And again, we find ourselves at Wednesday and, yes, I do have another episode of the big awesomecast to share with you kids...Like last week, in today's episode Collin and I are joined by Justin Carmical which is pretty fortunate since Justin is handed the reins, so to speak, and gets to interview his hero, the Game Jew. I have to say, it was a fun interview and that the Game Jew is quite the nice guy...So listen! Clicky to listen!

Labels: audio, awesomecasts, famous folk, geekery, podcasts

The old saying is "good things come to those who wait." I'm not sure who started using that phrase, except that I'm almost sure that whomever it was worked slower than most other folks in town. No matter what, people are always ready to spin their faults into some sort of false positive...Bastards...Anyhow, the reason that I'm trying to spin my faults by using that tired old phrase here at the beginning of this blog entry is simple: Foot, your wait is over...Here's the video of mom playing Wii Sports..
Oh, yeah...The rest of you can watch it too, it's not just for her...Seriously, you might get a kick out of it.

So there's that...As always, thanks much for stopping by...You kids have a great weekend, now...

Labels: geekery, stuff mom's done, vaunted videoblogs

Hey, it's Wednesday and once again time for the Son of Cheese Half Hour Power Hour Awesomecast. This week we've got a packed house (which includes myself, Collin, my sister, my dad, Justin Carmical and his wife Jennifer) and we're talkin' about video games. Seriously, you've played a video game or two in your life, right? Of course you have...Clicky to listen:

Labels: audio, awesomecasts, collin crap, geekery, podcasts

Hey, if you kids were wondering what all the hype is surrounding that new-fangled Nintendo Wii, then this is the podcast episode for you. In it, I (along with an all-star cast) talk with Justin Carmical regarding the Nintendo Wii and also offer our own thoughts as to why it's so Goddamned awesome. Of course, later in the show, we get off-track a bit and discuss Justin and his wife's recent trip to Japan...Still, you know you want to clicky and listen, so go right ahead, I won't stand in your way:

Labels: audio, awesomecasts, collin crap, geekery, podcasts

Hey, crap! It's Monday and I haven't posted any-damn-thing since this past Wednesday...What a slack-ass I've become, no illustrations, no Photoblogs...Wow, how bad do I suck, huh? As you can tell, though, I'm going to do my best to make up for my absence with what is commonly called a "post" in the world of blogsitethings. GIRD YOUR LOINS! Yonder lies posty doom!..

Every Company Needs A Holiday Party...
...and ours happened this past Friday...Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy working where I work and doing what I do but our holiday parties have fallen into a horrible rut in recent years...There was a time (a time when the company wasn't doing so well, truth be told) when we had our holiday party here at the agency in our big on-site studio and we had food and drinks and karaoke and you know what? It was a Hell of a time...This past party though, and the three parties prior to this past one, have been held at an older golf course here in town. No, smartass, we're not out on the 9th green getting soaked by sprinklers and dying of the hypothermia or anything, they have a particularly well-appointed clubhouse where we can get our "shwerve" on, but it's always the same crap...The same bartender tending the same portable bar with the same painfully limited mixers and the same dry-ass chicken saltimbocca and the same asparagus and the same prime rib (which, so I don't sound like a total whiner, was pretty tasty this time) and the same rice pilaf and the food always makes everyone ill a day or two later (several people are out sick today) and it's always the same cramped dance floor and it's...Well, it's lame. We did have a piano player for our entertainment pleasure this year. The guy plays regularly at piano bars in Denver and Boulder and while I didn't care so much for his overly rehearsed and canned brand of insult comedy (nothing new or original, mind you), he was a very talented musician. Still, his rockin' on the 88s couldn't salvage what the night was and that, my friends, was "typical." Typically boring, sad to say...

To Wii or not to Wii...That's a stupid question...
On Saturday, while the snow piled up outside, a number of us crazy kids recorded podcasts for future postings inside my humble abode. As a welcome addition to the recording session, Justin C. brought over his Nintendo Wii (which he and Collin's brother camped out for the night before it's initial release). Now, I've never done any drugs and I'm only slightly addicted to alcohol, so I really don't have any basis for comparison, but HOLY CRAP, the Wii is like Crack! Man, is it addictive...it's so damned interactive and fun and...And...Wow...Justin let us know that Target was going to have more in stock the next morning and so, like goofy little kids at Christmas, my wife and I got up early that next morning (yesterday morning, if you're keeping score) to go and gets ourselves the elusive Wii but...Well, suffice to say that enough other people got up even earlier that we were "shut out"...No Wii for me, at least not yet...Still, if you want ideas of what to get me for Christmas (and you know you do) I'll take one Wii with extra nunchuck controller and Wiimote, please...And some Wii games! and...and...

But if It Ain't One Thing, It's Another...
So due to the geekery (also: fortitude) of others, I didn't spend my day yesterday playing my non-existant new Wii with utter (non-existant) abandon. Nay, due to bad timing, I did spend my day buying a new garage door opener at Sears (and a stepladder from Home Depot) 'cause, as we were on our way out to try and fail at buying a Wii, the Garage door opener at Maison De Chevalier "crapped out." What I found out later (you know, the later that included being Wii-less) was that the opener system that has probably been in our garage for 10 or 15 years has what are commonly called "moving parts" inside it. Just so you all are aware, there's a "motor." That motor thing, when you press a button, drives a "gear" which turns a "screw-type apparatus" which turns a "large nylon gear" which rotates a "sprocket" at the "top" of the "unit" (what, too many quotes?) that, when everything is working properly, moves a bike chain-type thing that ultimately (you guessed it by now) opens and closes my damn garage door. Sadly, over time, that screw-thing shredded the nylon gear-thing which meant that it wouldn't turn the sprocket and the chain wouldn't move and...and...well...All of that forced me to put up another opener unit when it was somewhere around 8° outside. Despite such factors (and despite my very limited ability to be "handy") I was able to successfully complete the task before nightfall. Looking on the bright side, though, I now have a wonderful new stepladder and, since you can't buy the opener unit just by it's lonesome, I have a whole slew of replacement parts in case anything else related to the damn opener goes to shit...I have no Wii at this time, I feel the need to reiterate that fact, but I DO have a spare bike chain...And some rails...And some other stuff...So "yay me."

