you nor I want that someone to be you.” Her response? “Hold please.”

I was then transferred to customer *cough* service. They confirmed that I was in fact on their “do not deliver” list. “And yet,” I explained to her, “here I sit with one of these cursed things in my hand.” So it seems the fault lies with the borderline-retarded registered sex offenders that they probably hire to chuck these things out a window. I asked for the address of the person that delivers to my area, and she didn’t seem to think that was a good idea to give it to me. She is probably right, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying.

I’m going to give Robby Allen at 423-757-6534 a call here in an hour or so. He is in charge of circulation. I’m going to try and actually get the delivery guy’s name and address so I can start chucking things in his lawn. Things like dead possums, my garbage, eggs, grenades, etc. You know, things that are “free” and a “service” from my perspective, but “litter” and “unwanted crap” from his.

Someone has GOT to pay!

I’m in too good of a mood to blog today. The reason why will be chronicled later.

Later.

After watching the video for Keine Lust (be warned, turn the volume down before clicking that link–the video plays at full volume,) I think I may have a new favorite band.

I’ve been wondering where all the good videos went to after the 80′s. Turns out the answer is Germany. This video has pretty much anything a guy could ever ask for: hot chicks kissing, guys in fat suits, an empty parking garage, and a Stephen Hawking-wheelchair-riding keyboard player. They are like a midget or monkey away from having the greatest video ever.

On a related note, I stumbled on this site (which probably won’t be around too long) while looking for the new Shakira / Wyclef song. I like Wyclef, but sometimes I wonder just when his last original thought was. Every verse he writes has to have a Fugees reference in it. Every one. And even this “Hips Don’t Lie” song is a re-do of a song off of the Havana Nights soundtrack. It was sung then by the criminally attractive and prematurely thrown away Claudette Ortiz. To his credit though NO ONE heard it then, and it is a great catchy song so I’m OK with him using it again. Plus, it is the proper use of English-singing Shakira. Watching her seamlessly switch between belly-dancing and doin’ the robot is really something.

I knew I’ve been doing something right. According to a study by psychologists in Germany, repressing true emotions can lead to both mental and physical illness.

“Every time a person is forced to repress his true feelings there are negative consequences for his health,” said Professor Dieter Zapf, a researcher into human emotions.

This is not the first time I’ve seen studies that lend credence to my “anger is life” theory. It’s what I’ve been trying to tell all of you people: Gotta vent, baby!

Savanna Samson has released a wine called Sogno Uno.

Um, why? I understand why she might want to have her own signature line of *ahem* erotic adult assistance products *ahem*, but a wine? Most surprisingly, is that the “wine expert” Robert Parker has it rated very highly, a 90 to 91 out of 100. You’d think that she would just buy up a bunch of Mad Dog or something and slap a label on it. How refreshing to see someone take pride in their work.

In the continuing saga of idiots using the “god’s will” rationalization to try and make themselves feel better about what useless scumbags they are, I present to you: Debra Lafave.

You remember her, right? The Florida schoolteacher who had sex with her 14-year-old student in 2004? In the backseat of a car driven by his 15-year-old cousin? Well, it looks like she is off the hook and all charges have been dropped.

Here is what she had to say at a press conference on Tuesday:

“I am a strong Christian woman, I believe that God has a path for me, and this was just a bump in the road.”

No Debra, you are not a strong Christian woman. Strong Christian women tend to do pretty much the complete opposite of what you did. You know, NOT have sex with 14-year-olds. Here is a crazy thought…why don’t you take some responsibility for your own actions instead of blaming god? Since when does “god’s path” involve molesting your students? I suppose that sex with 14-year-old kids in the backseat of a car could be construed as a “bump in the road.” I’ll give her that one. But I’m not sure that it was god’s idea.

We are also forced to listen to her prattle on and on about her bipolar disorder and how it was responsible for all her troubles. Sorry, I’m not buying it. Bipolar disorder is serious thing, no question. But having it and not getting treatment for it is not a good enough reason for me to shrug my shoulders and say, “Oh, you are bipolar? That’s OK then.” It’s not OK. You are responsible for you. Not your doctor, not god, YOU.

Let me preface this by saying that problems in nuclear plants are never a good thing. But when I read this story, all I could think about was, “Damn, those Japanese nuclear plants are WAY cooler than ours.”

Well, the day has finally come. Wait a minute, let me put on my wizard cap and my t-shirt of +1 armor. That’s better.

