Sunday, February 24, 2008

Budweiser Chelada: part I

As some of you may or may not know, I am a fan of beer. Big surprise huh? If in doubt, just check out this previous post. If you know me even better, you know I am a big fan of the Bloody Mary cocktail. Well, when I came across the Budweiser Chelada drink in the liquor store, I had to get one two (one a Bud Light version and the other a Budweiser version) of these and give it a shot.

At first, I tried it straight out of the can. Hmm. Not sure what do think. It definitely had the carbonation of a beer and slight taste of a bloody...So after finishing a snort, I went on an decided to pour it over the rocks, add a twist of lime and top it with some celery salt. It was better, but I am just not sure what to think...

Tune back in for part II when I give my final rating on this odd drink (I need to try the Budweiser Chelada flavor yet).

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Waterpark of America

I'm back after a short overnight trip to the Waterpark of America this past weekend. You've heard of this place right? It's the HUGE waterpark located near the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. I've been to a few waterparks in my time and yes, his is the biggest indoor waterpark that I've been too (even bigger than the Wilderness Resort located in Wisconsin Dells, WI).

Not only is the waterpark huge, but the line to check-in when we got there was huge as well! My lucky wife waded through the line to get us checked in and about 30 minutes later we had a room...well so we thought. We went up there only to find out they were still cleaning them! Oh well. We waited about 15 minutes (along with all the other families we went with) and eventually got in in order to change into our swimwear.

After getting on our wristbands, we all headed down to the waterpark and tried to stake claim to some area to put our towels, shirts and sandals. We were lucky - we found a few empty chairs. The boys proceeded to hit the water playground area for awhile followed by the lazy river and eventually a bunch of us hooked up to go down the family-sized raft/tube slide. The line for this was huge but its was pretty cool. Once was enough for the 2 rugrats.

After rotating from the water playground, lazy river, hot tub rotation about 20 times I got a neighbor friend to go wait in line for the surf simulator! The wait for this was long as well but it was fun to watch people try and do this. For the most part most people could some managed to do a few tricks even. Well needless to say by awesome natural surfing abilities kicked in and was able to ride the wave for a few minutes then graciously surf off to the side where I exited without issue. After a few times at this, the neighbor and I were attempting barrel rolls! Eventually, the rest of the group saw us and joined in on the fun. Even my 6 yr old did it a few times!

I could go on and on but overall the weekend was good. The waterpark is busy with alot of lines for the bodyslides, tube slides as well as the surf simulator but well worth the wait (especially for the surfing). We all had fun and look forward to going back. If you want to see a quick clip I put together of some boogie boarding, click on the quicktime icon (sorry I seem to be the only one who is able to operate the camera so no video footage of me tearing it up).

Humor: Do you dress like a d**chebag?

Another great pic I got off my favorite social news site, Digg.com. Click this link or the pic to the right for the full thing.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

How to make Windows XP last for several more years



So awhile ago, I posted a blurb about my making the switch to Windows Vista. Well I must confess after about 3 months, I switched back ( I know I was quiet about it). It wasn't really do to performance, it was simply about convenience in regards to software and hardware compatibilities. For instance, I was having some issues using Remote Desktop, my Microtek would only work with limited capabilities due to lack of driver support as well as a few other things, so I decided to switch back...I know this is a mute point with me now as I am now happy with my secure, user-friendly yet powerful Macbook Pro running OS X... but I do run Windows XP in a VMware session as well in Bootcamp for Outlook (until I get a new cell phone) as well as those days when I wanna PC game.

One thing I did when I switched back (and when I setup my Bootcamp and VMware machines) was to apply some great looking themes. Specifically, I installed one called Royale Noir. This XP theme supposedly was a theme made for Windows Media Center Edition so it is very slick and classy looking. There is another one out there called Royale which is very similar looking and still very cool. This one is more 'official' than Royale Noir but both are absolutely FREE.
With the announcement of a Windows XP Service Pack 3, XP is going to be around (and officially supported) for a few more years. So don't feel pressured to upgrade to Vista. If you think you're missing out on the look and feel (because that is what I really think Vista is all about: 'eye candy'), check out this article on how to jazz up your Windows XP machine so it looks and feels like Windows Vista.

