Evidence

As promised, I snuck the laptop into the radio station and uploaded the pictures from my camera of the wedding.


Best Man & Groom.


The happily married couple.


The Court.


The really drunk bride and heavily buzzing Best Man.

-The rest are being held for ransom...

Awesome Holiday & Weekend Festivities

Where to begin. Thursday was awesome, I had the entire day off and loved it. Ate turkey, all the family was over, it was a feel good time that felt like a Hallmark card come to life. Mom always makes the turkey and every year it seems to get better. This years turkey was pretty juicy and flavorfull. Seconds and thirds were had before the dinner was done. IM just a sucker for the rolls. Those bread rolls are my absolute favorite. I'm sure if I ate those all year they wouldn't feel as special as they are whenever we eat them at Thanksgiving.

I loaned my niece and nephew my Gameboy and one of the games, so they're keeping themselves out of my sisters hair. Problem is, they're probably fighting over it and getting in her hair, completely avoiding the sort of thing my sister was looking forward not to happen.

Oh well.

I didn't bring the laptop or the camera, so I will be updating photos of the festivities tomorrow sometime.

Shopping Observations

A lot of what I say is generic enough to apply to most major retail & electronics stores in the country, but I will say that it all happened at one store.

I mentioned yesterday that I was interested in getting the Aeon Flux DVD set. I drove to one of the major retail stores and started a frantic search for it. Wouldn't you know it, the store was unusually packed. The aisles were filled with parents and children blocking everything with shopping carts and inconsiderate helions. A grunt of frustration escaped my mouth and actually hit the ears of the offending parent. She looked at me incredulously then backed away.

Finding the DVD set, I walked to the register and waited in the shorter of two evils. Such goes the mad holiday rush that there are only two registers open for holiday shopping. This store is notorious for only having two exit-area registers open at any given point, but keeping two cashiers on hand for the holiday crush. I stood and waited as the clerk answered asinine after asinine question from the customer and (of course) saw the other, longer line going faster than mine.

It was about this point where I shut my brain functions down to the essentials (breathing, heartbeat, muscles to ensure I am still standing) and kinda lost myself into my own little utopia when the sick sound of a body hitting the floor echoed through the entire building. The ambient noise of the store was silent for about a second then resumed. I broke my trance and saw a child (no more than 4) had run around like a pinhead and tripped, falling with the characteristic's of a rag doll.

Then I started to think to myself how different a child falls in comparison to an adult. A child has no concept of self preservation until they realize that their falls can have serious repercussions, such as excruciating pain, broken bones or the possibility of severe and deadly injuries. Children fall down face first and never try to catch themselves because they lack this self preservation instinct. As adults, we can't afford to be broken and in pain, so we try and lessen the fall or try other methods of preventing serious injury.

So, with the child up off the floor and seemingly no worse than before the fall, it was time for me to pay for my purchases. I had a wad of cash on hand and instead of paying for my DVDs with my debit card, I thought it would be nice to (for once) pay with old fashioned money. Interesting concept until you bring in the variables.

I thought I was being retro 1999 when I was paying for items in cash. I thought to myself how cool it was to actually exchange money with a company and give my purchase that extra oomph of pride that I did my purchase sans finance charges or debit pensmanship. Then it hit me. The girl manning the register wasn't at all prepared for someone to pay with cash for anything. She asked to be excused and went to another department to get change for my purchase. Now, my DVD was mired with the hassle of exact change only, and not the old fashioned method of payment.

Lesson learned: Online shopping & debit cards from this point forward.

And yeah, I did get ugly looks from people in line behind me.

Miss me?

*dusts off a cobweb*

Well, its been a good couple of days that I haven't really put too much effort into ol' Blank Media. I've been working on a few requests for the Magic Landing website and still trying to get the handle on Photoshop, so that's been taking up a huge amount of time. People go insane for the old park when you promise them a lot and don't update frequent.

Lessee. Life is good so far, nothing real major to say. I've been assisting as much as I can contribute to a non-profit organization in New Hampshire, so that's also taking up some valued free time and aside from all of that I am doing pretty damn good. I saw that Circut City & Best Buy will have Aeon Flux, the DVD box set coming out soon. I was a real fan of the cartoon series that sadly lasted one season, but the set coming out soon will be added to my collection today.

The tediousness of the two jobs is starting to wear on me a little. The lack of sleep and the lack of a social life is really a hindrance to being noticed. I like the second income, so I am perservering. With this extra income, the XM has been installed in the Neon, the iPod was purchased and my switch back to T-Mobile happened, not to mention the trip to Chicago.

Joe's wedding is this weekend. Man, it seems so looming. I think there's a rehearsal this evening at the church. I better check on that.

Don't worry, I will be updating a lot more from now on.

Brain Puree`

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. Name the only sport in which the ball is always in possession of the team on defense, and the offensive team can score without touching the ball?

5. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

6. In many liquor stores you can buy pear brandy with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

7. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters "dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.

8. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

9. Where are the lakes that are referred to in the Los Angeles Lakers?

10. There are 7 ways a baseball player can legally reach first base without getting a hit. Taking a base on balls (a walk) is one way. Name the other 6.

11. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

12. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."

Sabbatical

So I took a week off from Blank Media to relax. While I was relaxing I was contemplating several things. IM never happy with whatever I buy. I think the only things I've been happy with so far have been my sunglasses, laptop, um...

That's about it. If everything goes the way I want it, I might buy something pretty major either 2006 or 2007 and yes, people will get jealous.

