Thursday once again!

Oddly enough, this always seems to be updated on Thursdays. I'm not sure why, that's just sort of how it falls out. Weird, isn't it. Overall, there's not much to report on in life or in general. Last weekend, I went out and picked up a couple of LEGO sets, including that little crane I posted last time. I also picked up a little viking fortress, because, you know, you can't go wrong with Vikings.

Thursday...

You know, I've had this thing open every day this week, and just couldn't decide what I wanted to type about. There are just so many things out there. North Korea being a douche and pissing off the rest of the world, the looming introduction of the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, LEGO's first set to feature a Port-a-Pot (see the right... the little LEGO TP really sets it off), or my growing hatred of the whole idea of "micro-payments."

I think I'll start with the LEGO set, which is a little crane. I have this grand idea that I'm going to build a few different displays. When I eventually get a house, I have this idea to build up displays. Best-case, these will amount to tables that I can use to store both my LEGO parts and boxes and serve as a nifty display. If my habits remain the same, I will need at least three tables, as well as some shelves and cabinets for other displays. I collect a few different sets (which is how LEGO gets divided up): Star Wars, Castle, City, Batman... and we recently received word that LEGO is bringing back Classic Space, so I'll have to get that one too. I also have a whole list of back-product that I need to pick up still, and there are these really cool LEGO train sets I've been thinking about getting as well. So, the displays would go up with these, having all my stuff laid out on the table.

Eventually, I need to come up with another source of revenue to feed this particular addiction. I don't know if it will be a part time job or what, but right now, I have x amount of disposible income I can pour into my collection, and I need about 5x as much to get everything. The fact that I've been building some of my own custom stuff, I spend a bit on bricks. If I want to get into city, I need to cut down on the loose brick orders. Or I need to start selling my own loose bricks. This of course doesn't count that I need to still backfill my Star Wars sets (which will cost me about $3,000 in the end, and that doesn't count future releases).

Right now, I'm balancing between a few different other needs as well. Christmas is coming up, so I have to figure out some gifts and the such. My in-laws usually get me gift cards, here's hoping they go for Target over Best Buy this year. I'm not sure what we'll be getting them, but for my family, we have a secret santa, and I drew my cousin's husband. I've met the guy once, last Christmas, so I have no idea. My wife represents an equally mysterious problem... no idea what she really wants at this point. I do know that I need to go out day after Thanksgiving, since it looks like some LEGO sets will be on sale at Target that day (including a set that's being re-released that I missed last cycle). And, my wife hates those days, so I'm going alone.

Sometime in the future, I need to upgrade my computer. Vista is coming out, and mine is getting a bit long in the tooth. It used to be that I upgraded components every six months, but recently, it's fallen off quite a bit. The last component upgrade was over a year ago, and for some things, like my processor and motherboard (the guts), it's been over a year. I'd set the expectation with my wife that when Vista came out next year, I was going to upgrade or purchase a new computer, and the limit I set was $2400, give or take. And it will be a total overhaul of the system. New drives, new cards, new parts, new case, new keyboards. I'll keep my monitor, because it still rules, but other than that, wll new. Been awhile since I've had a totally new system.

Now if you've made it this far, that's just awesome. But you're probably wondering what I mean about micro-payments and why I hate them. Actually, you probably don't care, but here we are. Micro-payments are a new way that video game companies can use to screw customers out of money, something that's been commonplace on Cell Phones for years. You know what I mean, when they talk about all these special features and things you can do, but they end up requiring a $5 download and a $2/month subscrition.

Why does this anger me now? I could ignore it on my phone, I use that thing to make call and snap the occasional picture. Where it hits me is with Video Games. I own an Xbox 360, and I like sports titles. I picked up Madden 2007 this year (like I do every year). The game is already annoying, because they totally changed how the controls and setup works for the 360, not to mention that they took out some of the best features, like roster edits, create-a-player, etc. The absolutely hideous camera in Superstar mode makes that whole thing worthless, and in my mind, it's a subpar game.

But what's worse is that they started to release "unlockable" stadiums and uniforms for the game on Xbox Live Marketplace for the "budget" price of 200 points (about $1). Sounds like a cheap little thing, except that these used to be included with the game. And they still are included with the PS2 and Xbox version of the game. So basically, because I owe an Xbox 360, I get charged for free content. Yeah, they can screw themselves in the ear.

Are we having fun yet?

I know, I know... I keep changing my template and setup, and should probably stop. This time, there's a sneakier reason... I saw the little "Blogger Beta" thing, and just couldn't help myself. So here we are, dear old friends...

Anyway, I said I would update it, and I was really trying to get to it. The business continues, sadly, which is good and bad, and doesn't look to be letting up soon. I spent the last three weeks generating new hire content for work, and all of last week training that content at one of our call center sites. I spent a week in Florida, and really didn't get out of the call center or the hotel all that much.

But, I did get to watch some baseball. My Cardinals seem like they've shaken off the funk from the last part of the season. Everyone favors the Mets, but let's look at how the "favored" team is doing so far. The Mets have lost their strongest two pitchers, their bullpen was already non-existant, and the bats were there, but not in full force, against the Dodgers. The Yankees were favored to win it all, and after a game 1 hiccup, the Tigers handled them like a pee-wee team. So, I'm thinking the Cards have enough to make it through the Mets. Unfortunately, I don't think they have enough to make it through the AL.

Football... sigh. Bledsoe still sucks, and can't bring a team from behind for the win. He makes stupid decisions and throws passes a 3rd string backup rookie stepping in for the starting role wouldn't do. Just pathetic. The Bears are my hot pick; they're not just hurting teams, they're crushing them. They remind me a lot of the 1998 Rams. They just have one problem... Rex Grossman, while playing so well, is the center of the team. If he gets hurt, and that is so amazingly likely... the offense falls apart. They'll be back where they were before, unable to get over the hump because the offense was a one-trick, "run the ball" pony. The Defense looks amazing, but it hasn't gotten them there yet.

It's been an interesting season, thus far. The Manning boys need to start winning games without falling behind by 10 or more points. This is just silly. The Ravens look interesting, but they're winning in the clutch too much to go all the way. For the AFC, it's really kind of up in the air this year. SD looks good, but lost to the Ravens. The Dolphins are garbage. The Patriots have a chance to go to the Super Bowl again, just because of how weak their competition is.

The "Media" sucks, more specifically, the news structures. I could care less about the left or right slant... I get all of my politics from the Daily Show and Colbert Report anyway, fake news is more accurate than wrong news. But the somewhat tragic death of Yankee's relief pitcher Lidle is a sure sign that someone needs to start brow-beating some of these ass-hats. Instead of asking a pilot what happened, they just started guessing, crying terrorists, when in fact, this was all pilot error.

I'm still working on my endless quest creating a little LEGO village. I'm thinking that I might make this a themed sort of deal, and I can sell my wife on this if I make it "Christmasy," and use it as some sort of Xmas villiage. I've gotten two houses built so far, but I'm out of a lot of the crucial parts that I need to make this work. I suppose I really need to post pictures so you know what I'm doing.

Sigh...

Just so my two dedicated readers out there know, I haven't abandonded my blog, I've just been rediculously busy the last few weeks with work. Between developing a new training cirriculum at work and travelling to Florida for a week to do training, simply haven't had time. But hey, I'll get some of it up and going again shortly.