I'm back in training for the 2009 MS 150. My brother got me a little computer that tells me the speed of the bike, miles ridden, time ridden, etc. I never used one before, I'd just look around and ask someone who had one how many miles we'd ridden.

I decided to do 10 miles tonight. I figured that would be easy. I've seriously got my work cut out for me to get back in shape. It sucked. My pace was terrible. I did keep the bike geared all the way up, so it wasn't like it was easy to pedal, but I still couldn't do better than like a 16mph pace. I did finish the 10 miles though. Baby steps.

I'm going to stay on my diet and take a few more rides before I see how the spandex fits.

She never barks, so that's kind of weird.

I've pretty much quit myspace. It's gone from being an unquenchable addiction to a boring hassle. The second you log in, you get 10 messages from porno ad girls to come view their web cams. It's not that I don't like viewing web cams, but maybe every once in a while I'd like a porno ad girl ask to see my web cam. How bout that?!!! I wouldn't even charge them.

Anyway, I can't say that I've really been up to much since the hurricane. I went to Cali with Nikki. Then my family came to visit for Thanksgiving. Then it was just work, work, work until Christmas.

As always, I was sick all of Christmas break. It's happened every year since I was a kid. Last year resulted in a tonsilectomy, so thankfully this year wasn't so bad, but I had major motivation problems to get projects finished since I spent the entire two weeks with serious sinus headaches. You kind of get used to living that way after a while, but it still takes a toll on your energy levels.

I finally jailbroke my iPhone. I figured the warranty was up, so what the hell? It worked fine. The Qik video program works pretty well. Instead of storing the videos in your phone, it uploads them live to a youtube-like webserver. It saves you from filling up the storage space on your phone, but doesn't work if you're someplace with no cell signal -- like many of the restaurants downtown.

Cycorder was another video app that worked well, but I couldn't figure out how to get the videos off the phone once I shot them. It's a bit ironic that my complaint of one program was that it didn't record to the phone and the complaint of the other was that it only recorded to the phone. You'd think some programmer would find a happy medium.

Anyway, my jailbroken experiment is over. I installed iPhonebrowser on my PC as an OpenSSH client, so that I could delete some of the Winterboard themes I didn't want anymore, etc. That resulted in a bricked phone. It took me over an hour to finally get it into restore mode. Then it took iTunes another two hours to restore it. Now I'm sure it will take it another two hours to Sync it back to iTunes. That is my biggest gripe about the iPhone is how freaking ridiculously slow backups and syncs are. My last backup took over three hours. Thank goodness I didn't run out of patience that night since I had to use that backup today.

I saw some movies. Marley & Me was cute, but don't expect some dramatic plot or tons of laughs. It's funny, but it's just a topical rundown of the author's life for the 13 years he owned Marley. Since it's a pretty normal life, you connect with it, but there's no plot twists. However, you will cry at the end when Marley has to be put to sleep. There wasn't a dry eye in the theater. Having taken both my labs that I grew up with to the vet to be put to sleep, I'll admit it, I cried.

I saw Valkyrie. It was ok, but I wish they'd spent a little more time giving the backstory of the politicians and generals that were running the coup. I also think they needed to illustrate a little more the hysteria and love for Hitler that the German people had. It kind of showed it when the lady decoding orders got the note that Hitler was dead and started crying, but it didn't really show the nationalism of the people, it just made everyone out to either hate or fear Hitler, which wasn't really the case at all.

I finally updated to Office2007. I guess I'm only two years late on that., but we updated at work, and I couldn't open powerpoint or word docs at home anymore, so I had to make the leap. However, to offset the fact that I'm so far behind in updating Office, I decided to install Windows 7 Beta to dual boot on my system. It took some finagling of my graphics card drivers, but I finally got it running and stable. It's nice to have the Windows Media Center back again with the cool DVD library, but unfortunately the Xbox360 died, so I can't set it back up as a media extender again.

Yeah, how much does this suck? The girls bought us Rock Band 2 Deluxe with all the wireless instruments for Christmas, and the Xbox conks out like two days later. The Xbox itself is running. There's no red ring of death, but either the cord or the graphics card has died, and no amount of cleaning and reconnecting has brought it back to life.

So I didn't finish my goal of recording a new song and shooting a music video for it over the break. I did write a new song, but it's missing some kind of bridge. Then I got sick and completely lost interest and inspiration. That's kind of disappointing, but I did get a lot of little things accomplished like changing out my HEPA filter, changing out my A/C filter, cleaning my Roomba, cleaning out my closet, throwing out my holey socks and underwear, organizing my sock and underwear drawers, etc. It's nice to have some new clothes and organized drawers to start the new year.

