Posted on August 18th, 2010 by David Bradley
I really wanted to get a new Droid phone since my new every two is available. It seems as though stock levels are abysmal. It took me a little while to figure out which one to get and I think I decided on the Droid X. It was between the X and the Incredible.
So Costco has a deal to get the phones with a case, car charger, and earbud which is not great but better than what you get at Verizon stores. The only problem is that they have none in stock. Verizon’s website says 8/31 is the next date that more will be in.
I can’t believe that the X which has been out for a while would have a demand that exceeds the product.
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Filed under: Misc
Posted on August 5th, 2010 by David Bradley
Went to see Kevin Smith’s Q & A on his 40th birthday in Red Bank, NJ at the Count Basie Theater.
I ordered the cheap seats (Deb and I could almost touch the ceiling) and before the show started, they invited the last five rows to come down to the more expensive seats. We ended up sitting in the center on the floor. I imagine these tickets were $100+. It was a nice treat.
The stage was decorated like the outside of the stores from Clerks. He talked for a little bit, then it was time for the first question of the Q & A. He spent 2 1/2 hours on that first question which was a personal record. Once he gets talking, there is really no stopping him.
Once he was done, he said a big thank you to everyone and walked off stage. Then he came back to do a rapid-fire Q & A session with the goal to answer as many questions as he could. Some people got so nervous asking questions and we could see they were trembling. Some had good ones, some did not. As always, Kevin was a gracious host and willing to answer the questions even when the person creeped him out.
Unfortunately, we had to leave at midnight because the parking garage listed 12AM as the closing time online.
I really hope the show comes out on video.
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Filed under: Entertainment
Posted on July 4th, 2010 by David Bradley
I just wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July. Celebrate your freedom…I mean…err…well light some fireworks. We, the people, are no longer free.
We are taxed to death from the government. The free enterprise system is gasping for air like a fish out of water. Big business is the puppet-master behind our nations institutions. MPAA and RIAA have seized our courts and the FCC. BP is destroying the Gulf as well as the surrounding area.
All these studies talking about obesity in America…no shit…i can get a meal for less than 5 dollars in less than 5 minutes. If I want something healthy, I need to pay twice as much and need the time to prepare it. When companies require more of our time for less, one can never catch up. People stay stressed out all the time so then they escape into television. I fall into the eating cheap and escapism.0
I really feel bad for my son. He is inheriting this new world.
Coming up in April, I will try to unplug a bit and may give up the DirecTV and only watch Netflix and over the air broadcast TV.
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Filed under: Trainspotting - Life
Posted on July 3rd, 2010 by David Bradley
I recently purchased the Kodak Zi8. Have not had a chance to try it. Later today will be a good time (it’s 2:30AM). I am also looking on how to embed video into my blog. Nice little project 
Also the boy got his stitches out. The cut looked good until it dried out. It got dark. We are putting some special cream on it now to help prevent a scar.
I hope to capture plenty of videos of the boy. He does so many funny things and I do not want to forget them since my memory is not the greatest.
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Filed under: Kid, Misc
Posted on June 26th, 2010 by David Bradley
So tonight was bad. This whole week has been bad. Work has sucked. Half day Friday ended up being a normal work day. blah blah…
Let’s get down to it. I finally got to spend time with my son. We were playing having a good time. He fell forward which is his normal thing to do when he is playing and gets tired. It looked like he hit his head on the entertainment center which has happened from time to time. He started to cry. So Deb and I rushed forward to him and Deb noticed blood on our floor. Gray stood up, crying, with blood all over his face. He had fallen into the fucking tiny little knob on the furniture. I immediately freaked and Deb switched to mom mode. She swooped in and cradled the injured little guy. She was wiping blood from his face to see how bad it was and barked the order to get ice (which we actually had in the freezer). We assessed the boy. He had a pretty bad vertical cut half way between his hairline and his eye: Pretty much dead center. There was a lot of blood. I can say this without any reservation. I do not like to see my son bleed. Luckily Deb was more level headed than myself. We threw on our shoes and packed up what we needed and went to the hospital. We lucked out there because the plastic surgeon was there because of another case like ours and he was about to leave.
