Yellow Brick Road

OK, its not yellow and its not a road but it is brick!

Here's a little snapshot of some work we had done recently. We replaced the cement sidewalk that went between our driveway and our front step. We did this mainly because oneof the cement slabs was really crooked and was quite the hazard (plus the wife wanted to put in a brick walkway to begin with). So we used a landscaping company that had done some work to some of our neighbors and got thejob done in a few days!

Whatya think?

Squirrel Catapult

Now this would be fun!

Papa Murphy’s: October Deal Of ‘Da Month (DODM)

Large 5-meat stuffed pizza for $9.99. Good thru 10/31/07 Click here to get the PDF to print out.

My 15 seconds of fame on radio

OK. This week is a little weird. I've had a post almost everyday; definitely not typical, but I've got another one! Yesterdays Last nights post was about KFAN this past Wednesday. I listen to the 'Fan when ever I can and had been listening to a newer show via Podcast called Video Games Weekly. This show is geared for some really hard-core gamers but I thought I would call to express my enjoyment of the game from from a 'newbie' perspective (oh yeah I asked about a good game for the kids as well). Click here to listen to the podcast directly from KFAN. My call starts around 16 minutes into the show!

Halo 3

With the purchase of my kickin' TV and my x-mas gift from last year, I went out and 'committed' myself to playing a game: Halo 3.

I purchased a game last January (Tom Clany's Rainbow Six: Vegas) but never opened the darn thing. That was due to a.) my crappy TV and/or b.) lack of time. Well, with the release of Halo 3 exclusively on the Xbox 360, I cashed in my Best Buy Reward Zone credit vouchers and got the soon to be 2007 game of the year.

I'm not much of a gamer but love playing with friends. Its been awhile since I've done it (probably playing Battlefield 1942 on the PC about 2 years ago at a LAN party) but plan on competing/joining some buddies online using the Xbox Live service. Yeah, my Xbox game console plugs into the internet just like a computer and allows me to play other people online, cool!

I have a feeling there are going to be some late nights ahead of me...

'Hacking' my Linksys WRT54G

Contrary to what some of you may think, I am not much of a hacker. I tend to play it pretty straight-and-narrow when it comes to technology but I came across this 'hack', well actually its a third-party, open-source firmware called DD-WRT. This firmware overwrites the factory firmware (which in turn, voids all warranties on the product) and allows you to turn your normal, consumer-based router into a router with alot more features, typically found in your high-end business type routers such as ones from Cisco Systems.

I saw this Lifehacker.com article some time back (maybe a year or two ago) which boasts "turning your $60 router into a $600 router". Well, I'm sure there is room for debate there but the $600 figure comes from a comparison if you were to get one of those high-end routers from Cisco. Before I go on, I must say that I've never had any issues with my router, just the occasional reboot which was more than likely caused by the cable/DSL model, but the features of this router got the best of me. I'm always looking to learn something new and found alot of positive feedback on this Open Source firmware.

I took on this project last week and only took me a whopping 15 minutes or so to complete! I now can prioritize traffic going in and out of my network as well as take advantage or tweaking my wireless signal to be stronger or weaker. There's alot of security incorporated into this firmware; and best of all it was completely free.

A week has gone by and I have no complaints. I still want to play with some of the features such as SSH and Kai Console Gaming. Let the my fun begin!

Free redbox movie rental

I haven't received one of these in awhile so I thought I would share. If you're looking for a FREE rental at one of those redbox machines at McDonalds, use the following code to get a free one:
DVD123 or DVDONME
*code valid 10/08/07 - 10/15/07

The exploding 2-liter.

What a mess! This happened a few days ago when my wife and I were upstairs. We heard a loud noise like something fell or got knocked over. For a second we thought someone was in the house.

We both came downstairs to see that a brand new, never opened 2-liter of Cherry Coke had exploded in our wet-bar area! Soda was everywhere! At that point, I thought about what was happening (which was I was about to sit down and watch Heroes on my new HDTV) so foir asplit second I though maybe someone had telepathically sent brainwaves to bust the thing open. The last thought I had was looking for signs of a gunshot!

We cleaned up the mess and it was everywhere! It knocked over other 2-liters we had right next to it and even knocked a 2 liter of Mountain Dew all the way down to the basement! This was pretty crazy. I've never heard of anything happening like this.

The End.

PS: while we're on the subject, check out this entertainment clip of 2-liters in action.

Operation: Jamaica Vacation 2007

As you can see, I am counting down the days/hours/minutes to the trip we booked recently.After several years of switching jobs, kid in school and other stuff, my wife and I are finally get back to a few of the Sandals Resorts! We'll be splitting out time between the Sandals Negril Resort and the Sandals Royal Caribbean. We've been to the Sandals all-inclusive resorts about 5 times now. Each one of them better than the last. This time around, we are going back to one the first places we've been to in Jamaica; to the beautiful beaches of Negril. About halfway through, we will be heading back to the last resort we were at in Montego Bay.Personally I am looking forward to the scuba diving and snorkeling. But the R&R will be highly anticipated as well. I can't wait!!

Energy Drink reviews

http://energy-drink-ratings.blogspot.com/2006/06/redline-energy-drink-review.html

Redbull, Rooster Booster, Bawls, Amp, Full Throttle (Regular), Full Throttle Unleaded, Snake Eyes, Enviga, Monster (Java-Loca Moca)

Sparks