Anyway, I'm out of things to ramble on about. Have to get myself focused for work in the morning.

Man, I haven't posted in forever. Yes, we survived the hurricane with no problems. The beauty of keeping a lot of canned meat in my regular diet is that it's already in the pantry when storms hit. Plus, I've got a gas stove, so we had hot showers and a range to cook on the entire time the power was out. It was very luxurious camping.

I enjoyed a few days of bragging about how we didn't even need power at my house. Then, when we got power back before most people, I enjoyed bragging about how we already had electricity back. I think I just like to condescend. Maybe I should work on that.

One thing that does suck is my fence fell down on one side, and it's looking like 6 weeks until contractors put it back up. I would put it back up myself, but as everyone in Houston lost their fence, there's no fencing to be had. I'm very tired of having to stand outside and watch Dixie perform bowel movements. She refuses to be rushed, and if it doesn't happen before bed, I get morning surprises by the door. I guess it's not as bad as a tree crushing my car or a giant hole in my roof though.

I'm refusing to believe it's October, but I am stoked that it's Halloween season. I can't wait for all the horror movies to start rolling every night. I'm still working on costume ideas. But get this, I went into Office Depot today, they already have Christmas stuff out and were playing Christmas Carols. It's Sept. 30! What the hell is that?!!!

Work has turned me into a complete stressball. I can't unclench my jaw, and I'm grinding my teeth. I'm going to try to sleep, but I'll be awake by 3:30 stressing. Not fun, but I have to try anyway.

Why do people create fake myspace accounts? Two people have done this to me within the past year. They send a friend request, have lots of photos, talk quite a bit with me, then turn out to be fake. Why? The two people have been rather interesting and intelligent. I embarrasingly had a huge crush on the first fake person last Christmas. Then it turns out instead of a skinny blonde, she's a rather heavy brunette. The thing is, I'll talk to anybody. I think the people on Twinkle are evidence of that. And while no, had she been herself upon first introduction, I wouldn't have been crushing on her, it's not like I was as soon as I found out she was fake anyway. But instead of having an intelligent, well-spoken interesting friend, I had a really creepy and awkward situation.

Again today, very pretty girl out of the blue with a story about moving to town. I'm wounded/smart enough not to fall for Internet girls, but I did enjoy talking to her today. Then poof, she's gone ... because she was fake.

Why do people do it? Why not just be yourself? If you're that creative, you've got to be interesting in your own right.

Oh well.

So I turned on the oven to bake up a warm, tasty Digiornio yesterday and went back to constructively watching TV on the couch. A few minutes later, I thought, what's that smell? Smells kind of like gas. Hmmm.

So I go back to the oven and take a peak inside only to be overwhelmed with gas when I open the door. The heating element was glowing, but either the ignitor wasn't lighting the gas or the gas was not coming through the pipes it was supposed to come though. That was a frustrating discovery, but I was sure as hell not going to let a Digornio go to waste just because of a broken oven. I just chopped it into sections and cooked it in the toaster oven. It was a little time-consuming, but tasty nonetheless.

Coincidentally I also snapped the handle off the toilet yesterday. Both the appliance that enables food to enter my body and the appliance that assists with it leaving the body broke yesterday. Maybe it's a sign that I'm a fatass and should stop eating so much.

So I sent my HP Media Center to my parents. I was sad to see it go because I loved the design and ergonomics of it, but it didn't have the horsepower I needed for HD video, so it was just overkill having it sit around for no reason. The machine I built is running well, and unloading the HP allowed me to get another 1TB hard drive and to order the CyberLink Power Director software.

Power Director doesn't have quite the professional capabilities that Pinnacle Studio Ultimate does, i.e. the great green screen tools. However, it handles HD so much more efficiently. Even with this workhorse of a machine I built, Pinnacle still can't do effects. I can do one layer of 1080p video and just barely squeak by. If I add transitions or effects, it's over. And you can't edit if the screen is black, so having all those tools and effects is useless. Power Director can do 6 layers of picture-in-picture without freezing. That's pretty damn good.

I've also got a new case coming because although I did an excellent spray paint job on this one from 1999, it's loud as hell. It's keep-me-awake-at-night loud. I ordered an Antec Sonata III, which is supposedly "library quiet." They were $99 from Newegg with free shipping and a free HP DVD burner. I know, I said I'd NEVER order from Newegg ever again after that video card debacle, but the Sonata case was $139 at Fry's and a comparable burner was $43. I couldn't pass up the price.

