Pimp my Car Audio

A few months back I purchased a 30gb video iPod to transport my music from home->car->work->gym instead of my old method of burning mp3 CDs and playing them on my mp3 CD discman. In doing this it was necessary to upgrade my truck's radio, shopping around I settled on a JVC KD-HDR1 and the KS-PD100 iPod interface adapter from Crutchfield. Side note, Crutchfield is awesome, I will always buy my stereos from them now. In addition to a very competitive price on the stereo deck they throw in free shipping, vehicle specific mounting plate, wiring harness, and step-by-step installation instructions (not that I really needed them). I've had the HD Radio & iPod combo for a bit now, and think I've got a pretty good feeling for their functionality. Overall I'm impressed, and would definitely recommend the HD radio. FM quality is improved and many Portland area radio stations have secondary HD bands. I really enjoy 92.3 KNRK (classic rock), their HD2 station plays live performance tracks. Stuff you really don't get to hear often. And of course all HD2 bands are commercial free!! AM quality is improved significantly. AM almost sounds like stereo FM when the signal is good. It really improves the enjoyment of talk radio programs, no more high frequency buzzing, crackling, and volume irregularities.

Review: Big Al's Bowling Alley

After work one day last week Darci and I were trying to think of somewhere new to go eat dinner. Darci remembered that the new Big Al's bowling alley was now open, I immediately made an executive decision to go there. I was amazed by the size of the place, the large vaulted ceilings really made the place feel inviting. A big difference from the traditional low ceiling bowling alley that makes you feel claustrophobic as soon as you walk in the door. I marveled at the site of 30 brand new bowling lanes. I've never played on a brand new lane before, all the lanes I've bowled were at least 20 years old. There was even 12 separate luxury lanes in a separate area that featured plus couches instead of the standard table/chair design of the other lanes. This is my type of bowling!

I toured the arcade section next. I marveled at the selection of brand new arcades, some of which I had only seen in development before: Rockin' Bowl-O-Rama, NASCAR & World Poker Tour pinball, Time Crisis 4, House of the Dead 4, a bank of The Fast and the Furious, Super Bikes, Mario Kart Grand Prix racing arcades, and a myriad of ticket redemption games. All of the machines run off a prepaid credits card, that is purchased from a nearby machine. This is a great option as it allows parents to prepay for their kids arcade time and takes out the hassle and risk of kids carrying around pockets of quarters.

Next we heading out in search of their large sports bar. We entered a large auditorium in the back of the facility. This had to be one of the biggest sports bars I've ever been in. There are booths and tables setup in and auditorium style layout, much like a movie theatre, so you never have a head in your way. In fact the bar wall/ceiling is decorated to appear like you are in a baseball stadium. At the front of the bar is the TV wall, which is actually three 8ft x 12ft projector screens. The display is split across three LCD projectors that have the ability to split up each screen into several different displays, each playing a separate sporting event. While we were there we they had approx 11 channels playing everything from football, baseball, NASCAR, golf, and even a movie. It appears that they could chop the display up into 9 displays per screen and still have each large enough for viewing, or even stretch a single display across all three screens for special events like Super Bowl. There was eight brand new pool tables in the middle of the bar. And at the rear of the bar was what is called the Skybox. It's a separate room with large glass windows looking out into the main area. It includes large leather chairs, couches, and it's own pool table. Seems this would be a great rental area for corporate outings.

After drooling over the brand new lanes for a while I just had to play on them. Darci and I played two games. The first Darci won, I sucked, I was too rusty, especially since I was playing without my bowling ball. Although it was very nice to play with brand new house balls. Not the old chipped, alien finger hole sized/aligned house balls we're all used to. The second game I kicked ass! I scored 203 and only missed 13 pins out of the possible 110 pins. It's funny how fast you can gain the respect and admiration of bowlers around you. During the first game there was this grumpy old guy bowling on our right side who was taking his game too seriously (and sucking by the way), and a group of rowdy annoying young punks on our left. After I bowled my 4th strike in a row I gained the respect of both parties. The old guy was trading tips and trying to talk me into joining his league, and the young punks were yelling "Damn!", "Nice!", "Sweet!", each time I finished. It was pretty cool, I haven't had an on game like that in a while, especially with a house ball. I'll definitely start frequenting this place. My score card is below:

Frame	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Pins	9 /	X	X	X	X	9 -	X	9 /	X	8 - -
Score	20	50	80	109	128	137	157	177	195	203

If you are up in Vancouver try this place out, better yet, call me and we'll go hang out there together.

Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Let me first tell you a tale of the mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood, his love Elaine Marley, his nemesis the evil undead pirate LeChuck, and the notorious secrets of Monkey Island. Sound familiar? If you were a video game enthusiast of the early 90's it should. The Monkey Island game series was one of the main influences that sparked my fascination for Pirates (the other influence being the original C64 game "Pirates!"). I loved Monkey Island because not only did it include traditional real world pirate themes (ships, treasure, sword fighting, exotic local, etc.) it also included more of the romantic themes such as those of the legendary Sinbad (epic adventure, super natural creatures, mystic treasure, etc). And on top of all that they threw in an extra large serving of humor. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies have recreated that model, and added a load of special effects eye candy. This might be as close to a film adaptation of Monkey Island as we'll ever get (especially considering how bad game->film adaptations have been done lately). I'm not the only person who sees the similarities, even Ron Gilbert. However I enjoy the irony of the situation (as MI was reputed to be semi inspired by the PotC ride, and now fanatics are up in arms about PotC being a rip of MI. I see it as being more of a homage. Darci and I went to see PotC2 last night at Cinetopia. I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this movie and would have loved to see it at the midnight showing on premiere night. However since this movie is somewhat of a family film, I decided it would be best to wait and see it in a 21+ environment so the kiddies didn't ruin my theatre experience. Overall I was very happy with the film, and strongly recommend it. A little long with a run time of 150mins, but I barely even noticed as they make good use of that time and suck you in. Go see the film and then come back and read my detailed thoughts below.

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

Pros:

• Boot Strap Bill: From the last movie, I was aware that they could bring back Will Turner's father, Boot Strap Bill, as he was also part of the Aztec Gold curse, and would simply have been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for years in an undead state. And the mention of his father to Will Turner added a sense of history, that I was hoping would be brought back.
• Davey Jones: Adding the menace of Davey Jones helps provide a tangible entity to the mythology of Davey Jones's Locker. I think it made for a great plot point.
• Voodoo Priestess: I loved that they included her character. Her scenes helped to add to the supernatural feeling of the film, and sort of bridged the gap between reality and mysticism that occurs in the film. Plus it seems that she has a long history with Capt.. Jack Sparrow, so hopefully there is more explained about that in the 3rd film. (Note: Although it seems she has the same heart shaped music locket as Davey Jones, is she is heart broking love interest?
• Captain Jack Sparrow: once again Johnny Depp makes the movie, his character really develops in this film and ties everything together. I don't think any other actor could have played that role and been so successful.
• Special Effects: Overall the effects were great. Especially on Dave Jones and some of the key members of his crew. However I think that the CGI became overwhelming during shots of the crew all together. They repeated textures of the coral/barnacle skin and the darkness of the shots made all the crew members and the ship blend together too much. A few times it looked like a wash of grey & black, with Will Turner standing out amongst it. I think they could have used more hands on makeup for a few members of the crew like used on Boot Strap Bill. And since it's shown that Davey Jones is constantly gaining fresh crewmen, they might have varied the degree of sea life decay a bit more.
• Good Vs. Bad: I was happy to see them show the internal struggle within all the characters. Each developed either rising to new heights, or sinking to new lows. It truly shows the romanticism of piracy, that even a bad guy can be good at times, and the purest of us can be evil when our lives are on the line.
• Midgets: I was delighted to see the midget pirate. Midgets crack me up. In every scene the midget is in, he is constantly doing something funny. It's sort of like a "Where's Waldo" Book. In every scene I'm looking for the midget to see what he's doing LOL

Cons:

