Halo 2 has ended up "disappointing" me overall;   the main issue, I believe, is that I've played so much Halo, that I was literally able to walk through the game (and I mean literally, run through rooms without even firing a shot). Plus, I personally believe that one of two things happened at Bungie (the developers of Halo):

1. They wanted to FINALLY ship the game, so they did not finish the game (either the story and/or the actual programming of it, or

2. They wanted to make more MONEY...

...so they decided to (SPOILER ALERT) split the game up into two parts. One can only hope that "part 2" is a free download on XBox Live, but I'm quite positive it will be "Halo 3" (or "Halo 2.5"?). The game is quite good overall, and was enjoyable, but I finished it after only a few hours of gameplay (and I'm an explorer, typically, who waits around in places and bangs on walls and objects looking for hidden secrets).

Oh well. Enough for now.

I've posted some pictures from the trip as well. It was great to have a couple days to drive around, remember pleasant memories from growing up, think about the possibilities for the future, and so on.

The new camera (a Sony DSC-F828) is doing very nicely, though I still need to learn all the functions, because quite a few of my pictures are ending up in a timed-exposure mode, so I have a zig-zag of several seconds of image stored in those cases. 8 megapixels and all the functionality I could want, including video (took a video while in California, as well) and night vision(!).

I am in the process of perhaps buying custom golf-shirts for my department as a Christmas gift. Since, as per the norm, at least 1/3 of the department seemed to make derogatory remarks about my idea, I'm not entirely sure I'll spend the $100+ on the shirts. We'll see.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. No big plans. My mother is making a major feast, but it may just be my sons going over there, while I take my daughters to do a special errand...

Friday morning I will likely trek to Volusia Mall very early for whatever specials they have on the supposedly largest shopping day of the year. I only have a few ideas for Christmas at this point (which itself is a miracle -- I *hate* to shop!). Some things are ideas that I've gone ahead and told the kids about (such as a full-blown metal arcade-quality dance pad for Dance Dance Revolution (version 2 is probably out right now I believe, for XBox).

In any case, that's about it. I'm sure I've forgotten some things since it's been over two weeks since my last post. Oh well. Life goes on...

First, I have about ten of the promotional HALO 2 pens that light up. Cool.

Then, I got about fifteen of the HALO 2 dogtags. Rock.

Plus, several HALO 2 balloons, flyers and other stuff. Righteous. (oh, and a retail store promotional package with information on how they were supposed to use these items to help promote HALO 2)

It's nice to live in redneck-town where people do dumb things that I can benefit from. No stealing involved, thank you.

In any case, HALO 2? Yeah, it sort of kind of rocks. Like that second kiss. Like something you'ved waited a long time for.

Tony = happy.   :-)

(almost forgot:   an XBOX demo disc version 4.2)

I took her to the vet yesterday, and she has a clean bill of health. No disease, she's already "fixed", and other than not liking other animals yet, is happy at our home. I have named her "Delen" (another B5 name, like Kosh's).

On a sadder note, Kosh went for a checkup and it was found that his hump on his lower back was apparently cancerous. It has now been removed, and we'll know "within weeks" if it is going to grow back. If it does NOT, he should be fine. If it DOES....   :-(

I don't want to lose my kitty.   *sniff*

I started my vacation yesterday evening. I have no plans. That is fairly typical. I will do whatever comes to mind on a day-to-day basis for the next week.

I was supposed to go to an impromptu Bachelor's party tonight for Jonathon (a user of Orbiter "On"line). After missing he and Fred at Applebee's (is that REALLY a place to have a BACHELOR party?), I had dinner and then came home, and lo and behold, my children arrived (they were supposed to spend the weekend with their mom, but that rarely seems to work out). I've been doing work around the house on a minor scale all day, and downloading a wide variety of files, reorganizing some documents and folders on both the Web/file server and on the new computer (more on that later).

The girls (Dani and Mandi) had their first OFFICIAL football game (they're in the band, not on the team, silly) Friday night and seemed to come back tired and happy. I really really miss those days.   :-/

Coming home to a house smelling like dead animals = bad   (a nameless daughter was trying to slow cook chicken for soup, or something, and cooked it TOO slow (low) so it was to the trash with it, pot and all).

My unofficial second-in-command, Keith Wheeler, was officially made DP Supervisor, so he's a bit happier now.

I spent WEEKS looking at computers, then visiting sites like NewEgg.Com, virtually-assembling systems day after day, then going back to Best Buy, Circuit City, etc, looking at pre-made systems (I have not bought a pre-made system for myself since moving up from Commodore 64/128, if memory serves)...

I finally settled(?) on a (drumroll please) Gateway computer with 3 year extended warranty, 19" LCD, Altec Lansing speaker system, blah blah blah. Gateway model 700GR. Specs in general are:

    Intel Pentium 4 550 Processor (3.4 Ghz, Hyperthreading, 800MHz FSB)
    8x DVD +/- RW Drive
    48x CD Drive
    ATI Radeon x300 SE (PCI-Express, 128MB)
    250GB SATA HD (7200rpm)
    1GB DDR RAM (dual channel)
    8-in-1 Media Reader
    7USB + 2 Firewire ports
    Came with free AOL (it's always nice to have something to delete from your HD...)

Combined with the LCD and speaker system, I'm quite happy now. It's in my bedroom where it's safe from the four wide-eyed cherubs dwelling herein.

Bought a copy of Doom 3. To say I was impressed is a severe understatement. I was/am amazed at the detail and complexity of this game. It is truly awesome!

I have converted myself (almost-)fully to Open Source software for internet and basic productivity needs. I have used Firefox (formerly Firebird) for many months now. I recently reinstalled Thunderbird and took the time to configure it and use it, imported/converted all my archived email (going back 7+ years) and now use it full time. I also grabbed OpenOffice, and am quite pleased with it's capabilities (considering it's free, as well). Hence, the footer of Malena.Net is updated accordingly.

Hurricane Ivan missed us. Hurricane Jeanne looks like it's floating off into the ocean, and that K-thing (Kyle? Kevin? whatever..) doesn't appear to be a threat. What a pain in the arse it's been dealing with hurricanes and.. ahem.. locals.. who drive you crazy (I share my older daughter's feelings of want, to return to California, in a big way).

Okay, I think that's everything on my mind for now. TTYL...

Some pictures I took (and a short video) have been posted to "Recent Pictures". I thought my camera was broken at one point as it would read "ERR" each time I tried to take a picture (and I'll be darned if I could find the manual, and without internet access at the moment, I couldn't find out what to do). Pressing multiple buttons on the camera at the same time ended up clearing the USB-based memory and fixing the problem. Rock.

One three-day weekend wasted.   (sigh)

(sigh)

Hopefully this is not as bad as every single person I work with is trying to make it sound...

The biggest problem I have with eBay is the Feedback system. WHY does it not FORCE the SELLER to leave feedback FIRST?! I mean, does this ONLY MAKE SENSE TO ME?!?

I am currently being held for Feedback Ransom (or "Feedback Extortion" as eBay calls it) for two instruments that will be arriving this week.

When I paid for these instruments (both within TWENTY MINUTES of the auction finalizing), I should have received the appropriate feedback from the seller at that time (or soon thereafter). After a few days, I sent a polite note asking for this. The response I received was:

Thank you for your e-mail.   Our feedback is 
on a automated system thru our Andale checkout, 
and is left upon feedback being received 
from the customer.   Please let us know if 
it doesn't show up within a week after yours 
has been left. (Sometimes it takes a few days 
to show up.)

This is very, Very, VERY wrong. eBay needs to fix this.

SELLER FEEDBACK should be based on HOW QUICKLY they received their monies and if there were no problems acquiring those funds. Period.

BUYER FEEDBACK should be based on receiving the item in a timely manner, whether the item was what was advertised, etc.

THERE IS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN THE TWO! If someone has a logical reason why it works this way, FEEL FREE to let me know.

