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Yesterday I was downloading Winamp Lite and noticed that bundled with the free full player are 50 free downloads from emusic.com. I normally dont go for these gimmicks because theres normally something attached, and I don’t even own an mp3 nor do I listen to music on my PC on a regular basis.

However, both Megan and I have had our eyes peeled for a reasonably priced mp3 player, and I think I’ve found it.

Walkman Core™ MP3 PlayerNW-E505BLUE

(See the larger version, here)

• 512MB Built-In Memory/Stores 345 Songs
• Built in FM Tuner
• 3-Line EL (Organic Electroluminescence) Display
• Super Quick Battery Charge (3 min charge = 3 hrs playback)

That’s $99 dollars you can’t shake a stick at. Look at the larger image to see the display, which is impressive for such a small jump-drive-like unit. For those of you who want more space, you can jump to the 1Gb version for $30 more which is a steal too. I for one though think 345 songs is plenty, especially considering the flexiblity of what you can put on it and take off it at any time. That means you can use it for your existing library of mp3s, or jump over to a site like emusic and get them for .22 cents a pop (20 bucks up front for 90 songs) versus the iTunes .99 cents.

Hopefully Megan can talk her dad into one of these for her birthday which is coming up soon. She really deserves it as hard as she’s worked this semester, and for everything she’s done for me post-op. Maybe I can throw in on it or something..

I won’t be long because you can read about this at the link below, but Justin put me on to live Air Traffic Control where you can listen to ground ATC, along with IFR ATC. You can also hit up the site which shows you active IFR flights from beginning to end - it’s pretty cool. I’ll add more later on this and maybe a picture,(dun!) but for the time being just check out the link below.

LIVE ATC/ LIVE FLIGHT TRACKER @ WANTMOORE.COM

Forgive my slight liberalism for a moment. I consider myself a fairly conservative guy, but I have no declared party because I like to think ‘beyond the line’ per se.

I was reading this in the Herald Tribune and it really struck me because I never had any inclination that members of Congress would regularly play baseball (or softball in some cases) around the mall of Washington. But back to it..

The sticking point, according to The Wall Street Journal, is the championship playoff system long run by a Democratic commissioner - a bleeding heart approach, in the view of Republican batters. It forces the teams with the strongest records to risk playing one another in the opening challenges, rather than letting them feast first on the weaker teams, as in the great American way of professional sports.

The issue is, a new league has formed by a new Republican Commissioner who wants things changed. I laughed because it just seems so typical that these certain republicans dont want a fair shake of the stick - they think it’s unfair that the teams with the best records have to play each other first and lose standing. What a bunch of babies! This is so representative of their anti-little-guy, capitalist attitudes towards big business with all of their tax credits, environmental breaks, etc etc. I just thought it was funny how closely and backwards our economy and professional sports are.

Like I said - I lean conservative but some things just are outta control with the party that claims the like.  It’s just like someone who leans liberal but doesn’t declare their party. I think there’s alot of us out there.  All I can say is, relax and play ball you guys. Theres no money in this any way you slice it.

During a google search I came across an open source flight simulator.

The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. Source code for the entire project is available and licensed under the GNU General Public License.

The goal of the FlightGear project is to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for use in research or academic environments, for the development and pursuit of other interesting flight simulation ideas, and as an end-user application. We are developing a sophisticated, open simulation framework that can be expanded and improved upon by anyone interested in contributing.

For those of you unfamiliar with open source, in lamen terms it’s free software that would cost you big bucks if you bought the same kind of software off a shelf.  That isn’t an exact definition, but it applies to the purpose of this entry. Examples would be Open Office (Microsoft’s Office is some outrageous $500ish dollars in store) and Flight Gear, an open source flight simulator that looks basically identical to Microsoft Flight Sim ($30 to $50 in store).  I’m looking foward to downloading this and trying it out once I’m able to sit for extended periods of time.

I feel much better today.  I still feel a bit of nausea now and then but for the most part the medication switch has really cleared things up. I was on Codine every 4 hours, now I’m on _____ .  I only take 1 pill every 4 to 6 hours, fairly pain free and have been on my feet a lot today doing a few things around the house.  On Monday I go to have my staples taken out, which is good because last night I had a dream that I had to go to the hospital and have them ‘torqued’ up.  Torqued…

To followup on my UPS rant, I finally received my package today.  The driver caught me in the middle of shaving so I couldn’t say much. No matter, I don’t think they care what their customers think here nor there.  It was a huge box and it really delivered! Inside was a loaner laptop (left) which couldn’t be better because it weighs about half a pound, an ESI tshirt for Megan and I, and a belated graduation present to put my goofy lookin mug in  with my tassle.  Thanks Mr & Mrs Moore.