So there's that...As always, thanks for stopping by - you kids have a great Monday now...

Labels: geekery, holidays, indignities, lame stories, office supply aggression, stagnation

Hey, it's Monday already! It's a crappy, cold, snowy day here which is made even worse by the fact that, prior to it getting all cold and snowy, it was all "rainy." That means that all of the roads around town, with precious few exceptions, are quite treacherous. I hear tell that there was even a large pileup of cars this morning where I would usually get onto the interstate. Due to that fact, I was forced to utilize a number of "alternate routes" to get to work today, all the while dodging the other "drivers" on the road...Things is crappy and are probably only gonna get crappier...

Wish me luck in getting home later...

So, in case you weren't paying attention, or just don't like "football," there was this "big game" on the television yesterday. I'll admit, I wasn't paying a whole crapload of attention to the damn thing because A: I don't like either of the teams who were participating in the game and B: I was busy taking the money of the people who threw the party which I attended during the poker tournament which they organized...I love playing that game of poker! It's fun, especially when you can make money while doing it. I officially took 2nd place (out of 10 or 11 players) in the tournament, but was really just trying to end the whole thing by going "all in" on every hand once it came down to the last 2 players (myself and a congenial drunk fella' named "Brian"). Eventually Brian called my all-in and won. Even though the loss didn't completely break me, I was dead set on going home, so I conceded. Still, I had fun and, more importantly, made some money...Nothing better than that, right?

For any "law enforcement" personnel who may stumble upon this entry: no money changed hands! Only pride and, c'mon, pride is PRICELESS!..Anyway...

I performed a few "housekeeping" things related to the ol' blog today, including rearranging (slightly) a couple of the sidebar links which lead to other blogs. One, which I had moved to the "retired" section because she had said ON HER BLOG that she was "hangin' 'em up" did NOT, in fact, quit blogging...As such, even despite the fact that she's a flaming liberal, I still think that there's SOME redeeming quality to her writing, so I moved her back (barely) under the header of blogs which I read. Another, which I had denoted as "active," has not updated since...Well, since a long damn time ago....As such, I've moved it under the retired header...

Look, kids...If you're gonna be a damn quitter, just do it! Stick with it and quit!..Save Uncle Derek the time and trouble of cutting and pasting your sorry link every couple of weeks...At the same time, if you're gonna blog, and make me read your blog by writing things that are interesting, KEEP IT UP! This way, I won't have to be all "I had to rearrange..." ok?..Good...Thank you...Heh...

So anyway, in a total "geek" move, and as a gift to myself in honor of my one year "blogiversary" (which will occur later this week), I registered the domain name www.sonofcheese.com. I'm not planning on moving or mirroring or anything like that, but Yahoo had a registration deal which I couldn't pass up AND that allows me to have THAT address forward automatically to HERE...In addtion, I can have an "email address" that automatically forwards to my Yahoo email...I FEEL SO OFFICIAL!..I am the proud owner of sonofcheese.com for the next 5 years...I know it sounds silly, but you never know who is gonna reserve something when you ain't lookin'...

Also, because I recently added the referral ads from CafePress to my sidebar, and the ad is touting discounts on selected "Valentine's Day" merchandise, I thought it might be good to add those items to my store. Again, THIS IS NOT A PLEA FOR YOU TO BUY ANYTHING, just an opportunity to see some of the stupid things that are in my Shop. Look especially at the boxers and the bear, 'cause they're new (today)!

Past that, things are pretty uneventful...I do have this stuff called "work" to get done, so I'd better get on doin' that...We'll see you again soon, kids!

Labels: 'round town, geekery, lame stories, poker, sports

Welcome to Monday! I don't have anything worthwhile to publish today, so I'm going to do an actual Journalesque entry...My weekend was pretty good, also pretty productive...On Friday, My Wife and I played softball with our team (the B-52s)...We beat the Arlun Flooring team 23 to 8...Saturday was devoted to yardwork, trying very hard to revive the lawn that came with our house...We accomplished a lot in the front yard and some in the back yard. After the yardwork, we ate lunch at a wonderful German restaurant just around the corner from our house called The Kreutzer Inn. (I had Jagerschnitzel!) From there, we went up to my parents house to see Nancy and Galen, my Aunt and Uncle who're visiting from Alaska. It was nice to see them, it's not often that they make it down here...From there, we went to a "video game night" at Justin's house, who is a friend of Collin's...That was a load of fun, we all ate like pigs and played games until 1:00 am...Sunday, I was pretty well spent, but got some stuff done around the house and did grocery shopping...Had a hockey game last night...We lost, but that happens sometimes...

I added some other blog links to my sidebar (to the left there)...Check them out if you haven't already...Some people I know, some I don't, but they're all wonderful in their own special way...

Labels: geekery, I eat food, sports, stagnation, tales of triumph