I have take a bunch of pictures of the damage in the local area. Truthfully, I feel the damage was extremely minor "considering the event itself". A lot of torn down trees (two on our property alone!) and a few aluminum-type roofs ripped off of small structures and gas stations. We heard of two fatalities (one a car crash near Orlando, the other a woman locally who was electrocuted by a downed power line).

The tree on our west-side of the property literally laid down and pulled itself out (almost completely took the roots out too), while the bush-like item by my bathroom also ended up above ground. The house was fine (though I was sure the winds were going to destroy some of our windows).

All in all, we weathered it well. The power went offline at appx 11pm on Friday, and was restored at appx 9pm today (Saturday). I bought a generator, which I've always wanted for such an emergency, so that was a plus. Lowe's (and Home Depot) were only selling one of the top-of-the-line models (I have a generator capable of outputting 5550 watts, 8550 peak/startup). We happily used our stereo, fans, and kept the refridgerator running during the down-time. Cable TV (and internet) has yet to return as of 10pm, unfortunately (so Malena.Net is technically down).

The kids and I, and their papa, drove around town at about 1am this morning, surveying the damage and mess. One car was smashed under a gas pump roof which was ripped off. My thought was "my other car is at the gas station, it will be fine there...." -- he'll have an unpleasant surprise when he returns to work.

The hurricane itself was odd (not that I'm an expert). The EYE of the hurricane was the END of the hurricane. My understanding of hurricanes has always been that the EYE is in the MIDDLE and that there are winds and storms all around it. It was bizarre... but we were thankful that the eye was the end of the night's weather-based festivities.

Then I was assaulted by a neighbor. If you've read older entries here, you'll think this is redundant (as I do) but yes, I was assaulted by another, different neighbor from before, one that I have never talked to nor know anything about. Quite frankly, I'm fed up with this happening (two times in three years?! people I've never met?!) and am considering taking a more aggressive approach with this if it ever happens again... starting with the first two who have made me feel so unwelcome for just EXISTING in this neighborhood, never bothering anyone (maybe that's their problem, I'm not a beer drinking smelly redneck idiot like these two &@#$!s, especially when you see the Geek sticker on my van, so I'm automatically targetted -- what-EV-er). I'm so over this that I am literally counting the days until I return to sunny California and civilization...

We had two more ceiling fans installed (dining room and den) so that now all rooms in the house have nice ceiling fans, and all public areas downstairs have the "same fan" for consistency and beauty.

We bought Brute Force for the XBox last week ($19).   It's an "okay" game, but the controls completely bite.   I'm very annoyed.

The five of us went to PlasterBlaster last weekend and each of us painted something.   I ended up painting a baby dragon emerging from an egg.   If memory serves (now I'm quoting Iron Chef, that's funny):

• Amanda painted a pair of sixteenth notes
• Daniella painted baby tiger laying down
• Christopher painted Mario from Nintendo
• Anthony painted Spider-Man

Went to Sweet Tomatoes (aka Souplantation) in Orlando last weekend as well (it is so worth the trip).

The girls are attending Band Camp at Spruce Creek High School this week (8a to 5p) for six days, learning their baseline music for football season, on-field routines, marching basics, and more.   They appear to be having a blast, which is good.   Daniella's trombone is now paid off, so I'm expecting the worst (bad luck).   So far Mandi's Flute and Dani's Trombone are holding up   (crossing fingers).   I still have two Trumpets to purchase for the Boys...

My mother has gone back to work after being off for several months due to a "botched knee surgery".   She is using a walker or cane now (and will be in a wheelchair at work she tells me).   It's odd to consider your parent's getting older and having such problems.   My own kids already make me feel old (sometimes, by accident I think) while other times trying to reassure me that I'm not.   (snicker)   Doesn't always work.   I'm 36 and have mixed feelings about being "middle aged".

Done for now.

Informational links:
  Article on TrekWeb.
  Biography on the Internet Movie DataBase.

The girls and I also saw "I, Robot" this weekend. I was not as impressed as I should have been. It was "3 out of 5" stars in my book. Modernizing a book is one thing... but this was something only very loosely based on Asimov's work.

Our house was appraised last week for a refinance loan. Hopefully a good appraisal will yield a good return so that we can get rid of the few bills we have and perhaps have some left over to do some upgrades to our lifestyle. I have some lifestyle changes (personal as well as family-wide) I have been trying to make for week (months in some cases). Changes related to home, work and friends, mainly.

I'm looking at an upgrade to this "blog system" (good Lord, I hate that term, "blog"). Stay tuned. I am considering how I'm going to write the code for my idea (it's not exactly unique or new, just new to me personally).

We spent the Fourth of July at Michael Long's parents' house again this year -- with the exception of an unneeded trip back home, the day went without a hitch. The weather was great (some rain beforehand, and a very very light "mist" during the actual fireworks, with winds blowing the smoke from the showcase due East, over the ocean). I also did some impromptu computer work for Mr. Long as well.   :-)

I'll post some pictures from the 4th and some other items in the next day or two.

Kids received their report cards finally today, and a bunch of free food and fun park certificates. Everyone gets to move on to the next grade (that's always a good sign that SOMETHING is going properly).

Christopher is now all set to go to Creekside as his three siblings did (paperwork is officially done and turned in to Creekside).

Air conditioner is not working, so my parents' were kind enough to lend us an old window-mount unit temporarily until I can rectify the situation.

I'm making Lentil Soup tonight (sort of a pre-cursor to recreating the Lendica/Lendika recipe that my nana used to make which my mom won't share with me). It's cooking right now, and it already tastes yuuuuuuuumy!

That's it for now. Vacation goes on...

Friday night, I took the ladies skating (at their typical stomping grounds, Skate & Shake in Ormond Beach). I stepped out twice to run short errands while they shuffled and grooved to the (as usual) too-loud music (someone needs to teach the young boys who do the music mixing that "loud" does not make up for their meager skills). The boys spent the evening entertaining their still-half-disabled Nana.

Saturday, we did not do much special. The lawn got mowed (yay).

Today, Father's Day, we had my parents over (Nana and Papa, or 'Grumpy' as he's trained the kids to call him). Let's count down the problems that arose, shall we..?

• I was low on money to begin with, so it was not exactly a big spectacle.
• When we started the grill, it was apparently out of propane, as it only yielded a minimal flame... so into the house we went with our steaks and potatoes (now being fried, not steamed).
• The air conditioning needs the grills cleaned out (and they're all but inaccessible, so I've put it off indefinitely), so with all the windows open and the food cooking, it was only a LITTLE over 127 degrees inside.
• We ran out of ice before lunch was ready (I had cleaned out the ice maker the night before and it had not refilled completely, and the kids just went through the ice like it was chocolate).
• My father, as usual, acted like if he did not get to watch TV, he may as well not be here.
• My mother is still in pain and trying to get mobility back from her knee operation of a few weeks ago.
• Insert a healthy dose of personal issues I don't care to post here.

Background story:   We bought our ORIGINAL XBox (X1) the first two weeks XBox was released (either October 2001 or 2002). We had problems almost since the first month with what appeared to be (a) a DVD drive that did not like certain games, and (b) a hard drive that seemed to lock up at random times when saving or loading (apparently). I finally broke down in January of 2004 and bought a new XBox (as it included 3 free games, we'll call this X2). After Jamie left the household and I was able to start concentrating on life again, it was discovered that (c) we could not play movie DVDs for some reason, except one that auto-plays after a few minutes (Terminator 3), and (d) the XBox would frequently flash green-red-green-red when turned on, and never boot. Since I did not get to seeing this problem or reporting it until about 2-3 weeks after it was "out of warranty" (THREE MONTH WARRANTY?!), I was now screwed.

I decided that, if possible, I was going to build "X3" from X1 and X2. It would work, every which way it was supposed to (and possibly do more than it was, with dual hard drives and some specs I had from the web).

Well, the dual drives were a no-go, but only due to a limitation that will become apparent...

In the end, funnily enough, the combination of parts that yielded a (so far..) perfectly working X3 was:

• Case, motherboard, power and hard drive from X1
• DVD-ROM drive from X2

It appears (so far) that locking up "hard drive" problems were MORE LIKELY the bad DVD drive. Time will tell (if it locks up again, with the new DVD-ROM drive).