So anyway, that's the excitement in my life.

I haven't been blogging much. I tend to pour too much out onto the world wide web, which results in people getting their feelings hurt or thinking I'm insane. I've been trying to curtail the habit, but sometimes you just have to vent it all out.

Have you ever been in one of those relationships where everything looks perfect on paper, but you're just not happy? The girl is cute, fun, gets along with your friends, cooks, has a job, doesn't live with her parents, has a dog that doesn't piss on your clothes when they get left on the floor -- you know all the attributes most women are completely lacking. Yet, even when it all seems like it should be good, you're completely restless and are aggravated you have to put any time into the relationship.

It just seems like a travesty. It's so rare in this world when someone actually cares about you that it seems like you should grab onto that with both hands. I've been telling myself that over and over, but the stress from some part of me screaming that it isn't what I want in life while the rest of me is saying, yes it is, was just stressing me out to the point I couldn't take it anymore.

It's literally a miracle when two people meet in this world and love each other equally. It seems like one is always in love, the other decides to settle. Yet, in our increasingly throwaway society, we're told that we deserve happiness and shouldn't have to settle, so eventually, the animosity towards the partner one feels is holding them back grows past the point of no return. Then they get divorced and start it all over.

Ironically, love is just a chemical reaction in the brain. If we could just meet compatible partners and then go into the doctor for a love shot, it sure would simplify life.

It seems I've been on both sides of this now. A few years back I met a girl that I absolutely worshipped. I thought, man, I've never met such a beautiful, good-hearted woman. We had a complementary sense of humor and philosophy on life, but I got those words -- let's just be friends. I don't know if she just didn't find me attractive or if she was just too hung up on her ex. Probably both. Now I've done the same to another good-hearted girl because I'm either just ridiculously scared of commitment or still too hung up on my ex. It's a sucky situation.

So up until the moment I told her I just wanted to be friends, I was sure that was the right move. But then the second it was over, the doubt kicked in. Women never look as beautiful as they do when you say goodbye. I think it's voodoo.

Anyway, I made my bed. Now I've got to lie in it alone. I'll try to keep the blogging up better, but I've already been warned this is going to be hell week at work, and I have to go to Los Angeles Sept. 5.

Time for bed.

Well, we survived Edouard. It was nothing. We've had bigger thunderstorms. Yet, nobody was thankful that we weren't hit with a hurricane. Instead they spent all of Tuesday bitching and writing me emails about how unfair it was that they had to come to work when the mayor had said everyone should stay home. Although it did rain it was a rather nice day since very few people did go to work. My commute was only 25 minutes, which is amazing.

Is it just me or is there a lot of really crazy stuff going on in the world. First, there was the whole Caylee Anthony drama. Where's the baby? Where's the BABY?!!! Unfortunately, I'm 99% sure that the mom left her in the car while she was partying or something, the kid died, and then she ditched her body. The fact that she can't even pinpoint when the kid started missing though is a bad sign. She originally said she disappeared June 9, but then changed her story when Caylee was in pictures with her grandfather on father's day June 15. I know we have laws to protect people in this country, but seriously, it's time to stop feeding that girl and start slapping her around a few times a day until she comes clean with the real story of how she killed her daughter and covered it up or who these people who allegedly kidnapped her really are. You can say I'm a bad person for that, but knowing as many pathological liar early-20s club promotions girls as I do, a little waterboarding would be good for all of them.

Now what about this Clark Rockefeller guy? He's got money from somewhere. How did he earn it or scam it? He's got more identities than you can shake a stick at. Was he really a German foreign exchange student? Did he really murder someone years ago in California? Craziness.

But as if Clark Rockefeller didn't have a crazy enough story, that lady who had pitbulls cloned in South Korea is now suspected to be this mentally unstable woman that kidnapped and raped a male Mormon missionary in England back in the 1970s before disappearing. If she's the same woman, how did she change her identity and make enough money to clone puppies? Seriously, is the key to getting rich just to have several identities? If so, I need a few!

The Olympics have started. I spent the morning running ethernet cable from my router to my living room to set the Xbox 360 up as a Media Center Extender. Now we can get all of NBCs online streaming as well as what's on cable. However, it was a bit anticlimactic when I finally got it working because there doesn't seem to be any content available online yet. I was also disappointed to see that the Xbox doesn't recognize my online DVD library. Apparently I have to re-rip all the discs I've already put on there as DivX or MPEG if I want the Xbox to play them. That's totally weak. If the Xbox can play a DVD, it should be able to play a DVD from a hard drive. Too bad Microsoft has chosen to cripple the software.

