5:45 PM
Congratulations, India and Pakistan! You're about to join the list of countries that I don't give a flying crap about! You'll be listed right alongside such other notables as Israel and Palestine!
Why don't these assheads just agree that neither side will ever get what they want and split the land down the middle? Seriously. This is 2002. Come on.
Tammy and I spent the weekend in Palm Springs at the glorious Caliente Tropics motel. What a swanky little joint! Non-stop Martin Denny in the lobby, bamboo decorations all around, giant Tiki heads carved from Palm Tree stumps glaring at you all over the property. Good stuff!
Saturday we took the Palm Springs Aerial Tram up to San Jacinto state park, right at the top of the mountain! There were lots of trails and plenty of wilderness stuff up there (birds, trees, rocks, etc.) We jumped off of the hiking trail at one point and found a huge boulder precariously perched on the edge of the mountaintop. We climbed on top of it and saw the best possible view of the Coachella Valley. Then I proposed, she said yes, and we called our parents from the top of the world.
Then we rode the tram down to the desert floor, cruised into downtown Palm Springs, ate at Ruby's for lunch, then saw Star Wars.
Star Wars Episode II is was worth seeing for the special effects alone. The story was good, but the writing is absolutely horrible. I was cringing at the dialogue most of the way through.
Sunday we went to the mall to look at plate and silverware patterns in anticipation of building our registry. We also saw the 3D Imax Space Station movie. That was pretty good!
Monday we drove back, stopping at Hadley's, a Coachella staple. We tried to stop at Cabazon, but on Memorial day? Forget it. Parking was impossible to find and so we decided to save it for another day.
Tammy felt bad that I spent so much money on the ring, so she surprised me with an engagement/early birthday present. When we got to her house, there was a freaking brand new 27" Sony Wega TV waiting for me with a bow on it. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. But man, it sure beats that 20" mono Sanyo that I'd been using. The difference is amazing. And hookup is a snap! My old Sanyo just had a single coax connection in the back. This Wega's got four different A/V inputs, including an SVideo and component input. I can't believe how clear the picture is! Or how much she paid for it, but that's another story! :)
We've decided to set up a joint savings account with automatic deposits from our paychecks. We've got to start saving for a down payment on a house now. We've got about half as much money saved up as we'd like, and it's gonna take us a while to reach our goal.
My birthday is coming up on the 6th! Why not click that link on the right to get me something from my wish list? I provide you with boring log entries on a semi-daily basis, so it's the least you can do to pay me back! Bitch!
There were a ton of good looking Game Boy Advance games in development. Super Monkey Ball and the next Castlevania looked great. So did Metroid and Zelda, even if they're just remakes of the Super Nintendo versions.
The GameCube scene has a lot of promise. The games this year were amazing. I'd have to give a Best of Show award to Zelda on the GameCube. The graphics were unreal. Every scene of in-game animation looked as if it had been drawn by an artist, not rendered by a machine. Pretty amazing.
Nothing on the PS2 really blew me away this year. There were lots of beautiful games, but none that really stuck out in my mind.
I didn't really bother checking out the XBox stuff. Those controllers are dumb, and the third-party replacements are even worse.
On the PC side of things, Blizzard was pushing World of Warcraft and Warcraft III. Warcraft III has been at least three E3 shows now. I think it's time to push that puppy out.
We wanted to check out the Sims Online but it was an invitation-only event and a big huge security guard was blocking the door. Attention EA- You are dumb.
I kind of want a GameCube, but I kind of want to see if those videos of a working GC mod chip are real first...
10:43 PM
Sometimes when I see people in their cars buying stuff from people on the street selling oranges or flowers or whatever, I just want to get out of my car and say "HELLO RETARD. YOU ARE INVOLVED IN A CRIME."
10:37 PM
Disneyland's bringing back Haunted Mansion Holiday this year.
They're also hosting another special event! I'm not sure why... Last year's event was freaking awesome, and it sold out in a few hours if I remember correctly. I'd go again!
Looks like the only detail released so far is the date, October 3rd.
DISNEYLAND Resort Merchandise Special Events is pleased to announce a Haunted Mansion Holiday Event
Thursday, October 3, 2002
DISNEYLAND Resort
Anaheim, California
"For now you know what happens
when holidays meet
You might get a trick
or a holiday treat!"
DISNEYLAND DelivEARS & Walt Disney Event Services will not accept any phone calls, faxes or e-mails regarding this event at this time.
Please continue to watch for more details on this spooky event & this haunted holiday season!
10:45 AM
Saturday Tammy and I went to Robbins Bros and I wrote the biggest check of my life - ever! The ring is really nice though. Its got a platinum band, the diamond is 1.21 carats, and there's four side stones for an additional 0.25. Hoo-wee!
After that we stopped by Downtown Disney to see Spiderman and grab some dinner. We went to Rainforest Cafe and the wait for a table was two hours. TWO HOURS! But check this out - Tammy's a member of the Safari Club. She flashed her card and bingo bango, we got put at the front of the line and were seated instantly. A lifetime membership in the Rainforest Cafe safari club is a whopping $10. It gets you front-of-the-line privileges as well as 10% off or a free appetizer on every visit. It paid for itself pretty quickly! How do you join the Safari club? Just ask your server at any RC location. I kind of felt sorry for everybody that we cut in front of, but hey, we had the hookup and they didn't! Suckas!