Oh, and playing movies? Yeah. I opened the remote control and found an object (circuit, capacitor, whatever) that had one of it's connectors pulled off the circuit board (and out of the item itself). Since it was a loss and repair would be more than buying one new, I started fiddling with it. I was able to pry OPEN this unwired item, stuck some metal-wire from a bread bag twist-tie into it to create a new connection, then touched it back to the circuit board and tested -- worked fine. Do I have a (working) soldering gun? Nooooo. So, I scotch-taped the stupid thing to the circuit board, tested it out fine, put it back together, and it works.

So now we have our ORIGINAL XBox, now X3, with our original remote working, and the NEW XBox we bought 5 months ago is good for playing an occasional game and SOME movies (but not, let's say, the Alien Quadrilogy). Now we just need a second TV to hook X2 up to.

Okay, that's it. I have stories from the kids to post, about their week at camp. I'll get around to those later this coming week. G'night...

In other events, Anthony and I saw Harry Potter 3 last night. It was a "good movie" but I'm not sure it was the best of the three movies. I still want to see The Chronicles Of Riddick and The Stepford Wives.

I will be scavanging the two XBoxes we own to make one (hopefully) perfect working XBox. Our original one had continuous problems reading various game and movie DVDs, and would lock up randomly when reading or writing data. I finally bought a second one, and when it started having "boot up problems", we did not get to report it until a few weeks after the 3-month warranty was already over. I am quite displeased about my experience with XBox hardware, despite having an awesome game selection and excellent graphics and sound. Maybe Microsoft should hire someone ELSE to build XBox 2 / XBox Next / XBox whatever...

The Mighty Four are going to camp tomorrow for a whole week. I still haven't figured out what I'll do with myself for a whole week. Probably work extra hours. (shrug)

Rumble (the mighty miniature Dachshund) ran across the street today and attacked a dog the size of a full-grown german shepard... and the other dog ran for it's life. It was quite laughable (though if the other dog had stood up to Rumble, he (Rumble) would likely be a discarded playtoy now).

I attempted to sell two items on eBay (twice!) recently and never received a single bid on either one. Apparently I don't have the "eBay Touch". A perfectly working Cell Phone battery and a Green Goblin bust my daughter won simply would not sell. Odd.

My father-in-law stated for weeks he could not email me (as I host my own mail server and have spam controls in place, I assumed I needed to tone down the server's aggressiveness towards junk mail). After several tests, and putting my spam control back online, he suddenly began emailing us like there never was an issue. Ah well. Maybe Earthlink was temporarily blacklisting malena.net or something.

That will be all for now. I hope to hear from Tisha soon. I can't wait to get in contact with more family members. :-)  

The family saw the movie TROY on opening night. I have to admit that it was a very good movie! Despite seeing FAR too much of Brad Pitt's... body... it was very very good. Just a LITTLE bit of "gore", and sexual themes were very mild (especially compared to typical Hollywood movies these days). Daniella is begging to see it again. Orlando Bloom. (sigh)

My hope for the future:   That I continue to EARN my position, title and income wherever I work. That I do NOT get something merely for being someone's friend, or family member, or because I can pull the wool over their eyes. I enjoy that fact about myself.

We still haven't seen "Van Helsing" yet, which is odd for me (well, the boys did). I have noticed in recent years that if I do not see a movie in the first few days it comes out, it is highly unlikely I will see it at all. I'm not sure why (not done psychoanalyzing myself on that one yet).

I have gotten addicted to reruns of "That 70's Show". Weird. I hated the idea of it originally, since it glorified smoking pot in it's very passive way. But it's just so damn funny. (grin)

The kids get to go to a Youth Camp for a week starting June 13th. I hope I can find something to do with my time. I'm sure something (or someone) will come up.

Laser beams were shot into my right eyeball yesterday. The procedure was a success. I counted 25 beams total. Pretty nift. Next week the left eye gets it.

Let's see what been happening in the past few weeks (since March 6th, my last "real" entry), shall we?

When I broke my hand (right side of my right hand), I was put into a "partial cast" that was removable,and that's exactly what I did, frequently. Eventually I took it off completely, weeks before I was supposed to. Why? I couldn't do my job as "quickly or adequately" as I normally could, and we were very busy. It may sound like I "blame" my employer, but it was all me, I guess. I made the decision.

The result? I can not hold my fingers straight up erect (as if I were saluting someone) and have them all together now. My pinkie is slightly off to the side, unless I push it over. I also cannot do a "vulcan greeting" properly, if I wanted to (with my right hand, at least). It's annoying, but my hand FUNCTIONS fine, at least.

The kids and I have been spending a lot more time "together" in the past few weeks than we have in a long time. We have re-joined the YMCA here in Port Orange, and are going fairly regularly (between 2-4 times a week right now). I've discovered the joy of Racquetball. I'm by no means good yet, but I've learned the basic rules from Mike, and now play with Mandi frequently. Dani has played a bit, and the boys have been known the whack the ball a few times (literally).

We also use the nautalus equipment a bit, and swim frequently (especially the boys). It's a fun place (though I keep getting the feeling it is "small", and the hours are not adequate for me personally -- they close too early, especially on the weekends).

My mother has had a horrible battle with a knee injury. She has had an operation on it, and fluid drawn from it, and is in literal MORTAL PAIN almost constantly. I feel helpless to do anything (which really annoys me) about it. Anthony (my son) spent this weekend with her, helping her out any way he could. Hopefully her Doctor will take a hint and "put her out of her misery" (obviously I'm not implying he shoot her). I can't imagine being in THAT much pain for THAT much time.   :-(   What a way to spend Mother's Day.

I get to have lasers shot into each of my eyeballs soon (some corrective action, not Lasik though). That will be fun, wearing an eyepatch temporarily over each eye.

There are a lot of school events happening in the next few weeks as well, thanks to the school year ending soon, and the fact that both girls are graduating from Middle to High School (HIGH SCHOOL?!?!):

Monday I take Christopher to his Middle School orientation at Creekside.

Tuesday I go with Mandi to her Honor's Banquet (she was an Honor Student all three years of Middle School, kudos to her!)

Wednesday is regular church night

Thursday is the all-band concert at Creekside

Friday is Crazy Eight's for the kids at Creekside (eighth graders get to dress up and do weird things, equivelent to a Senior "Ditch Day" except they stay on campus)

Saturday I go with the girls to Busch Gardens for the day as a chaperone (get in free, totally awesome)

Sunday is regular church day

It looks like the YMCA will be on hold this week. (grin) Oh well.

I have found what I believe to be a GREAT IDEA for the boys for summer: A summer day-camp in Daytona Beach! They would be able to be there all day while I'm at work, and I'd pick them up on the way home. This way, they're supervised, they're not bored, they're not antagonizing their sisters, and they're mixing it up with many other kids. We'll see how that pans out (it is, as always, an issue of money available versus desire to do it).

I have a BUNCH of pictures to post, both of family events, and of work (current and previous) associates who have had babies. I'll get those up today or "soon".

Movies seen lately (that I can recall):

13 GOING ON 30 -- Saw it twice, that should say enough. It was awesome. Jennifer Garner is fine enough (yum) but this movie was just great. It was like a twisted version of Tom Hanks' "BIG" for the millenium. And, they didn't have to drench it with inappropriate material so taking my kids to it was no problem. A couple of inuendos (she was 30 years old and single..) and that was it.

THE PUNISHER -- This was much better than I could have hoped for. I still can't stop imagining that the actor playing Frank Castle is the younger clone of Christopher Lambert from "THE HIGHLANDER". He has to be!

KILL BILL, VOL 2 -- I never saw Volume 1. This was an interesting movie. I guess I have to say I liked it. It's certainly not for kids. Poking out eyeballs and then stepping on them slowly and deliberately was rather disgusting. The story line seemed "slower" than what little I knew about Volume 1, but overall it was good. Uma = good.