Gray ended up getting some internal stitches and one external stitch. We have to clean it daily and keep him out of the sun for a while.
I ripped those knobs out. The doctor said he will most likely have a tiny scar. It will take about a year to not be so visible. Poor little guy 
I am still upset and unable to sleep. I wish I could keep the boy in a protective bubble and not let anything ever happen to him. He seems to be in high spirits and gave himself an inquisitive look in the mirror because of the adhesive bandage on his forehead.
“Life is suffering’ – Buddha
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Filed under: Kid
Posted on May 25th, 2010 by David Bradley
I usually like to ignore world news because I don’t care to think how bad the world is getting. My motto has always been ‘Expect the worst but hope for the best’. This has kept me from talking too much about great newsworthy items such as murders, fires, neglected children, etc…you get the point. There is too much pain and suffering for me so I tend to focus inward or to the mundane for my news in the way of gaming and entertainment news.
The older I get, the more I find myself not able to just turn off the world. BP gas seems to be getting itself in a serious hole with their oil pipe.
If this isn’t a wake up call that oil is over…or should be, I am not sure what is. I have a car that runs on gas so I am not going to suggest any radical ideas of going off the grid. This serves no purpose except that you are living with your head in the ground. Yes, you are doing your part but most of the world will not live that way.
My suggestion (and I hate to say it) is to have oil and power companies either run or regulated by the government. I never like to advocate bigger government, since I see our government as extremely flawed. They cannot be worse than big business though.
Ok, I’m done. Damn world we live in and the companies that are destroying it. Now I have to go cheer myself up.
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Filed under: Trainspotting - Life
Posted on May 25th, 2010 by Debra Kutylowski
Can anyone explain to me what the heck happened on Lost? It seems that all of the people in the alternate reality are actually dead. uh..ok. so does that mean that the bomb that went off at the end of season 5 killed everyone? That seems to be about when the alternate reality started. but wait, what about the jack/hearly/jacob connection? does that mean that the people who are protecting the island are dead? even jacob died (although he didn’t age and was really old). whatever. then there is the theory that everone died in the plane crash. which does explain the credits of the last episode – the picture of the creash with no one around it. ok. then what have we been watching for the past 6 years?? dead people messing around on the island and then blowing themselves up and then coming back to an alternate dead reality. I don’t know. I think I am more confused now than ever. I think I liked LOST better when I didn’t know what the heck the smoke monster was and wondering about the polar bear.  I think I need some writer/director commentary. someone please explain.
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Filed under: Misc
Posted on May 3rd, 2010 by David Bradley
I played Dante’s Inferno which was supposed to be a God of War clone. Ok, I have no problems with game clones as long as their gameplay meets or exceeds the standard of the game they are copying. I know this is often not the case but as a gamer, I can hope. I read many reviews of the game where people were quite pleased with the game. I can say this. Dante’s Inferno is nothing like God of War. Sure it has: combo moves, double jump, upgradeable weapons, etc. It lacks the polish of the God of War games. Here are a couple of my gripes:
1. Combo attacks move your character and if you are performing a combo, you can fall off a ledge.
2. Difficult control scheme kills you. I was being attacked by several ground enemies and several flying enemies. With no way to target the air enemies from the ground enemies with the ranged attack, then i die
3. Chests (or whatever you want to call them). The allow you to replenish health and magic. The time it takes to open them is ridiculous and the enemies can still attack you. So you got it, more dying.
I could never recommend this game to anyone. I would rather keep replaying the God of War Trilogy than even play through this game the whole way.
For game two of my rant, Bayonetta. Everyone kept saying how great this game was. In the opening sequence, they allow you to control your character and start playing right away. This may sound great, but the big problem is that you cant pay attention to the narrator to get the setup to the story…then again, the story seems to be kinda silly. So maybe they did this on purpose to detract from writing.