Ahem. The day has finally come! Oblivion is here. In my grubby little “made an extra trip to the mall last week to prepay for it even though I HATE the mall but I can’t wait the extra two days to have it shipped if I ordered it online” hands. I have been waiting for this day for a long long time, ever since it was announced in October of 2004. Even before that, when it hadn’t been announced but you knew they were working on it anyway.

Oblivion is actually Elder Scrolls IV, or for me, the sequel to Morrowind. Morrowind was the all consuming activity of my life for the better part of 2004, pretty much from the moment my evil coworker told me about it. It was the most addictive game I had played since, I don’t know, maybe Warcraft II?

The best news is that I managed to get my lawn overseeded AND my taxes done over the weekend. Which means I can now devote my full attention to Oblivion for the next week. And month. And probably year.

We have six spots open in our Fantasy Baseball league this year. If you are interested in playing, email me at angryblogo+baseball@gmail.com.

Why is it that the worst offenders of wasting my time always go to church with my boss?

The following story is true:

This afternoon, it was a fine gentleman who is both a churchie AND French. He came in to pick up his computer that he mournfully left here over the weekend because I couldn’t have it ready for him on Friday. (I really thought that his tears were going to come through my phone receiver he was crying so damn much.) From previous experience however, I know that he cries and cries and then doesn’t pick it up until long after I call him to say it is ready. So his comes in the office to pick it up. This should be a five minute stop, max. Even if he wants to ask questions, five minutes. Seriously, he was in here for almost an hour. I’m not kidding. He rummaged around in his backpack and van for 10 minutes looking for his checkbook, finally wrote me a check from his box of checks, yammered on to me for another 10 minutes about buying a new computer and telling me about all of his multi-million dollar business deals he had going on (he is a house painter who drives a 1989 Dodge Caravan BTW), then got on his cellphone for 20 minutes talking away while coming into my office and getting a pen and paper, finally got off the phone but had managed to find his checkbook in the meantime, so he wrote me another check, then walked into my office and started hanging over my shoulder and asking me about the computer I was working on, then went back into the lobby and just kind of hung out for another 10 minutes rummaging through his stuff some more, finally left, then had to come back in because he forgot and left his PC sitting on the counter.

I’m. Not. Kidding. Or. Exaggerating.

I’m sorry, but $70 is not enough to put up with this kind of crap.

Here is what I did this weekend:

- Mowed the lawn. Raked up thatch. Overseeded my lawn. Assembled my new wheelbarrow. Pulled up part of my overgrown plant bed. Dug up the part of my yard that has gravel in it from the previous owners half-assed parking area. And didn’t like it.

- Watched Night Watch. And liked it.

- Watched Hustle and Flow. And loved it.

- Did my taxes. And didn’t like it.

- Watched last weeks pilot episode of Big Love. And liked it. (Jeanne Tripplehorn lookin’ good at 42.)

- Stayed up until 1:30am to watch the new Sopranos episode. And liked it.

Tonight I have to make my way through Prison Break and 24 and hopefully finish my book before I go to bed. Why did I have to do all of this? To prepare myself for Oblivion…more on that tomorrow.

Courtesy of The Superficial, it’s Chico Time! From what I can gather in a 2 minute internet search, Chico is the product of some sort of UK reality show called the X Factor that has Simon Cowell and Sharon Osborne involved with it. And he looks like a cross between Freddie Prinze Jr. and Taco.

All that aside, this is the most hilarious song ever. Forget “Baby Got Back”, or anything by Weird Al, Chico is the new king of musical comedy.

WMV video here.

YouTube link here.

Be warned: it is loud and horrible. But funny.

Assuming that “Jim” at Ace Hardware gets my lawn mower pull starter repaired today, I’m going to spend the weekend attempting to restore my lawn. That means mowing, removing thatch, shoveling up some patches that have gravel in them, amending the soil, and then seeding. The step of amending the soil is contingent on what if any compost I find at the bottom of my bins. If they are empty, then I’m just going to dump the seed on the existing lawn and see what happens. I’m going to have to overseed again this fall anyway, so this is kind of a trial run.

I’m gonna be pissed if this doesn’t help.

*update*
Well, the mower didn’t get fixed. It seems that I happen to own the only Toro mower in history that has a Suzuki engine, and no one can work on it or has parts. Except for the place in Cleveland, TN and it will take them a week or more to get the parts. So now I have to go get my sister’s mower, drive to East Ridge to pick up the part, drive to Cleveland to see if they can repair or replace it, wait a week, then drive back to Cleveland to pick it up again. Assuming that they can fix it right.

Yay.