• The Cliff Hanger: While cliff hangers just seem more of a copout to make a long movie into two parts so it can make more money, I wasn't too pissed about this one. They tell enough of a story, and wrap things up in a way that you feel satisfied. Although the setup at the end really makes me want more. I was glad to hear that they filmed PC2 & PC3 simultaneously so that we only have to wait a year to pick things back up, and complete the adventure. I just hope that they don't tie off all the loose ends in part 3, so that there is enough to elaborate or spin-off of for a part 4.
• Special Effects: See comment above
• The Cracken, Attack #2: Well I guess it's officially attack #3 because there was the scene he ate the East Indian Trading vessel early in the film when they fish Jack's hat out of the ocean. Anyhow, I don't get why then loaded up the black powder & Rum, hoisted it in the air, and blew it up? Okay, I see that it managed to blow up a couple of the tentacles, but it just wasn't apparent to me the mind set behind that. Wouldn't a better plot be to put it on a raft, get it to follow the raft somehow, and blow it up entirely? Maybe I need to see the film again to understand it, but at the moment I'm perplexed.

Review: Cinetopia

I finally made it to Cinetopia for a movie viewing. Cinetopia is a new luxury theatre in Vancouver that opened up a while back. They have luxury seating, a 5 star restaurant, art viewing, live music, etc. It's supposed to be a great deal better then the traditional style theatre. I watched a movie in one of Cinetopia's Living Room Theaters. For about $1.00 more per ticket then a viewing at Regal Cinemas you get a 21+ environment (no kiddies, no disrespecting teens, or loud families), a nice high back leather seat (leather arm rests, and optional leather ataman), and an option for in theatre dinner/alcohol (additional charge). I showed up a bit late (20 mins before showing) and ended up having to sit in the front row, which really wasn't too bad. However I think I would have enjoy sitting a bit further back from the screen. Turns out you really need to get there about 45 mins early to get a select seat, as many people get there early to eat dinner in their seat before the show. While this is nice, I really think the cinema should handle it differently. Sell reserved seats for the middle 3 rows during dinner time showings (6pm or later) and sell the rest as general admission. That way you can eat dinner in the restaurant and then walk in 5-10 mins before the show starts and sit in your reserved seat. The only other issue was the lighting, they had little lights illuminating the armrests so you can see your food while the show is playing. It wasn't too annoying, I just like it perfectly dark when I'm watching a movie in the theatre. One thing I didn't really understand was the "pillow pit". There is a one foot deep rectangle hole cut out of the cement floor at the bottom of the screen. It's carpeted and lined with pillows. It's advertised as an alternative seat for movie viewing. While the idea is good, the pits are just too close to the screen. Even lying on your back I don't think you could see the movie correctly due to the severe angle. Overall it was a great experience, I'm glad to see someone else respects the theatre experience and wants to offer a bit more luxury. I'll likely start seeing a lot more movies there. Next time I think I'll try their grand auditoriums and see how that is. More to come ...

Tent Trailer

First off let me say that I am in no way a weenie ass that has to bring every luxury of the modern world with me "camping". I've always been disgusted by those individuals, and thought they had no place in the woods. However as I've seasoned a bit and have a family of my own I've come to the conclusion that there is in fact two types of camping. "Family Camping" (also known as "Car Camping") and "Rugged, Manly, Shit in a Hole, Sleep Under the Stars, Backpacking Camping". So I've become a participant in both. However even when I do go "Family Camping" I'm still a believer that you need to leave your modern day luxury items at home. That is why I don't want a fancy RV, all I want is a easy up hard shell tent. Something I don't have to spend two hours figuring out how to setup, or another four trying to tear it down in the rain and roll back up to fit into it's 1/2 sized tote bag. So the perfect fit is a Tent Trailer. I've spend some time scouring craigslist for a good deal on one. I didn't even care if it needed some restoration work. Finally on Monday I found a killer deal on a nice 1970's era trailer. Darci and I met up with the owner, got a full walkthrough on the thing, looked over every inch ourselves, and made a deal on it. This thing is in great shape, only some minor cosmetic work necessary. It's got very large beds, four to be exact, so we'll each have our own beds with plenty of room to spare. It's got battery powered lights and accessories, plumbing for water in/out, and propane powered stove. I'm not sure what all I'm going to keep and what I'm going to remove. I'm super excited about the amount of storage room in this thing. I can now organize and permanently pack all my camping gear in this and have it ready to go whenever needed. No more sorting through the multitude of gear to pack just what we need for the desired trip, and then trying to fit it all into the vehicles. We'll just pack some clothes, toiletries, and food. Then hook up the tent trailer and we're off! I'm definitely going to apply my master techie geek hack/mod skills and add some choice additions to this thing. First off is LED lighting to conserve battery power. For pictures, details specs, and a continuous log of work on this tent trailer click HERE.