It’s so good that I have Gamefly now since I am not liking most of the video games I have been playing. I think I will have to stick with only AAA titles like: God of War, Gears of War, Uncharted, Mass Effect, Bioshock, EA sports games.
As a side note, I can now understand why these companies spend so much time and money fighting piracy. It is to they can blame the nine year olds of the world instead of the real reason: making substandard games and charging people a premium to purchase.
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Filed under: Gaming
Posted on May 2nd, 2010 by David Bradley
Just wanted to say congratulations on the new arrival 
I saw the Facebook post and feel for you with the two hours sleep. I still remember when Gray was born.
It is all worth it in the end. The feeling all of us parents get when our children look up at us and smile…and then go off to do some mischief. Hey, we can allow ourselves to be duped by our children. I thinks it’s a rule or something.
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Filed under: Trainspotting - Life
Posted on April 29th, 2010 by David Bradley
Well I have been contemplating this. It’s sad when it seems no one is posting on my blog…with the exception of pops. Even the wife doesn’t read it…or post obviously. I had much higher hopes to spread the word of what is happening in my life so I could stay in contact. I guess blogs are over with and it’s all about the non personalized facebook and twitter where you can just type a few words and be done with it. I like the challenge of setting up a blog and customizing it. I guess there are no hosting fees associated with the other ones…
The other side of this could be that I am just not writing things interesting enough for people to post a comment. Maybe I will look into making it easier to post and not requiring readers to login. We shall see.
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Filed under: Website
Posted on April 20th, 2010 by David Bradley
I finally decided to update a picture of the boy on my site.
Click on Grayson‘s name.
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Filed under: Kid
Posted on March 30th, 2010 by David Bradley
Gray is now walking all the time. He is terrorizing the cat and loving it. He is starting to say more words. Its so exciting to hear him look at something and then say it. I am trying to think now of all the words he says…
Cat (sounds more like AT), Book, Belly, Frog (which is just the G sound at the end of the word), of course the mama and dada (and variations).
I am sure there are others I am leaving out just felt the need to say it.
He also is very fond of growling and especially if you ask him if he is a monster. The kid cracks me up.
Who knew such simple things would make such an impact on me. I guess this is the joys of fatherhood.
Of course, it goes the other way as well. I had to work all weekend and was not able to really see him for almost 3 days. I feel as though I am somehow letting him down when I cannot spend time with him.
In general, I think all companies force and expect their workers to work more for the bottom line. These companies place absolutely no value on a human life. Angry employees make for bad employees. Think back to 50 years ago when companies valued their employees more than they do today. Well I got off topic.
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Filed under: Kid
Posted on March 22nd, 2010 by David Bradley
I just wanted to take a minute and talk a little bit about recent movies I have watched.
First off, everyone should see Avatar in 3D. I really enjoyed the movie and I will not say anything about that could influence your decision to see it or your opinion on it.
Secondly, I just watched New Moon (the movie based on the second book in the Twilight series). The movie itself was far superior to the first movie and captured the characters from the book quite nicely. The wife hates the story and just like the first movie, she fell asleep at about the half-way mark. She does not like Bella as a character.
And the last thing I would like to touch on is how unresponsive Netflix seems to be getting. I have had 15 movies in my queue with some being there since December. I called to complain and told me that it was because movie studios are only selling them half the amount. I noticed today that the one title I specifically mentioned that had been there since December is magically now available but none of the others. Not sure what to make of this.
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Filed under: Entertainment
Posted on February 11th, 2010 by David Bradley
Gray has been getting braver now that he is just starting to walk. It all started when we would walk him around, then he would stand and walk around his play area. We then received a walker-type toy where he can hold on to it and walk. He tended to fall with it so he became afraid. A week later, he wanted to go back to it. Now if control the speed by holding it, he will go around in circles.
The other day he let go and proceeded to go where he wanted which was about three paces the opposite direction. We can now get him to take about 5 steps on his own, then he gets excited and then falls.
Its not too long now before this little guy is terrorizing the entire house including the cat and my electronics.