AOL has launched their IN2tv service. It is a partnership between AOL and Warner Brothers to provide streaming content free over broadband internet. It is ad supported, and I haven’t had a chance to sit down and see if the ads are just at the beginning or actual commercial breaks, but free is free. No whining. And here is why I’m really excited, check out the list of shows that are available:

Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
Alice
Babylon 5
Beetlejuice
Chico and the Man
Dark Justice
Eight is Enough
F Troop
Falcon Crest
Freakazoid
Freddy’s Nightmares
Growing Pains
Hanging With Mr. Cooper
Head of the Class
Histeria
Kung Fu
La Femme Nikita
Lois and Clark
Maverick
New Adventures of Batman
Perfect Strangers
Pinky and the Brain
Scarecrow & Mrs. King
Sisters
Spenser for Hire
The F.B.I.
The Fugitive – Recent version
V
Welcome Back Kotter
Wonder Woman

Emphasis added by me to indicate shows that I like. That is a pretty damn good list. Windows only (so far) which gets a big frowny face from Angry B, but hopefully that will change soon. I’m sure there are lots of kinks to work out, but I give them kudos for trying something new and for having a big roster of shows to start with. Good on you, AOL. Good on you.

Finally, someone figures out how to use Cee-Lo properly. Besides The Brak Show that is.

Listen to some of their stuff on MySpace and read some of the reviews from Pitchfork Media. So far, I’m digging what I’ve heard.

I didn’t really enjoy driving into work this morning. Not that the prospect of another work day is all that enjoyable most other days, but today it was the actual drive that sucked. I managed to get behind a truck whose top speed was five miles under the speed limit. Most of the way, he was driving 10mph under. I managed to get behind him because he pulled out in front of me, even though there was no car behind me. He just had to get that extra car length ahead, so that he could then drive like a turtle. I finally got to a split in the road and swung around to take the longer route to work just so that I didn’t have to follow him anymore. Just before the light turned green, a car from the right made a turn to get in front of me. Another truck, another driver going five miles under the speed limit. Oh, and this guy was blathering into a cell phone. Surprise.

Realistically, it probably only took me an extra five minutes to get into work. But it felt like an extra 1/2 hour. I hate people.

*update*
It must be “Idiot Driver Tuesday” around here. This afternoon while driving back from a job, I got behind a guy driving 35mph in a 55mph zone. Who was talking on his phone. And then when I finally get the chance to pass him, he gives me that “what’s your problem?” look. I wish I had been afforded the opportunity to explain to him exactly what my problem was. With a bat.

Nothing like a full weekend of 70+ degree weather and sun in March. Good stuff. I even managed to be moderately productive, cleaning up part of my garage and working outside in the yard a bit. My greatest accomplishment was the removal of about 1/2 of the boxes from the garage and delivery of them to the donation center. Eight full boxes, a microwave, a vacuum, and a chair. All gone. Now the tower of boxes in the middle of my garage is much less of a problem, and with one more nice weekend I’ll have it all cleaned out.

Unfortunately, today looks like it will be much less productive. I need to take my lawnmower in to be fixed and serviced, but it is going to rain for the next two days which means I can’t drive around with it in the back of my brother-in-law’s pickup truck that I’m borrowing (see how complicated all this stuff gets?)

Good news for the Rolling Stones. From the looks of it, Eddie Van Halen is ready to take over for Keith Richards when he finally kicks it.

Gamespot is reporting that several senators (including Joseph “Mama make the big bad evil Hollywood ideas go away” Lieberman, surprise surprise!) are requesting that the CDC do a study on how video games impact the people that play them. From the article:

Even though the legislation–called the Children and Media Research Advancement Act–does not include restrictions, it appears to be intended as a way to justify them. That’s because a string of court decisions have been striking down antigaming laws because of a lack of hard evidence that minors are harmed by violence in video games…

We would just hate to strike down those antigaming laws that tie up our courts with countless frivolous lawsuits, wouldn’t we?

…The original version of the bill earmarked $90 million for the study, but Lieberman press secretary Rob Sawicki said that the committee had approved the measure without any dollar figure and that such a figure would be added later during the appropriations process.

$90 million dollars? This is the best thing our government can figure out to with $90 million dollars? How about rebuild (or better yet, revamp and relocate) New Orleans? How about giving it to NASA? Or build 1/2 of a F-22/A Raptors? Maybe the White House needs a new wing? Hell, give out reparations. Do ANYTHING but waste money on this plan.

Our stupid government frustrates the hell out of me. What do I have to do in order to emigrate to Canada?