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR -- Also not for kids (waaaaay too much sexually related material, since it revolves around a "porn star" who gives up the business, and falls in love with the young man next door). It was pretty funny, but very adult.

GODSEND -- This was a "psychological" movie more than anything. I thought it ended poorly (like the writer didn't know how to end it, so he/she came up with something at the last second to cap the story off with). Not particularly great, I wouldn't recommend it.

Movies I plan to see in the near future:

VAN HELSING
(maybe) RAISING HELEN
SPIDER-MAN 2
THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (aka Pitch Black 2)
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
(maybe) GARFIELD
(maybe) THE THUNDERBIRDS
ALIEN VS PREDATOR
(maybe) RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE
HALLOWEEN 9 (apparently in production for an October 31st release date)

The breaking of my hand was a culmination of events which also ended up in my being "not home" for the past few weeks. It was used as a catalyst for my wife to finally file for divorce so she could pursue other opportunities and not be accountable to a marriage that, unfortunately, had gone sour long ago. I, as of this day and time, am waiting a "few more days" until I return home and resume a normal life... the children and I blazing a path to the future as the girls enter high school, and the boys start/continue middle school. The divorce is final (May 4 at 9:22am).

It is sad (I never married with ANY intention of this being a possibility) but also "good" now (there has been too much water under the bridge, too many bad decisions, too much of everything) for everyone involved that it ends officially now. I am to live with my children and continue raising them on the best possible path I can offer them, and we will become an even closer family unit with the help of God, friends and family. The kids also will see little or no "negative interaction" between their parents, which is the reason why this is now the best course of action. The last DECADE has just been horrible, and I'm sad to say it may have been better if we'd divorced long ago. But now it's done, and I am looking to the future...

Well, I will end with that for now. I will be "home" in the next several days, which will be wonderful, and life can finally adjust to the "new normal-ness" that it has become. I need a guide book for dating, I think. "Single computer geek with very little dating history looking for soul mate". Now THAT is either depressing, or ....? Thank God I have my children and a few friends to soak up my time with (not to mention hobbies long abandoned that would love my attention).   :-)

Post script: The previous entry ("...Three Years...") was me making a bad decision by opening the floodgates to a situation that should have been left closed. Thankfully I (and the other person involved) were able to shut it down before we got too wet).

Broke my hand yesterday. That... hurts.   (I've never broken a bone before, so this is my chance to experience THAT life-event, I guess. My typing speed has been cut to at LEAST one-third, if not worse, considering I can peak at over 100wpm when I'm "in the mode" normally, and it was my RIGHT hand)

My department has lost two of it's programmers in the past two months, which places a lot of stress on everyone else. We're on schedule to move to a new programming package in a few weeks, as well, so it is going to be an interesting next few months...

The kids have apparently already worn out one of the two "BeatPads" used in Dance Dance Revolution. I can't comprehend a product lasting only two months, so we're trying to get a free replacement (yeah,right).

Went out with Fred last night for the first time since he left Cunningham Research. He seems to be doing okay though I think he needs to be busier based on our conversation. I can relate all to well.

Most people with an opinion tell me I'm not "fat" (I still think I am) but I was delighted to find that I have gone down another six pounds. At 6' 4", 233 pounds, I apparently have found a way of eating that works very well for my physiology, which includes very little physical exercise. Rock on.

I think the TV Show "Early Edition" should be brought back to TV with new episodes. Right after Star Trek The Next Generation is brought back.

Done, later...

I have to continue my employment and a family to worry about, so I have to sit back and remain silent. I feel pathetic. What would you do? What if you had a family of six to support, a mortgage, monthly bills, and more to deal with?

Inability to safely tape bumper sticker to inside of rear van window = bad (moisture, et al)

Dad turns 58 on Monday -- Happy Birthday, Dad (I won't be in town then...).

Updated:   Pictures posted (Feb 4, 2004) from the trip.

I saw THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT this weekend. It was a pretty good flick, and I was surprised by Ashton Kutcher's (I hope I'm spelling that correctly) performance in it. I definitely won't be taking the kids to see it anytime soon -- it's certainly not meant for anyone under, let's say, 17 in my opinion (and I'm fairly liberal/open-minded about what my kids see, as long as I'm with them).

All of the preparation work for my re-opening Orbiter Online for web hosting and online gaming is complete. Business class access, new server (more to come) and I'm just waiting for final word on secondary offsite DNS hosting to be completed. It's unfortunate that I'm not as ambitious as when I first opened Orbiter almost ten years ago -- I'd be doing a lot more than I currently am. I'm just happy to be doing SOMETHING with it...

I have learned the hard way that I really bite at CRIMSON SKIES for the XBox. I need a LOT more practice before taking on the "world" on XBox Live. I am owned regularly (I and my kids are known as "Malena Clan" on XBox Live).

TurboTax 2003 has been purchased, and though we have to wait for a couple of forms to come in, it appears we owe a bit of money at the moment. We'll know for sure soon. That's uncool, but it was also not unexpected.

I began keeping my "check register" for my primary checking account electronically (in Excel) so that I could track exactly where I'm spending money, on what, and how much. Already, in the first month, the numbers have turned out very sobering. I am hoping that after about three months of tracking, I can look back and figure out what I can adjust to make life better for the clan as a whole. I know for certain that eating out is the biggest problem. Possibly my comic collecting (despite the fact that I collect nowhere near as much as I "would" if I were buying everying I "want").

Or, maybe just some of these t-shirts.

Hopefully at least one or two of these t-shirts...?

We obtained CRIMSON SKIES for the XBox today (paid partly by monies received by me on Christmas Day). This game is a blast, especially LIVE with 15 other players. It also allows MULTIPLE PLAYERS from EACH XBOX to participate which is very cool.

I've upgraded our internet so that I can now effectively host and serve to the 'net again. Working on name server support and related issues.

That's it. (oh, and it's Amanda's birthday! 14 and counting)

I'm proud to say that I've been keeping a log for exactly four years now, and I did it before the idiotic term "blogging" came about, before keeping an online log was cool, and as with a number of things in my life, I was one of the first to do it on the internet, and you can thank people like me once again for helping to direct the way life on the internet has shaped over the years (that may sound self-gratifying, but it's the truth -- perhaps some day I will make a detailed list of the things I've created, been a part of, or otherwise how I've personally influenced internet life so that it's documented for posterity). Then again, there is much on the 'net that I'd hate to be associated with... whatever...

Okay. I decided that I would make a "resolutions" list of a sort. Since I am on the latter half of a three-week vacation from work, and I've rebuilt my home's network infrastructure to some degree (especially the building of the new CEILING server to replace the ancient DOORS server), I am committing to the following:

Interruption by NBC News:   Before I begin, I just thought I'd note that NBC is posting a scrolling note on the bottom of Saturday Night Live, stating that The United States has "successfully landed a probe, named Spirit", on Mars ... hurray for us ... perhaps the Martians left automated systems before leaving this galaxy which will track where the probe came from and send a 14 bajillion gigaton bomb to blow us out of orbit now...

On with the "resolution" list:

• Put ORBITER ONLINE (the BBS) back online officially
  Orbiter Online has been online and (occasionally) offline, serving both the Daytona Beach area and the World, since 1994. When I moved to Port Orange (a few miles south of Daytona Beach) everything went bad, and Orbiter never retained it's former glory. I am to change that... and expand upon it...
  
  
• Offer WEB HOSTING through ORBITER ONLINE again
  I intend to offer dirt cheap web hosting again. I now have the ability to do so easily again, and there are no obstacles anymore of a "technical" nature. I already host four websites as it is. It's just a matter of advertising and getting people signed up again now.
  
  
• Get THE KIDS setup to write their own content on MALENA.NET
  The children have had access to their own personal directory on this website for months, but I've never taken the time to show them how to do basic HTML editing. Sometime this year (soon, I hope) you should see some real content from some or all of the Malena kids (Daniella, Amanda, Anthony and Christopher).
  