Sunday I picked up a Dremel tool to help ease in the installation of my soon-to-arrive Afterburner kit. I'll try to post some before and after photos once I've got it installed. I want to play with the Dremel now, but I don't really have anything to use it on just yet. Doh!
Starting May 20th, 2002 Attraction Posters will be available for the first time as Print On Demand Posters
Disney Gallery, New Orleans Square, Disneyland Park
Free FedEx shipping for all Print-on-Demand Artwork orders (Limited time only).
Below are the first images available on the new technology.
27" x 36" Paper Print $35
27" x 36" Canvas Print $125
36" x 48" Paper Print $45
36" x 48" Canvas Print $150
20,000 Leagues under the Sea
Disneyland Hotel
Mad Tea Party
America the Beautiful - 2
Art of Animation
Monorail
Jungle River
Swiss Family Tree House
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
Mark Twain Riverboat
8:01 PM
Wowie! Tactics Ogre on the Game Boy Advance is a really good game! If you liked Final Fantasy Tactics on the PlayStation, it's basically the same thing. Isometric turn-based battles all the way, baby!
4:14 PM
I brought a book and my Game Boy Advance to keep me company in Cabo.
The book was Jupiter by Ben Bova. I read the whole thing in a week, which is record time for me. It was pretty good! I'd recommend it.
On my Flash Advance cartridge I had Super Mario Advance 2, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and about 30 8-bit Nintendo games. I actually wound up playing NES games 99% of the time. In fact, I managed to play MegaMan 2 from start to finish during the trip. They just don't make 'em like they used to.
12:59 PM
Last week Tammy and I spent a week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Her friend Marilyn was getting married and we went down there for a week to attend the wedding with a bunch of her friends and family. If you're not familiar with the area, Cabo is located smack dab on the southern tip of Baja California.
I also learned that real Mexicans don't listen to the crappy accordion music that you hear all over spanish-language radio in LA. Real Mexicans listen to house music and American top 40 hits - en espanol!
We went horseback riding, waverunnering, and ATVing.
The horseback ride was along the beach at sunset. It was fun, but I almost fell off on two occasions when we had to wait for the tide to go down before we could run across the beach.
Wave runnering was fun too. I drove and Tammy sat on the back, hanging on to me for dear life! It was action packed.
The coolest thing that we did by far was ride ATVs for two hours across the enormous sand dunes of Cabo with a full 360 degree view of the beach in front of us and the desert behind us. ATVs and sea turtles don't mix, so there was a fence about 100 feet from the ocean keeping ATVs away from the beach. There were also a bunch of ATV trails with lots of banked turns and sharp curves to keep you on your toes!
The wedding was pretty amazing. It was held in a rented-out mansion/villa on the beach in a private gated community. (Mexican President Vicente Fox's own mansion was right down the street!) Apparently the house was owned by the road manager for the Rolling Stones! The house had its own pool and walkway down to the beach.
The wedding itself was an outdoor affair, right down on the beach with everyone in attendance in bare feet. Afterwards we headed back up to the house for an evening of food, music, and general tomfoolery.
I didn't take any pictures, but Tammy shot three rolls of film. Lots of people had digital cameras with them too, and as soon as I track them down I'll try to post some pictures of our activities and the wedding. Stay tuned!
12:30 PM
Looks like there's at least one confirmed XBox modchip out there. If this turns out to be true, XBox has the potential to become the ultimate emulation machine. That's reason enough for me to get one!
Receive ONE (1) Admission ticket for the May 16, 2002, 12:01 a.m. showing of Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones at the AMC 12, Downtown Disney(c) District at the Disneyland(c) Resort. (Registration will take place from 10:00 a.m. to Midnight on May 15, 2002 west of the AMC 12, Downtown(c) Disney Box Office.
We recommend that you register for the experience no later than 10:30 p.m. on May 15th). AMC will provide seating in the theater on a "first come, first serve" basis according to your place in line at the theater. Seating will begin at 11:00 p.m.
Receive TWO (2) of a Disneyland(c) Resort Event Exclusive boxed Limited-Edition Star Wars commemorative pin. (Edition size - 1000. Retail value - $12.50 each)
Opportunity to pre-purchase TWO (2) complete sets of 29 Disney(c) exclusive Star Wars open edition pins at a 20% discount.
Please call Disneyland DelivEARS at (800) 362.4533 beginning at 8:00 a.m. PDT.
Phone lines will open at 8:00 a.m., please be patient, we will be experiencing a high volume of telephone calls.
Tickets are $35. 450 tickets available. Make that call now!
4:11 PM Toyota launched Lexus a few years ago to cater to the luxury automobile market.
Now they're going to try to enter the 'young hipster' market by launching a third brand, Scion. Initially Scion will have two models, the bbX and the ccX. Check out the website. They look pretty crazy!
They'll be available June '03 in California, and in major metro areas throughout the country by early '04. In June '04 a third as-yet-undisclosed Scion will become available, and Scions will be available nationwide.
Toyota dealerships across the country will have their own Scion section, separate from the 'regular' Toyota stuff.
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