I've also been asked when the hell IM supposed to update the Magic Landing site. It will be soon.

Score one for the good guys!

Working at Sonitrol, I've been learning what the normal audio activations from accounts sound like. For the past couple of weeks, we kept getting valid activations from an abandoned grocery store in town from the audio sensors and interior motion detectors. Each time they activate, me and my co-worker will dispatch police only to find everyone gone and a tag on the account as "False Alarm".

Friday was rough. We could hear them breaking in. They used a saw on one of the already boarded up windows. They entered, and they ran off with whatever they were looking for. I was arguing with the cops for too long for them to effectively do their job. That was the police dispatchers fault, not the cop on the beat. My co-worker and I were furious that we had the chance and couldn't get them.

I guess criminals aren't logical thinkers. The guys who broke into the building weren't professionals, and they certainly weren't of age. Juveniles. You could hear them skating in front of the store, you could hear them plot. The sad part was, they didn't know when to stop.

You see, had they been ok with their own malfecence, they could have been another statistic on burglary rates in the city. Instead, they got cocky. They tempted fate again on Saturday. They figured they didn't get caught the day before. Might as well try again. Their luck was with them, we managed to get a police unit to the scene but unfortunately, they left before police got there. They succeeded in breaking a window.

Then, last night, everything changed.

Last night Colette and myself were in central station and were pretty busy for most of our shift. Colette went to work on some paperwork of hers, and I sat back and started to monitor the RADDS. Since buying my new phone, I will admit I was text messaging people most of my shift, but I was keeping a keen ear out on the alarms. I looked up at the latest account to send our system an alarm activation, and it was the abandoned grocery store.

They returned.

This time, they were faster getting into the building. I guess the previous times they entered they paved an easy path into the business. I got the alarms and immediately started the recording process. All audio from the account was being recorded on a simple $1.89 audio tape. I then started to call dispatch, when Colette decided to try a different routine. I cleared as many alarms from the screen as possible and focused on the audio of the alarm and locations. Colette called for police dispatch and as a team worked on giving the police all the information they needed.

It seemed like it took a while. I would sit and listen to the kids break items inside the store, then follow their steps inside. For a moment, it sounded like they ran away. The detectors couldn't detect anything and for a moment, I thought they took out a sensor in their rampage. Then, as I raised the volume to its maximum volume, I could hear running. Lots of running. Then I heard police radios. I couldn't hear what the cops were saying, but they definitely found something. I looked at Colette as she got final parting words from police dispatch, she held up three fingers.

We caught three suspects.

Listening back to the audio detectors, we could hear the policeman enter the business and access the damages. Then, his partner could be heard talking about the charges. From what they mentioned, they're being charged with criminal trespass & criminal breaking & entering. Colette and I finally had a chance to catch our breaths & gave ourselves a high five for the great tag-team on this successful assistance apprehension.

I had this sense of pride and accomplishment that I had never felt before and thought to myself this morning that its probably the same feeling police officers feel when they apprehend someone. It feels great.

Random Thoughts

The Sharp cell phone, Sidekick II is a great phone but is a power hog. So far in the few days I have had it, Its been plugged in 6 hours and can go for about a day and three quarters before its dead and needs more juice. Reminds me of a child at Michael Jacksons compound.

I have been working on the next update to the Magic Landing website. It's not the quality I am hoping for, but I am working with what I have left of unused photos (that are actually usable) and information that has nearly dried up. I did contact some people with regards to some of the rides that once adorned the park. If I get access to this information, I might post pictures and an interview if I get that far.

I won't be able to take my vacation close to the end of the year in Chicago with Joes wedding pending. It's one of the other, and I am already his best man. Chicago will just have to wait.

Got the XM radio half installed. The bracket looks great, I just need to hunt down the antenna I bought.

IM hungry, gonna eat my sammich.

Yeah, yeah, I know...

So I haven't been updating. Some of you haven't been either.

Bah.

I did go out and do something incredibly stupid and incredibly geeky.



I ended my contract with Sprint and went back to T-Mobile. It was a little more expensive than any other phone I ever bought, but something I am learning is you pay for quality.

And, just as an F.Y.I. I retained my old cell number, so nothing changes.

Oh, it supports both Yahoo Instant Messenger and AIM Messenger, so if you want to chat, just scroll down and see my screen names on my sidebar.

Memories

One of the best creations of the 1980's was the Fruit Rollup. It was a flat fruit candy that came in a roll and came in varied flavors. My mom never bought Fruit Rollups. She thought it was too expensive for such a small box of so few candies. I remember my friends moms would buy them and I would make an ever so timely appearance at my friends houses whenever they went to the grocery store.

Well, I had always loved the taste of the rollups. They were delicious. I would sit and ever so enjoy the taste and really savor it. It was rare I had one, and the ones offered in stores today resemble nothing of the original product that was initially released. The first few times I had one, however, was a really bad experience. You see I was just handed the Rollup in it's package. No other instructions. I opened it, unrolled it and was enthralled with the fruity smell of it. I didn't even unroll it at times, I just opened up and...

*CHOMP*

Chewy. Yeah, it was really chewy. I remember it was really hard to chew and tear apart. In the commercials they showed it really easy to tear and eat. Then I looked at the rolled up candy in hand and noticed something odd.

Plastic.

It was held together with a sheet of plastic. Thin as Saran Wrap, it was hard to see. I had eaten 2 previous to that one and realized that I had eaten it with the plastic still on!

I stopped eating them since.