Natural Selection

I started playing Natural Selection again a couple nights ago. This game kicks so much ass, because:

• It's a quasi port of the movie Aliens, which is one of the best all time Sci-Fi flicks. So right there you know it's going to be awesome.
• You can play either side, everyone likes to play the bad guy once in a while.
• It combines two of my favorite game styles: FPS & RTS. Which others have attempted but miserably failed.
• It's a mod for the original Half Life. So it's non-profit game created by gamers for gamers. Plus almost everyone has a copy of HL1, if not it can be purchased for $9.95 through Steam. And HL1's system requirements are minimal. So everyone can run this game.
• The development staff are dedicated to constantly fix bugs and develop new enhancements. The mod was initially release approx four years ago and today it's on version 3.1.3, and have developed two game play modes: Combat & Classic. Combat is good for when you don't have much time to play or just want to play quicker matches. I usually play a few rounds when starting to get warmed up.
• It's got voice communication! How novel is that? I'm still shocked by how many games are released with out this. Especially when they are military strategy type FPS. So you can actually bark orders during a heavy fire fight instead of retreating to a safe house to type chat.
• There's a variety of weaponry, gear, and offensive/defensive structures for the marines. As well as a variety of alien species with different attack methods, and different offensive/defensive structures. This really helps keep the game interesting. Imagine walking into a room that appears empty, only to find that it's actually full of cloaked aliens. Alternatively, being rushed by jet pack enabled flying marine troopers.
• With a myriad of online servers around the world there is always someone to play with.

Dang this list is getting long! Really I could go on and on about how awesome this game is, but honestly you should try it for yourself. It's a ton of fun. That's why it's one of our regular games at our LAN parties. If you aren't getting invites to our LAN events and would like to attend, drop me a note. I'm even more stoked about this game as the development group are actively pursuing a production version of this game on a higher gaming engine (like maybe HL2?)

Review: Craigslist

If you don't know about Craigslist or don't use it regularly, you are missing out on one of the greatest web resources. I've been using craigslist or the last three years or so, and I'm always amazed at how valuable it is. Just yesterday I was once again taken back by it's power. In the process of cleaning out my garage I found a bunch of old baby items from when Logan was little. I decided it was time for them all to go, so I posted them up w/pics in the free section on Craigslist. With in 15 mins I had about 30 emails asking for the items. I immediately closed down the ads and sorted through the emails. I told them all to come pick up the items between 6pm-9pm, and by 7pm all the items had been picked up (4 different people). Something very similar happened a few months back when I posted up an old washer/dryer set. I've also found some killer deals on merchandise myself. All but one of my arcade machines were found on craigslist, as well as my Blazer, as well as tons of misc auto parts for the Blazer and my Neon. I could go on and on about all the deals I've found or others I know have found. So if you have something to sell, try craigslist first. If you're looking to buy something used try craigslist first, and then eBay.

Review: Rainbow Playground Depot

I attended a birthday party for a friends daughter at the Rainbow Playground Depot. They have a large indoor showroom with several small to extra large big toy type play structures, and the entire floor is padded with thick foam tiles. They also provide a couple small rooms for birthday activities and refreshment. The kids had a blast playing on all the structures. All of which had unique designs and toys that you won't find at the local school or park playgrounds. The best part was the entire thing is inside. Which is very important here in the north-west. So the showroom gives the building double usage, they can show off their innovative designs by giving kids hands on experience, and to help raise revenue they rent it out for birthday parties. Which is also free advertising as the attending kids get a couple hours to play on the structures and then beg their parents into buying one for them at home. To help plant that bug further, there is no shortage of catalogs. Every 10ft there is a another large bin full of 1" thick catalogs. At the end all the kids had a great time, and I was glad to see another kid birthday party location option. Something besides the usual Chuck E. Cheese echo "";