  
• Finish the boys' bedroom WALL
  This was put on the back burner, which I blame myself for. Daniella is doing the actual work. I need to participate in some things (a couple of screws that were not flush that need to be flattened before painting happens, plus the possibility of built-in shelves).
  
  
• Unspoken
  I have two major issues that I do not wish to be publicized yet. If I am diligent, they WILL be posted some time this year. This entry will serve as a reminder to myself. I have family members to think of, hence the secrecy.
  
  
• Friendships
  I am going to force myself to ALTER my lifeline tendencies. I have a number of people that I could have a much better relationship with than I currently do, as well as a few from the past (distant past in some cases), that I'd like to foster and grow newer, better friendships with. When I am a friend to someone, it is typically a very deep and special thing -- and I've used that as my "excuse" as to why I don't MAKE many friends. I'm 35 years old, and at this very moment in time, I do not feel I have any "best friends" right now (that may even offend a few people). It's not anyone's fault but my own. I do know, however, that the events of my life and making me a more lonely and depressed person than I care to be. I need to rectify that. I tend to be EXTREMELY JUDGEMENTAL of people, which (funnily enough) is this kettle is calling all the pots black in most cases...
  
  

I'm happy to say that the Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix for XBox (complete with an extra dance pad) was a big hit. The boys also loved their new Gameboy Advanced (times two).

The in-laws came and went for the holidays. A lot of pictures are posted in the late December range (under "Recent Pictures"), plus pics of the kids playing the XBox Dance Dance game.

I've gone wireless, and so far it's "good" (not "great"). I only did it because we have a 2 month free subscription to XBox Live, and the old Netgear Router/Switch/Firewall box did not support it properly. Spent $190 on a new (D-Link) router (802.11g, speeds up to 108MBit) and I get back $80 in rebates (however many weeks that will take via snail mail). Cool beans.

Now I can take the laptop out "easily" to the hammock. Rock.

My comics now fill the entire shelf system I built in the den. That didn't take long.   (frown)

I guess I need to go sell my Netgear Router on eBay for extra cash. Should probably go find other things to sell along with it.

You'll find "us" on XBox Live as "Malena Clan".

Thanksgiving is here. I am preparing all the non-main dish items, my mother is making a turkey and bringing it over the so the kids, myself and my parents can do the turkey-kill thing "properly".

Not much else.

We saw it. :-) The black marine who instructs you on what you'll be doing at the beginning of the game is wrestling with one of the Covenant. They they see the Pillar Of Autumn blowing up in the distance. The marine looks at the Covenant warrior, says "this is it man", and they hug. It's hilarious. :-)

Yet another important milestone in Malena history.

He hasn't talked to me since leaving. I assume he eventually will.

I bought the Hulk on DVD this week. I like the movie... right up to the point where the "final battle" happens. It's a very dumb battle and a very dumb antagonist.

I have a lot of thoughts I'd like to type, but at the same time, my children read this, so I tend to "hold back". There will come a time (not sure how much longer?) that I won't bother holding back. Either because the youngest will be old enough to understand what I've gone through, or because I won't care anymore. My kids, their friends.. they don't deserve to be exposed to the hell that has been 'my life'. But they DO need to eventually know. Everything.

Speaking of children - my kids all hosted a Halloween party yesterday. Planned it for weeks, bought the goodies, hosted it all themselves with minimal help from mom and dad. It was pretty cool (though I spent the majority of the evening continuing to doctor my father's computer).

For some odd reason, I've seen multiple contacts from so-called headhunters (those who attempt to obtain "talent" from one agency for another). I get the occasional email or phone call from such people, but it seems like somewhere, someone wants me to "make a change". Hmph.

I'm sort of passive, contemplative, perhaps a little depressed tonight. I'm letting things get to me that I've been handling pretty well for the past few years. It gets hard though. I created a website for "this problem" a number of years ago. I stopped updating it. But the feelings there...

(sigh)

I pray for my children. And I hope I'm doing well by them. Considering.

Which OS are You?

It reminded me of the other test I took a while back which also tells you which Classic/Retro Video Game Character you are most like. I previously ended up as Red Pac Man Ghost. Taking it now, I am:

WHICH PRE-1985 VIDEO GAME CHARACTER ARE YOU?
I am Pacman.

I am an aggressive sort of personality, out to get what I can, when I can. I prefer to avoid confrontation, but sometimes when it's called for, I can be a powerful character. I tend to be afflicted with munchies constantly. What Video Game Character Are You?

Interesting. I've gone from the Ghost to Pac Man himself. I'm not sure if I liked it better as the Ghost or not (shown below):

I am a Pacman Ghost.

I like to hang around with friends, chatting, dancing, all that sort of thing. We don't appreciate outsiders, and do our best to discourage others approaching us. I enjoy occasionally wandering around randomly, and often find that when I do so, I get to where I wanted to be. What Video Game Character Are You?

There are quite a few such tests out there I noticed. Some more I took this evening are below.

This one is dumb, and I don't agree with it:

WHICH SESAME STREET CHARACTER ARE YOU?
Your score is 26 out of 50. You are ERNIE.
You are fun, friendly, and popular. You are a real crowd pleaser. You have probably been out on the town your share of times, yet you come home with the values that your mother taught you. Marriage and children are important to you, but only after you have fun. Don't let the people you please influence you to stray.

This one is also a little dumb:

WHAT VIDEO GAME CHARACTER ARE YOU?
I am the Intellivision Blackjack Dealer.

I am a diligent worker who's most likely working in an office somewhere now. Good with numbers, bright enough to see my way clear through any situation, I'm commited to my work. Others may not trust me, but I'm always fair and honest. Except for that ace up my sleeve, but again, that's just part of doing my job. What Video Game Character Are You?

There are a few more at this individual's site.

I have another site, which I have not updated in a long time, which I may also start updating again.

Tony = cryptic.

I hope to NOT HAVE TO BE CRYPTIC much longer.   :-(

However, if you'd like to use something that is quickly becoming far superior, and has the awesomeness that is "tab-browsing", then visit Mozilla.Org and grab Firebird now!!!

(thank you, Fred, for mentioning it to me - I owe you bigtime - for an "in progress" product, it's totally awesome, dude)

Sometimes a person is so dense, that they have to be smacked in the face about 10 times, over 10 years, with something before it finally registers in their head to DUCK (or in some cases, RUN!).

I am that person.

Okay, I'm done. Posted some random pics taken around the house in the past two weeks (including me on the couch, ugh - Thanks Daniella...)

7:58am - arrive at work

7:53pm - arrive at home from working one-on-one with client all day

9:07pm - watch "For Love Or Money" on NBC

(yawn) I hope the rest of my vacation is as eventful as today was!

I now have a 100% complete MAME .70 ROM dump and all associated samples, flyers, control panels, etc, that are available. Cool beans. eDonkey2000 is one of my newest software-of-the-moment faves. I'm also acquiring a copy of the never-released 1994 movie "The Fantastic Four" this weekend. Neat.

Gary Lienberger (my father in law)
Found him at work, as well as a post he made online (along with some other links to work related things), but I don't think he had anything to do with a basketball game in 1965(?).   There was one more of note at a Christian School (where his wife also works) in Pomona, California.

Anthony Malena (myself):
Orbiter Online was the first entry (since I put it up in 1994, and it's been running, despite a few months of downtime in 2001, ever since).   Saw a couple of posts by me in different online forums, as well as a link from a TradeWars page put up long ago by one of my users.   Also a post I put up in my earlier days with Cunningham Research looking for a rotation (or survey plan) builder (which I never found, and continue to work on to this day). There would probably be some more for Tony Malena or other versions of my name...

Fred Weston (co-worker from CFS):
He shows up, but behind a lot of OTHER Fred Weston's. Hmmph. His domain.

Other friends from high school:
Couldn't really find more than a couple of very vague references (mainly a random post in an online forum here and there).

I found a reference to Victor Schneidman, the man who taught Science in high school, and who let me and a few other nerds use the computer room pretty much to our content (circa 1986 - the web reference was from 2000).