The Olympics don't seem to be off to a very good start. China is in the lead for the Crazy Stabbing Suicide medal. That's not good. Then the fact that Russia and Georgia are deciding to go to war during the opening ceremonies is a bit distracting too. I like how the leaders of all the countries involved and making statements about the situation are in China watching sports while this is going on.

So with no alternate identities, hidden fortunes, raped Mormons and missing daughters, my life seems pretty boring. However, I did FINALLY find a good working HD video editing program. I was using Pinnacle Studio 11 Ultimate, and I still couldn't get more than 5 minutes of video edited without computer freeze ups. Yesterday I tried CyberLink Power Director 7. I can't say enough great things about this program. It doesn't have green screen effects or as many plug-ins as Pinnacle, but it runs perfectly. I have had zero freeze ups. It's slow and a bit laggy, but I can even edit 1920x1080 AVCHD on my HP dual core. It runs light lightning on my quad core. I'm still learning the ins and outs and I edit some video from my cousin's wedding a few weeks back, but this has been the major hold up in putting together some short films. I mean, when you can't edit a movie more than 5 minutes long, it severely limits your production possibilities. Getting my editing problems fixed was my last major hurdle. Well, it was that and cleaning my house since my house was WAY too dirty and cluttered to shoot anything. However, both situations are now remedied. I really want to get some stuff started this weekend.

I'm going to grab some lunch.

Edouard? Seriously? They couldn't just name this tropical storm Edward? Come on. I've seen people spell it 15 different ways today -- not to mention the fact that everyone is calling it Edouardo. Planning for storms is complicated enough without this ethnic spelling ridiculousness.

Anyway, if you listen to the news reports Edouard is bringing the apocalypse. If you listen to the people at work, they could care less and are just itching for an excuse to take off work tomorrow. However, panic did reach the pumps as everyone bought up gas in true Rita fashion.

Half my day was spent just in meetings trying to decide what to do about Edouard. As of this morning, we were shutting the office down early and sending everyone home. By noon, with beautiful sunny skies still shining, that plan was scratched and debates raged as to whether or not we'd shut down tomorrow. If the storm hits hard and hits early, it's a no-brainer to shut down for the day. However, if the morning is clear, do you let everyone come to work and risk them being stuck there if the storm hits hard midday? But if it's clear in the morning, and you don't have anyone come in, what if the storm never hits, and you've wasted a full day of your client's time?

I can't say I've made any real preparations here at home. I put the hard top on my car. That's about it. I should probably secure the patio furniture in the old dog kennel, so it doesn't come flying through my bedroom window, but I haven't.

Anyway, I've got to get to bed as I have to be up around 4:30 a.m. to see what our office's final action plan will be and then call into our voicemail system and the local media to say whether the office is open or closed. I have a feeling that either way, quite a few employees have already made up their minds that they're not coming in tomorrow.

Man, I have been so restless yet so lazy the past few weeks. It's a strange contradiction, and some of it has just been due to a bout with the flu, but I just haven't been normal. However, last weekend I went to Austin for a wedding and saw all my extended family for the first time in almost two years, so that was good. Then this weekend I finally bore down and cleaned the house. Ben and Jace had been keeping the living room and kitchen in decent shape, but my room hadn't been cleaned in months. There were layers upon layers of clothes and mail stacked on the dressers and desk, etc. I finally got it all dealt with. Then I cleaned and rearranged the living/dining rooms. There's still a corner with boxes full of my brother's who-knows-what that he moved in from the garage due to the Cobra project, but overall, it's much better. Plus, it's now safe for the robot to roam freely and vacuum daily. Things are so much nicer when the robot can keep the vacuuming up. There was so much clutter on the floors that I bet that thing hadn't run in two months. But I can hear it running now -- bumping into walls and vacuuming like the souless slave it is.

I got an awesome video project at work. We're starting heavy into that tomorrow, so I'm excited. My boss is on vacation, so it will be nice to have something to keep me occupied until he gets back.

Had a dream my hair was short the other night. I don't know if that's a sign that I should cut it or not. I'm missing the days of jumping out of the shower, throwing some gel in it and leaving. Now it takes like two hours to dry, and my sheddings clog constantly clog the shower drain. Plus, I never know what it's doing. I have a suspicion it's totally fro-ing out in business meetings. I don't know. Just one month left until I've grown it for a year, so hopefully I can hold out for the one year mark.

That's pretty much all my ridiculous news. Hopefully Edourdo won't hit us this week. I hope they name the next storm Fredourdo.

I'm going to bed.