O and I failed to mention the mountain of bubble wrap & movies to keep me entertained.  Although there are moments I would like to lock my neighbors new dog up and suffocate it so I don’t have to listen to endless barking while it’s locked in the kitchen when they are away. *sigh*. I dream of the day that I own my own home with some footage between me and my ‘neighbors’. If they are too loud then, I’ll just park a cruiser in the driveway to hint that I won’t tolerate anything but outstanding citizenship and neighbor-ly-ness.  Thats right folks, I’m down but I ain’t out.

And before I go, this question was posed on the news.  “If the Star Spangled Banner is sung in spanish, is it still the Star Spangled Banner”?

To answer I pose this:  Does an illegal immigrant crossing the south border become an instant American just because they are in a new country?

My fellow Americans, just keep this in mind. Hearing stuff like that is just a SMALL price we pay for the freedoms we enjoy and exercise, just because we hear it doesn’t mean we have to listen to it.

UPS Sucks. I googled (a few interesting comments there) that phrase and my first hit was a blog stating the same, so I guess I can’t say this is an original thought.  But back to it…my buddy Justin decided to be cool and loan me a laptop he had laying around for me to use during my recovery.

This morning around 10:30 I hear my doorbell. Now I know UPS doesnt know I just had back surgery, but I assume they’ll at least ring again or knock again about the time I hit the stairs. WRONG. The bell rings, I slide the laptop off my lap, logroll off the bed and head down the stairs.  Stairs aren’t really a problem for me right now, I just can’t turbo down them like a 14 year old kid. When I hit the front door I unlock and open it only to see the shit brown UPS truck speeding off. I push the screen door open and try to wave him down, but I suppose taking off at Charlotte Motor Speedway speeds requires a lot of concentration or something…

So I’m pissed, Justins pissed when I tell him and we both already know our hands are tied…there is nothing getting that truck back here same day; but we foolishy try anyways.  He calls first and talks to a lady who gives the typical robot response and is completely useless. Then I call and talk to possibly the same lady who responds with a pause long enough for a super bowl commerical when I ask her why drivers dont stand at a door longer than 10 seconds.  Then she apologized, which made me feel a lot better if you can’t tell, and told me they would try again tomorrow. She also informed me that UPS was only required to attempt one delivery per day.  That’s funny considering the customer PAID them to deliver the package, and the sooner they deliver it the better for me AND them. It’s good for business, fuel use, etc etc. Whats wrong with a second attempt in one day? I dont know…I didn’t bother asking because I was afraid I was going to get another dumb answer which probably would have led to me throwing my phone across the room in an attempt to hang up as ‘mean as possible’.

Instead I just said ‘thank you’ and hung up; there shall be SOME civility in the world..even if I have to supply it while I’m getting the shaft.  Heres a note to UPS; I’ll never use your company again by choice, and I will use your competitor(s) even though they employee bumbling idiots too.

Considering the ridiculous amount of pain that’s developed in my back in the past hour, I thought I’d update.

Also, Megan is making me watch American Idol to find out who gets the boot while she studies. I can’t say I’m a fan but, as much as she’s doing for me, I can do this for her.  That Kelly Pickler bimbo gets on my nerves so hard that blogging about pain is the perfect distraction.  It’s a real shame people consider her a representative of ‘my state’..

Back to the pain; I decided today around noon that I should stop taking my hydrocodone.  I’ve had severe nausea and have felt weak for the past 3 days and it turns out the drug information states that if you start feeling like this you should stop taking it and contact a doctor. I’m an idiot and didn’t read that until today.

So..guess who’s phone I’ll be ringing tomorrow. I would call tonight but the on call can’t really do anything for me, all of the drug stores are closed.  I will say this though; if the pain continues to increase at this rate I’ll be immobile in a few hours :/. I feel so bad I’m not even going to bother posting a picture for you to look at.