Happy computing!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Call Of Duty 2: Complete

Not sure if I should be proud of this but I just finished another game. This one is an old one (but new for me) Its Call Of Duty 2. This was a great 1st person shooter that took me many, many hours to complete. I actually got the game in Christmas 2007 along with the Xbox console but hadn't started playing Xbox seriously until after I bought Halo 3.

Well I finished the game. I wanted to especially since I bought the latest Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare. I think I am now ready to move on to it, especially seeing its like the top game of the year!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Pinewood Derby '08

He did it! Goof won 1st place out of his Den (6 other kids) in this years Pinewood Derby for his Cub Scout pack!

It started all started out with a 4 oz. block of pinewood...but now it's a fast, purple-racing machine!

I was surprised just as much as he was; out of 6 heats, his car was 1st place in all but one. All the cars were all very close in time speed, so the time difference on these things were measured to the .0001 of a second (yep, the track is high-tech; on a computer monitored aluminum-crafted Pinewood derby track).

He was very excited about winning and had a bigger smile once he realized he was going to win a trophy. Also, seeing he won amoungst his den-mates, he qualified for the Pack Championship race which was about an hour later. During this time of waiting around, we ate candy and hot-dogs while watching all the older cub scouts racing their cars (that were even faster). I tried to elude to the fact that their cars were going after than his so he might now come in 1st place the next time around; we'd just have to wait and see.

Well the championship race began and his car was hanging in there at a tight 4th place. After a few heats his car had trouble on one of the tracks (yeah, they rotate the cars on the track and get an average score so all is fair). After the 1st 'do-over' his car went off again. At that point they give you the lowest time (10 seconds), so when the heats were over and they average the speed, he came in last place. He held his composure but broke down in tears after he got his car and came over to me. I told him he did great considering all the competition and the fact that he should be happy he got a trophy as most of the kids went home with nothing. The tears soon stopped in the car on the way home and was already talking about bringing in his car and trophy into school for show and tell!

Until next year!....Oh, click here, here, here and here for a few more pics of the days event.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Book Review: AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll: The Ultimate Story of theWorld's Greatest Rock-and-Roll Band

Aside from this being the longest title of a blog entry, its also been a long time since I've read a book! Sad I know.

I actually started this book while on vacation to Jamaica back in December. This was a big book - 400+ pages, so thats my excuse. The book is a biography of 2003's Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, AC/DC. The author does an excellent job detailing (almost too detailed) the history of band including the 'brainchild', Malcolm Young and his more recognizable schoolboy clothed-wearing brother, Angus. I think one of the reason it took so long was the beginnings (meaning the days before AC/DC) took along time to get through. For a die-hard AC/DC fan, this book is for you.

I could go into alot of detail here but if you're into books about bands, this would be a great one to check out. The book covers the early days as they worked through the ranks in their home country of Australia, including the acquisition and hiring of the legendary frontman, Bon Scott, who really put them on the music map. It covers all their early ups and downs - the biggest of course is the death of Bon back in 1980. From there, they go into the Brian Johnson era and the making of the 22 time platinum selling album, Back In Black. The book covers all the albums, tours and personal tribulations they endure all the way up to the late 90's. The one cool thing I liked about this is book is the fact they go through an album-by-album breakdown and some of the things the band were doing, syaing around the time of the recordings. As I was reading, I'd take a break and listen to the particular album I just read about (Yeah I have most of the AC/DC discography).

As I am typing this, I am watching the AC/DC - Plug Me In DVD set. It's kinda funny; these guys played alot of these American Bandstand type TV shows in the early days w/ Bon. You can tell they are setup and staged; some elude to the fact they are lip-syncing! Love it!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Humor: How glasses affect your image


Got this off of my favorite social news sites, Digg.com. Click this link or the pic to the right for the full thing.