Oh well. I'm done. Wasted 40 minutes on this (that was the point). I'll try an actual "people finder" resource next time.

I finally got to buy "Star Trek Nemesis" on DVD today as well (plus a copy of "Red Heat" for $5.88 -- thank you, WalMart). I really like Nemesis. I really hate seeing Commander Data die (inviso text for those who still haven't seen it). It's very sad, but done very well.

Sometimes... your job just won't let you have one day off. Or, sometimes, your co-workers.

That's it for today. Seizure.... *ngk*

My friend Keith Wheeler is in the hospital as of Tuesday afternoon. He had a sore throat over the entire Memorial Day weekend (as I understand it), and then at work he found it harder and harder to talk. Finally he left and visited the E.R., and was consequently admitted. I have not heard from his family since Tuesday, so at the moment, I have no clue what is happening, or when he will be out, or anything, but I do not feel like I should be calling and intruding (being his "boss", I don't want to give the wrong impression). Maybe I'll have Michael (another co-worker) call instead...

On a bizarre "we're lucky" note: Keith being gone, as well as the termination of another employee in our department, as well as the hiring of Jeffrey this week, could not have come at a better time. We (our department that is) have the the lowest workload of probably the past nine months right now. We're taking advantage of that. I setup my new computer (Dell 4550, with P4 @ 2.4Ghz, 512MB RAM - you have to love Dell cases that "flip open" like an old fashioned Star Trek Communicator), moved two other systems around, setup Jeffrey's computer, got work done on "side projects", and more. Michael has been very helpful in that arena (I have no clue if Michael has a website, hence no links, sorry).

At home, we are closing on the two year mark of "home ownership", and though I am still apprehensive about it in general, it's better than being in the middle of twenty neighbors who you have a hard time co-exsting with, I guess. One thing that has plagued us since shorttly after we arrived, however, was LIGHT BULBS GOING BAD constantly. I'm talking about an average of about 1 light bulb every 2 weeks (that's a rough-but-good estimate). We have been going through 24-packs of light bulbs from WalMart like they're candy!

I asked Jamie to contact an electrician to come inspect the house and look into some form of "line conditioner" (for the main panel so the whole house would be "conditioned", like a good UPS will do for a computer). They suggested we contact the power company first -- good call!! FPL came out and (two ladder trucks later...) shut down the power, put in some new equipment, and said "yeah, you had OPEN NEUTRALS which are a major fire hazard... we fixed 'em". Well, I certainly HOPE so. Can't argue with the price (zero dollars)!

This weekend I plan to take the family to see The Matrix Reloaded. Also, Hulk comes out in a couple weeks, I believe. Our company has done a number of research studies on it, so I've seen numberous variations of the trailer for the last three months. It looks pretty good, though Keith keeps making reference to a "green Sta-Puft marshmallow man" (a la Ghostbusters). What-ev-er...

Miniature Dachshund's are insane, that much is for certain. But in truth, the family has found some happiness in that insanity, so Rumble has worked out so far for us. Kosh seems to enjoy him in an adversarial way (sort of a Professor Xavier and Magneto relationship -- they are on opposing sides, but in the long run, they respect each other and would find it hard to ACTUALLY kill one another). Okay, so I use comic books for analogies sometimes. Sue me...

In any case, watching Kosh sit on a chair, while Rumble jumps to try and get at him... Kosh casually bats his claw at the dog, knowing that he only needs to extend his claws one time to rip Rumble's eyeballs out... Muahahahaha. 'Tis very comical.

Well, as I was writing this, Keith actually called me and said he'd be back at work Friday. Cool beans.

I guess I'm done for now. OH! One last thing. Visit Brad's page. There is a link to an old video of him "playing Darth Maul". It's quite humorous. (several minutes later) Well, I can't find the link now. He's not in AIM, where his url can be found, so I lose. I'll put it up when I find it.

Not much else to talk about right now.

Movie "THE CORE":   Thismovie was "okay". I mentioned it before, and in truth, the more I remember it, the less I think it was "that good". It was just "okay". Drill through to the center of the Earth to help save it. *yawn* Could have been much better.

Easter:   We went to Sweet Tomatoes (which is also known as Souplantation on the West Coast) for lunch. Man, do I miss that place. It's not very local to me, like Sizzler, and it's a treat anytime we go.

Work:   Life at work has been, quite possibly, the most hectic it has been EVER in some regards, this past week. Two particular clients have usurped the time (12-14 hours a day) of myself and of my longest-term employee, Keith. That left Stephen and Michael to handle "the rest of the workload" for the most part. It's been insane.

Recreation:   We went to Ponce Inlet Lighthouse Park. The dog enjoyed it, somewhat, being made to swim for the first time. I only got slightly burned.

I put up some pictures tonight as well. Enjoy.

I posted new pictures of the dog (and updated my template for the recent picture mechanism). When I'm not too lazy, there will also be captions on the pictures as well.

Smallville's on. Going to watch it.

COMPUTER:   The home computer was upgraded (in the sense that the case and hard drives are the only pre-existing equipment). AMD 2100+ processor, Radeon 9000 video, dual monitors are up and running, fun fun fun.

BIRTHDAY:   Daniella had her birthday in early March. Girls, homemade sushi (by me) and pizza, and other stuff. Yay.

BIRTHDAY:   Anthony just celebrated his birthday as well, and we took his group to see "The Core" at the Port Orange Six theatre. Nift.

SURGERY:   Jamie had her foot operated on (similar to another operation a couple years ago on the OTHER foot) and is recovering -- walker in hand -- and is debating a career change/end/alteration during her recovery period.

There's probably some other stuff I've forgotten, but oh well. Work is tedious, yet challenging, and my health is not as good as I'd like it to be, but I'm with a new doctor and trying to make a positive change in that arena. Being a computer geek and a computer person at work doesn't help, as usual, given the limited exercise I get.

Signing off for now. Have pics to post, but it won't be today.

The rabbits suddenly and unexpectedly gave birth yesterday. One dead, two alive. No one had a clue they were pregnant again. Given that they are brother and sister, the children and Jamie finally decided to separate them, and are now going to get the boy 'fixed' ('because it will also calm him down'). What the heck do we do with two more rabbits now? We're turning into a farm.

Another note regarding my birthday: I'm not in bad company, I guess. Chase Masterson, who played Leeta, the Dabo Girl on Star Trek Deep Space Nine shares my birthday with me (my mother raised me believing that Lisa Marie Presley was born on my birthday, same year and all, but in truth, she appears to have been born on February 1st, well before my birthday).

On a very sad note, Fred Rogers (aka "Mr. Rogers") died the day after my birthday. That was sobering. What a great, calming, excellent role model for kids. He taught things that most people are not even exposed to anymore, and did it with a calm voice and a soft touch. He was interviewed on the local radio station literally days before he found out he had cancer, dying less than two months later.     : - (

Okay, on that very unhappy note, I'll take my leave.

We saw Final Destination 2 today. It was good, especially if you don't mind fairly graphic scenes of people being mangled. The premise of that if you cheat Death, "it" will continue to try to get you until it succeeds... or you find a way to push it off for a while.

I've had some back problems lately (due to having slept on the couch one night and my rib cage settling on a wooden crossbar all night - knotted muscles = bad!). The "Urgent Care" center took care of me very quickly (I was highly impressed) in Port Orange, and after two injections (into my butt, yikes), I was given three prescriptions ($107, thank you very much) and sent on my way.

I have a gnarly monologue by a former local radio DJ that is a parody of the movie "Titanic". I found the tape recently and I want to patch it into my laptop and create an MP3 out of it. It's hilarious. If I get it done, I'll post online here at the website.

That's it for tonight. I'm trying to work on a website for WindsorHillOnline.Com, but I'm coming up blank for anything that appeals to me... and I'm using FrontPage for the first time (typically, like on this website, I write my HTML from scratch). We'll see how it pans out...

We had a yard sale this weekend (the first ever for our family, actually). It went quite well. We took in several hundred dollars over the weekend and unloaded a number of things (but not the almost-dead grey van affectionately known as Eyore, unfortunately).