VIACOM has acquired the popular gaming messenger Xfire. Under the agreement, Xfire will be completely owned by MTV Networks. Xfire Inc. will receive $102 million in exchange. The Xfire team claims the recent acquisition will allow them to build a larger community while remaining committed to improving your gaming experience. Xfire’s frequent updates, which occur a few times a month will be carried over with the MTV acquisition.

At the time of the announcement the Xfire website hadn’t changed yet, though we wouldn’t be surprised to see MTV-esque advertisements in future Xfire releases and the website.

Thanks to Justin for the heads up. This is sad because Xfire is a quality product and MTV is donkey shit. It really truely is, and once I get back on my main computer I’ll be uninstalling it. I hope everyone else does so as well to remind MTV that noone, not even Americans, like a plague.    

Once again I’m using my blog as a quasi archive for my ‘want list’. It’s really very useful for a poor guy with expensive tastes in ridiculous but neat things.

This is a ‘rare’ replication of an M1 Garand used in the filming of Band of Brothers. I’d really like to get my hands on one of these before they all disappear, and real ones are just too damn expensive.   And yes, it is rubber Great for display and I won’t be tempted to take it out and play once it’s framed.  Make sure you check out rareprops.net if you’re a movie buff, and if anyone knows of any AMERICAN based companies selling good props please leave a comment.

Associated Press 08:10 AM Apr, 22, 2006

WASHINGTON — A startling internet video that shows someone spraying graffiti on

President Bush’s jet looked so authentic that the Air Force wasn’t immediately certain whether the plane had been targeted.

It was all a hoax. No one actually sprayed the slogan “Still Free” on the cowling of Air Force One.

The pranksters responsible for the grainy, two-minute web video — employed by a New York fashion company — revealed Friday how they pulled it off: a rented 747 in California painted to look almost exactly like Air Force One.

For the record, chumps like these would have never even seen this 747 sitting out like this, let alone jumped a mere fence to get to it. Had they jumped the fence they would have been met with a barrage of federal lead Just the same, here’s a link for the video.

So they say that the 3rd day after surgery is the worst..I can’t say I disagree. Not to get too personal, but right now things just don’t feel right. Pain in my legs, tight stomach, & and overall lack of any ability to stand without feeling a river of nausea flow right thru me are the current issues, not to mention how it feels to pre plan every move you make before you make it.

(For laughs, this is a picture of me being a seatbelt pirate on the way home from a Mudcats game)

I know it’s only been 3 days and that I have a 6 week minimum recovery time but I really hope the random pain shooting down my legs goes away soon, and that I’ll able to eliminate these last few ‘potential risks’ from the table as soon as possible. Excluding the 18 staples in my back, I really wanna be back to normal.  Today is the first day I’m allowed to take a shower, so I may go try that…but then again I may not. I just can’t convey to you how difficult it is to not be able to bend or twist, let alone avoid getting water anywhere near my incision while trying to wash my hair.  I’ll update again when I have something more positive to say..meanwhile I must get back on track to watching every single movie I own

Well I’m still alive!

That may sound like a strange statement, but to catch everyone up..I had back surgery yesterday. I considered blogging it before hand, but I don’t like a fuss so I just told a few friends and went thru with it. This is something I’ve needed for a long time..I wish I had done it earlier but I thought I would try the conservative treatments first which ended up just being a waste of time and money. The bottom line is if I ever want to work in law enforcement I had to have this done.
From the little bit of standing I’ve done my leg feels good but my back is very sore. I don’t get to take a shower until Saturday and even then it’ll just be a bird bath of sorts. In a couple of weeks I go and have the 18 staples in my back removed. It wont be until then that I’ll get to take a full shower. My recovery time is estimated at 6 to 8 weeks, and then another stint of rehabilitating myself back into running, and building up my strength. Sounds risky but I’ll be careful.
Thanks for all the phone calls and emails from everyone, they were very supportive. A special thanks for Megan who will be my nurse for the next few weeks and thanks to Alisha for driving down on a whim just to see me. I really thought I was seeing things when I woke up out of anasthetia to see her standing there. Oh and I can’t forget Bonnie & Justin who are sending me a loaner laptop so I can give Megan hers back ;).

Ok it’s time for some more hydrocodine which makes me feel like I’m getting rained on, makes me think Megan is beating me up, and wont let me remember where my face is.