Review: V for Vendetta

I was initially hesitant to see this movie as I had it fingered as another crappy comic book adaptation. I also had mixed feelings after finding it had writing credits from the Wachowski brothers. I've seen a couple of their early works and know that they have a knack for drama and action, but I was worried that too much of their Matrix styling was going to shown through. However after hearing good things about it from a few of my friends, whose opinions I value, I decided to give it a try. While I may or may not agree with all the political aspects of the film, I did come away with what I feel is the overall message. That we as a people need to educate ourselves on the workings of our government, keep our eyes & ears open, and get involved & speak up when things aren't being handled properly. Otherwise we are simply mindless cattle being herded by a higher power. Too often I find today that people keep their heads down and only focus on what's two steps ahead of them. We are no longer in the middle ages where we only have to focus on our small section of land. We are a global body where our actions effect the world as a whole, and someday in the future we may become intergalactic. But here I am getting political and steering off course, that's a discussion best suited for it's own entry. One thing I did really appreciate was that they never show V's face, or expressly tell you who he is. A lot of whom you believe he is, is just that, your own decision based on hinted evidence. He then becomes the character V entirely, a symbol of an ideology, something that will never die. (In the comics it's even hinted at that he may in fact be a she, Valerie, the prisoner of room IV from Larkhill, and the memorial that he has is in fact a memorial for the past life lost). In another view point if he indeed is the burn victim of room V from the Larkhill experiment (which his burnt hands express) then his face would be severely burnt and would no longer resemble who he was. Therefore it would be futile for Evey to remove his mask to see his true face. In the end I really enjoyed the film. It gets you thinking while keeping you entertained. The story was cohesive enough that it doesn't appear to be a far stretch just to make a film with some action. I'ld definitely recommend it. These are my initial thoughts, I may have more after I let the film soak in more. What were your thoughts?

A Trip to the Wrecking Yard

After dealing with Foster Auto Parts and their sky high prices I had pretty much given up on auto wrecking yards. Then Sunday I went to the U-Pull-It Auto Wrecking on Foster in Portland and had my faith restored. For a $2.00 per person charge, you can walk around their yard and pull any parts you need from the vehicles. It was nice to be able to search for the parts myself as I didn’t know exactly what I wanted. In the end I pulled an overhead console from a 2nd gen Chevy s10 LS pickup and a new head light switch from an old 1st gen Chevy Blazer for $21. Justen managed to get a set of nice bucket seats from the same 2nd gen Chevy s10 pickup for $24 a piece. That is such a good deal. We were ecstatic at the good finds there. I would have picked up more parts for my vehicles, but I didn't have the correct sized tools to pull them. I'll definitely return again sometime soon. The only down side to this place is they don't have a very large selection of newer model vehicles, but if you need something out of a early 90's or prior, chances are you'll find it there.

Review: Gillette Fusion Power

While out shopping I saw the new Fusion series of razors from Gillette and figured I'ld buy the Power model (vibrates) and give it a try. Upon first trial I had four days worth of facial hair growth (for reference I could shave my goatee and regrow it in about 10 days). Normally with this much growth and using my old Mach 3, I have to do about 4 passes on the same strip of skin to get a close clean shave. And each pass feels/sounds like a cheese grater sliding across sand paper. Overall a pretty painful and time consuming endeavor. On the very first use with the new razor I was amazed at how well it performed. A quick clean, pain/sound free cut. At first I wondered if it was even cutting hair, that's how smooth and quick the passes were. More importantly however there were no nicks, cuts, or razor burn. I constantly have problems with razor burn because my facial hair is very thick/strong, and my skin is very sensitive. I definitely recommend everyone try out one of these razors and see how it works for you.

New Years in Phoenix!

We're back! Man it's good to be home. Even through it was sunny and warm (70°-90°) all week, I really miss being home. I was starting to feel dried up with all the sun, sand, and lack of moisture in the air. It's nice to be back home and enjoy the 50° temps, lots of rain, and greenery. Our trip was a lot of fun, but it wore me out. I'm dead tired. We got in at 1am this morning (1/2), went to bed around 2am, and then I had to get up at 8am for work. That on top of already being sleep deprived, as I went to bed at 3am on 1/1 and got up at 8am to go golfing, and I've had a lot of late nights/early mornings the last few weeks with all the holiday activities. I think I need to crash early tonight to try to recoup some lost ZZZzzzz's. I'll be putting together a full write-up on our trip as well as numerous photo galleries of our adventures very soon. So check soon.