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Filed under: Kid
Posted on February 8th, 2010 by David Bradley
Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints for a great game and win against the Indianapolis Colts.
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Filed under: Misc
Posted on February 7th, 2010 by David Bradley
Recently I recommended to someone that they should read the original series of Dune books written by Frank Herbert. These books are some of the greatest stories of all time. Better than a Tale of Two Cities which put me to sleep both times I tried to read it.
That got me thinking why I would recommend just the originals. The new ones written by his son are not bad…just different and I think I still have not decided whether I like the stories. I am reading Paul of Dune right now which is based during the timeline Frank Herbert set up. It seems to big of a departure from the original story. Having Paul experience off-world travel and a war before going to Arrakis seems to cheapen his character arc.
I will continue to read but only to see where Brian Herbert brings the stories. His prequels and two sequels aren’t bad since they are separate story-lines.
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Filed under: Literature
Posted on February 7th, 2010 by David Bradley
I got tired of Russian bots registering users since I allow anyone to register. This caused about 20+ fake user registrations to happen each month. So now a new user can create their own password, fill in all the necessary info, etc. The only new requirement is CAPTCHA. This keeps my email address clean on the contact form. Now hopefully, it will keep my new user registrations clean as well.
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Filed under: Website
Posted on February 3rd, 2010 by David Bradley
More and more happy days with Gray.
I need to focus more on my family than everything else. My priority must be family first as I have been letting stress create an unhealthy environment for Deb and the boy. I am always irritable. I find myself snapping and both Deb and the kid. I can not forgive myself for yelling at the sweet little 1 yr old who knows nothing else. So it is my job now to refocus and be the father I want to be.
I have my standing Warcraft guild runs on Monday nights with Paul, Chris, and the gang. So far so good. Starting to get some decent gear…and I finally hit 80 last week. This is my first maxed out character.
I saw Avatar. What a great movie. Above all else, the movie was entertaining. James Cameron knows how to make movies. They aren’t masterpieces but to me his films stand the test of time. The 3D aspect is definitely a plus since it is so incredible looking. I am trying to convince Deb to go see it.
Tonight was the start of the final season of Lost…one of the best damn TV shows ever made. Some seasons were not as good as others but it looks like things are coming together. Last season was as intriguing as the first and so far with this first episode, it is looking strong.
Goodnight.
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Filed under: Entertainment, Gaming, Trainspotting - Life
Posted on November 25th, 2009 by David Bradley
UPDATE: Tom fixed the XBOX M$ engineers need to learn how to affix a heatsink properly. Plastic clips degrade and fans need to move air across the heatsink.
Thanks Tom.
Well, it finally happened. My XBOX360 has RROD’d (Red Ring Of Death). I knew it was inevitable. The 360 was made in 2006. I bought one early on. Now its out of warranty and its a paperweight. I think I might sell all my Xbox stuff and go get a PS3. Goodbye DLC, addons, and Guitar Hero. Maybe I will just go back to PC. I can repair them in my sleep. The PS3 is at least a BluRay player.
I am one dissatisfied customer. I have had a PS2 going strong after all these years. I have had problems with the original XBOX as well with Disc Read errors. Consider me defecting to Sony’s camp.
I will have to see if my Brother-in-law can take it apart to fix it…but…if not, then goodbye to Microsoft. You have lost the 50/yr plus games from this customer.
EDIT: Just canceled Live Gold…I just made $50 this year. PSN is free
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Filed under: Gaming
Posted on November 12th, 2009 by David Bradley
If the flood of information is true and the all powerful Microsoft does band 1 million users from Xbox Live is true, Microsoft has lost it’s mind. In a recession where I was even thinking of ending my Live account, they are essentially making 50 million less dollars.
I may have to start thinking that Apple, Linux, and Sony are the way to go. I am changing my mind about Microsoft. If anyone I know gets their Xbox banned, I may just go sell my 360 and all my games for a nice new PS3…Little Big Planet and Uncharted look awesome anyway plus Blu Ray
‘Hey, Foot’
…bang…
Face wonders what he just did
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Filed under: Misc