I am now driving a 1995 Ford Thunderbird, and Jamie has acquired the 1996 Ford Windstar now. Eyore (the 1988 Ford E150 Conversion Van) is headed for the scrap yard if we cannot find a buyer. It just barely runs, but does have lots of room and four captains chairs (room for 7 people easily). Oh well. It lasted long enough for us to now be able to have two vehicles bought via auto loans (three years ago, I didn't even have a mortgage) ((sigh)). Eyore is a mechanics dream fixit job - if interested, email me if you live in the Volusia County area. I'll give you an address to drive by and look at it - I'm only asking $450 for it, but will very likely entertain offers.

That dog is just funny as all heck...

Anyway, the house has a lot less clutter now (especially the garage), and we're getting ready for another week of work, school and overall joyfulness. I think I may have my online service's game server back online tonight thanks to some work put into it today (I need to go check it now, as a matter of fact). So, until next time...

I left as the unofficial webhost and webmaster for the community.

You can visit WindsorHillOnline.com starting either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. A temporary page is up for now until content is officially decided upon.

And to think: I went to this meeting concerned that I would have to confront the wonderous redneck-hating thinks-I'm-from-Virginia (as-if-that's-a-bad-thing) neighbor from behind my house who had attacked me and who's kids+friends like to fire bottlerockets at my house. He wasn't there. (shrug)

Jamie is now a member of the board as a "Trustee" as well. They tried to make me the official "Vice President of Technology" (I think that was the suggested title) but I insisted that my real-job was just too much for me think that I'd reliably show up for montly meetings. Food and shelter have to take prescedence, after all.

Went to Denny's with Fred last night, and left my digital camera on the table. Came back five minutes later and was happy to find it still there (unlike Fred's laptop which was taken from his garage - that sucks - I guess that was his official "welcome to the neighborhood, dude").

I hate my comic shelves. They're going to become family bookshelves, and I'll move the comics, once I find a NEW place to store them. (heavy sigh)

I've been posting pictures like a mad dog lately, in case it was not noticed. The RECENT PICTURES link has date-sorted entries of our picture library.

Amanda turned 13 this past week (party was yesterday). Pics are posted. For the next two months, I have two 13 year old daughters, until Daniella turns 14. ((siiigh))

As Jamie paints the walls in the house, I'll be putting up our newly stained shelves. The picture wall on the staircase looks good (like a mini-Buca di Beppo). Pics of that are also posted.

I'm on vacation this week (had to use it before the end of January or LOSE IT).

The new hammock rocks (literally and figuratively). I can take the laptop out there and use the internet, play Age of Empires against two of the kids, or just play MP3s while breathing fresh air and relaxing.

I am ATTEMPTING to fill my idle time with busy things, like home improvement and such. It's hard. I'm a chair-jockey, I work on a computer for a living and I use a computer for my leisure time. I am eternally wishing I were different.

The new entertainment center looks AWESOME, I must say. I actually shopped at FOUR DIFFERENT STORES instead of just going to WalMart and buying it like I normally would do most things. Then, after carefully analyzing the choices... I bought it at WalMart. That depressed me... but in truth, it REALLY DOES LOOK GOOD (pics online). I just hate feeling like I'm a fullbread WalMartian. It makes me feel... (forgive me)... like a hick. ((sigh)) I guess it's the born-and-raised California in me.

The hateful neighbor who attacked me has these kids, and these kids and their friends decided to fire bottle rockets a few days ago. Unfortunately, they were firing them "over" my house, and two of them HIT my house. I was extremely unhappy about that. However, two other neighbors came over and looked like they were complaining about it, and then the police showed up shortly after that (shortly after some of the kids went to another street to continue). Sad.

Okay, on that pathetic note, I'm done for now. Time to go "shop" for a used automotive to replace "Eyore" (sp?) -- the grey van -- which is dying.

My wife and I went to see "The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers" last night. That, also was extremely good (as expected). Can't wait for the final installment (still think they should have made "The Hobbit" first, though).

I took the kids (in gender-based pairs) out clothes shopping as their "final Christmas gift" yesterday as promised. Best several hundred dollars of my money they ever spent, I'd say (ahem).

I guess that's about it. New Year's is almost here. Yay.

The boys have been blessed with a brand new computer desk, topped with the computer I recently built for them. I'm too lazy/tired right now to take pictures of it since I *just* finished setting it up and am sitting back chillin', while watching Rush Hour on TV. The boys are ecstatic. I've even given them access to certain Infocom games (text-based adventures which require a lot of thinking) during the school week after they have finished their homework and chores.

I finally bought my micro-USB-hub... at WalMart of all places. It rocks.

Christmas is five days away, and as usual, I have a very VERY negative view towards it. Christmas is a complete joke around here ('here' being the United States of America). Christmas is a time to worship a fat guy, put up a dead tree and decorate it with tons of silvery ornaments, drape lights all over your house inside and out, buy presents for everyone in an attempt to get some kind of recognition... The day that someone can tell me how a SINGLE PART OF THIS ASSANINE RITUAL has ANYTHING to do with the death and ressurection of the Lord will be the day I'm eternally grateful (no pun intended).

This year, I'm thankful that my wife allowed me to "not have a tree". We're buying a few gifts for people, but as usual, I just sort of go around buying things for people and give them out -- not wrapping them and sticking them under the seasonal holy cross replacement (X-Mas Tree), just giving it to the person and saying "here you go, man, hope you like it".

Christmas sucks. Because christmas has nothing to do with Christ, and that only serves to confuse people.

Okay, enough bellyaching.

Overall = 8 out of 10 stars
Story = 7 out of 10
Visual Effects = 8 out of 10
Musical Score = 8 out of 10
Witnessing the death of a beloved crew memeber = SUCKS

That's all I'll say for now.

Took pics of my day building computers (well, one complete computer including software) which are in the recent pictures link.

The kids, my parents and I went to the Mall at Millenia today. It's a nice mall, as malls come. Took some pictures (in the recent pictures section of the site), which also includes some pics of the family CAT in (non-)action and Christmas lights from around Port Orange.

I'm hoping that I can have something resembling a vacation. Work is light enough now that it should be possible.

I've been cleaning house on this and other websites I handle - doing updates on some that I have not done in a long time. I also have SIX COMPUTER SYSTEMS (each incomplete) on my living room floor, a couple of which are from my parents' recent dual-upgrade. I hope to have some more computers up and running at home so the kids have better access to one instead of having to leech off of mine.

There is a brand new Wendy's right near our house. This is not good. I like Wendy's.

Fred (who's website seems down more than up lately) seems to have moved into his new daddy-built home with his beau (girlfriend, significant other - I really don't know where Amanda falls into Fred's scheme of things) and has GOTTEN RID OF HIS CELL PHONE (I find this extremely odd, but oh well).

Brad Cunningham has left Cunningham Research (no relation...) as of Friday the 6th. I am sad to see him go because he's one of the few truly "nice guys" I've ever met. We were never "close friends" simply due to lifestyles and/or possibly other reasons that I'm not aware of. He's worked toward a Master's Degree at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, which is quite an achievement. I wish him the best in life as he moves out of state. Another potential friend gone... :-/

I found an old Flash animation done by our IT Department (at that time, the IS Department) which has me in it as well in a sort of honorary role since at the time I was already in the DP Department. It's cute. I may post it here later.

That's it for today.

After a couple of unplanned side trips, we then joined Mike and Kimberly Long for their daughters' collective birthday party. Hot dogs, chip dip (oh the humanity of it - I ate chip dip and some food on the side...) and a moon-walk-bouncey-house for the kids (and cotton candy) were in place to keep the kids busy.

The den is about done. Jamie has setup up the beginning of the "around the corner picture wall" which is basically the wall that goes up the staircase and then around the corner at the bottom of the staircase. The garage is almost done being (re-)organized. We're purposely letting the grass grow longer than we'd normally do only to get the areas that are not as dense to get stronger.

I just took a nap and am still groggy, so I thought I'd take advantage of the time to get this posted. I'm back to work now on house-stuff. Enjoy...

Had Sushi Party for my co-workers at Takeya Restaurant this weekend (and then we headed to Rio Bravo for Fried Ice Cream - except now it's ice cream rolled in corn flakes and covered with strawberry jam... blech).

I finally built (at quite a cost) shelves to hold my comics (and room for more to come, though not as MUCH room as I had hoped) in the new Den. Pictures are on the Recent Pictures link above.

Spent money on a lot of "little things" we want or need for the home as well. Still need to come up with a Comic Book Shelving Solution in the new den.

Work has gotten a LITTLE better this week, but only time will tell. There are some things that were discussed which I haven't seen yet, but which should be in the works. It's busy season, in any case, and life is just generally hectic.

New mower got used again - cord broke off, but was easily reattached. Then the throttle handle broke off (siiiiigh), but it still works fine - we just have to use a screwedriver to move the throttle position until we get a replacement for it.

Okay, I'm done for now.

Our cable tv connection has never EVER been good in Port Orange, in either the first house we rented or the new house we now own. However, the cable company has never done anything to fix it in the two or three visits that they've been out. Frankly, once I went to broadband internet connectivity, it didn't matter as much, as long as the internet was working. We "settled".

Then came Tom.

Tom tested things, discovered that our FEED CABLE was not up to par, so he got his shovel and buried a brand new cable from the street to the garage-attic (where it comes in). That did not help (most notably, the local College Channel was still crossing over channel 66 (which happens to be Comedy Channel, something I rarely watch, but which always bites).

Then we tried running a cable directly from the FOUR-WAY SPLITTER in the garage-attic to the tv in the living room. That yielded a PERFECT PICTURE on EVERY CHANNEL (something I thought wasn't possible - literally).

Then when reconnected to the normal wall socket, the picture bit again.

Then when we reconnected the normal cable to the wall, 'hello', it was bad again.

Bad. Cables. I couldn't believe it.

So, a new commercial quality cable from Tom for the living room, a new feed to the entire house, and I have broadband and tv that is truly worthy of $89 a month!

Hey. It only took fifteen months to get it done.

ON OTHER FRONTS:

The new digital camera truly rocks. The few pictures posted here so far did not do them justice, and at the moment, so that I don't run out of webspace, I'm hosting them "at home" through some offbeat means. If you click the "RECENT PICTURES" link at the top of the Journal, you will be transferred to my house and to the temporary webserver there with recent pictures that are much better than the first batch. Tom is featured on today's date. [grin]

The kids just received their grades for the first quarter. They're doing pretty good. Christopher seems to be showing some good improvement in various areas that he's needed attention in.

I did not have a good week at work. In fact... I'm not even sure I work there anymore. I took Friday off since things were pretty level, but by end of day, things were spinning out of control again without my presence, and I spent over four hours on SATURDAY fixing things. We'll see. I truly love my job at Cunningham, especially due to the trust and confidence that the owners SEEM to have in me, but there are a number of issues with employees who just truly do not care (about a variety of things) which I have been fighting for five years. I feel it's time for me to bow out (and that can only mean disaster for my family, as far as I'm concerned). [sigh]

And on THAT happy note, I end for today. Seizure.....

Click to check them out.

The upstairs will literally be split by the bathroom separating boys from girls (Brady Bunch style, though not with dual-door access, oh well).

And of course, the kids are still fairly hyped over it all (the boys more than the girls I assume).

The former dining room will be my den, that's official. The former dinette / homework area / possible Nintendo area will become the dining area (there are advantages to that, including proximity to the barstool area closer to the dining room table for overflow purposes, instead of "banishing" people to the "other dining area" as we have done in the past).

I need to get the HOME computer rebuilt (I'm still hoping it's "just" the motherboard) as soon as the new den is setup. Then we have to move the kids desks into the girls' bedrooms, and a new boys' desk to their room, and then suddenly the downstairs living+dining rooms are going to be a lot more bare.

All in all, it's been a worthwhile project.

At work, a new company (I believe they began in 1999?) has been paid to give us software to program surveys with, and the software until now has been woefully short of the kind of capabilities we need. As a final "show us this or let's just forget it" maneuver, I sent them a very SIMPLE survey to program (along with OUR version of it, already programmed in Quancept CAPI), and an MID-UPPER LEVEL COMPLEXITY survey to program (there are certainly more complicated ones, but they are the exception, not the rule).

The simple program took several days, and the incorporation of NEW FUNCTIONALITY to their package to get it running in an acceptable way (and this is after they have been given at least 3 past studies of similar caliber to test with), while there is no word on the more complicated example. I don't expect to see it until later this coming week.

Keep in mind, these are surveys that we typically have anywhere from a COUPLE HOURS to a FEW DAYS to program. It's highly frustrating, since the Principal(s) of our company are now indicating I am to look at two MORE packages in case this one falls through (after four months of testing, *hrumph*).

Hopefully formal piano lessons will begin in 3-4 weeks (there is an AWESOME deal happening at a local piano & organ dealer). My wife and older daughter are interested in joining me. We'll see.

Okay, I'm done.

The bannister on the RIGHT (first two pictures) is what used to be all the way across the top floor separating "my den" from the open air above the living room. Now, there are two "troughs" there, the lower one set to have fake plants in it and the upper one set to have lighting to reflect off the ceiling over the living room (no more stand alone lamps, just awesome, beautiful reflective light).

The BOYS are making out like gangbusters in this deal since they get their own brand new bedroom to share (much bigger than even both of the other bedrooms put together).

The girls, then, get their OWN BEDROOMS in the process. They aren't exactly complaining.

Today we put up the actual wall. I also start doing the filling of any little gaps or dings in the wood, so we can later paint it all. The former "formal dining room" is going to be the new den, while the "dinette area" will become the dining room, thanks to suggestions from Jamie who I did not think would like such an idea. All seems to be panning out to make this a great upgrade for the home, and to make all parties happy in the long run (especially the fast growing and attitude-toting kids).

The sad details will surely follow.

Work is okay, but getting busy (our department is VERY shorthanded right now, and we are trying to make major changes to how we do things during the BUSY season for our company - not good, but do-able).

Kids are doing "okay" in school. Could be better, but they're working hard. I have faith in them.

I guess that's it. I'm really not in the right frame of mind to be typing in my FAMILY JOURNAL, but if I just sit here much longer, I am going to make some rash decisions.

Probably still will...

Finally "put up" a file server at home. It's nice to have 55GB of storage on a completely separate machine, at 100mbit network switch speed, to keep all of my music, video, emulations and personal file backups on! Next I shall be wiping Windows XP off of my laptop and downgrade back to Windows 98 (my laptop is just not robust enough to truly ENJOY Windows XP unfortunately).

Need to rebuild the home computer that the kids use since somehow the motherboard, or USB bus, or something, died and I cannot keep it running for more than a few minutes (other than that, it works WONDERFULLY, as dumb as that sounds).

Orbiter Online is my next step -- it will move into the Den with the computer and fileserver. As well, I'm drawing up plans for an "entire wall of shelves" in the Den for the over-20-years of comic books I own (they have resided in great tupperware-type boxes for a long time, and even survived a roach-dropping attack at one point -- thankfully I bag-and-backboard all of them so nothing was lost then). This way, all comics will be easily accessible, and the new ones I buy each week can be put away immediately... plus they can be "shown off" to the public (c'mon, it *is* over 20 years of collecting represented here...).

Amanda (child number 2) *ALMOST* broke her wrist Friday night. The firefighter across the street stated she did, but the hospital cannot find a break anywhere. She'll be re-examined in a couple of weeks to make sure nothing was missed (cool -- then they'd have to re-break it to set it properly -- she'll love that!)

Can't think of much else. I have high hopes for the Den once I've "moved into it" (work- and play-wise). Working from the living room off of my laptop is fine and dandy, but it should be cool to be up there. The one drawback is that you can say something in the lowest possible voice there, and you can be clearly heard in the main part of the house. (sigh)

Later...