This show is amazing. From the anal details of the era set designs, to the acting, to the excessive smoking and drinking. We love it. Ever since hooking up the new HDTV, we have watched all 6 episodes in HD On Demand. Now we cannot wait for Thursday nights. Gilmore who?
Take a peak.

Here is a message to the manufactures of both, and the movie houses that are promoting one or the other.
I will not buy either player (and not another regular DVD) until somebody makes up their mind and chooses ONE format!

I think of myself as somewhat of a geek...until this kind of kid comes along and makes me forget what a mouse is, or HTML, or CSS code.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20424880/
Way to go dude.

This like epidemic is like sweeping the nation, like. And is like driving me freaking crazy.
Just listen to these people trying to speak a complete sentence. It is just depressing. Just like listening to anyone, in your like office, like can you just speak without saying like?

Here is a challenge. Try having one conversation without using this overused adverb like between words. It is really hard to do, but even harder to listen to. Christy and I are challenging each other to stop saying it. Not it, but Like. If you focus on someone else talking who uses it a lot, it like drives you like, crazy!

So, let's fine-tune our vocabulary, people and talk like adults instead of high schoolers.

Today is Gibson's birthday. And since we did not get an exact date in August when Tica was born, we celebrate on the same day.
They are getting some big presents tonight. Unbeknownst to them, they also will be a year older.

Gibson is 7 and Tica is 5.

Happy Birthday, kids!

Bye Sara (ie. Not a Policeman, but a Princess).

Over the past two weeks, I have been trying to cut back on my intake of coffee. This is extremely hard given that I usually ingest two grande americanos or the equivalent of that in regular drip coffee per day.

I have been having trouble concentrating, not sleeping as well as I used to, and lately have experienced this metallic taste on the back/roof of my mouth. So I thought I would try to drop coffee from my morning routine. That is MUCH more difficult that I thought. First, I know that going cold turkey from caffeine will cause the same feeling as someone banging a hammer on both sides of my temples for hours at at time. Second, I enjoy "treating" myself to this ever-so-lovely liquid each morning as a reward for going to work, day after day.

Over the years, when I freelanced from home, I would either meet my other designer friends at Einsteins for breakfast/coffee, or I would make a pot at home. I do not recall ever NEEDING coffee like I do now though. I used to use coffee as a social outlet. I loved just meeting friends for coffee, or going with my girlfriends there to just hang out. But since taking permanent work for the past three years, I have become addicted to coffee. I have not only become addicted to the coffee itself, but more addicted to the habit of getting off the bus or train, stopping into our building's Starbucks, and hearing "Morning, Dave - the usual?" Now THAT is addictive. Having someone acknowledge that they know you, and your drink. How awesome is that?

Well, I am now down to half calf. One a day. It seems to be working just fine, but I still now have the craving to keep drinking coffee. Did I mention decaf comes with it's own problems? I have this head buzz thing, and if you know me, you know what I am talking about. Well, that is caused by decaf. I do know that much. So, once I ween myself from caffeine, I am going to just drop decaf alltogether and limit myself to just one coffee a week. Then use Tea in it's place. Usually tea is less fulfilling than any coffee. I have found a tea that keeps it's promise and fills me up. It is Rooibos. It is a Red Tea that is similar to black tea. It has a earthy, fruity, slight vanilla taste that I have come to crave. Drop in some honey, and you are set to go. But, alas, all this talk of tea just makes me crave another grande americano. Thank god my 'Bucks card just ran out.

If you are interested in knowing more about the effects of coffee,a good source of information is located here.

It's not you. It's them.

Yeah, they rock.



You might want to check out their new album, Icky Thump.. Weird name. KICK ASS album. I do not know how this guy Jack White does it. He is amazing. Especially when you hear all of their albums and see how much melody and hooks he carries, probably, in his big thumb. Check them out for yourself. You might need to listen to it twice or three times before you are stuck, but once you are, I guarantee you will annoy your pregnant wife by listening to it non-stop in the kitchen, living room, office, and car.
Oops, sorry, that is me. Enjoy!

Some of the must-hears:

Icky Thump
300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues
Bone Broke

Our brand new Sharp 42" LCD HDTV arrived yesterday.
It took all of 5 minutes to set up, then another 5-10 refining the colors, and other random settings.
My eyes actually hurt after watching it for 5 minutes. I think due to the non-HD channels.
I put on Fletch through our crappy DVD player and it didn't look too bad. I cannot wait for more regular HD channels though.

Christy was so thoughtful for our anniversary. She got me an HD-DVD version of 40 Year Old Virgin. I commend her on her thoughtfulness but we do not own an HD-DVD player so the movie will sit on the shelf until we get one.
I guess I need to do a better job of educating her on what the technologies are, but then again, I didn't think she ever listened to me when I geek-ed out about that type of thing.

and "Yes, Dears"
Happy Anniversary, Christy.

My coworker Michael (ie. the biggest Rush fan, ever!) went to see Rush at Red Rocks Wednesday night. And yes, they did the South Park intro close to the end, which was amazingly creative. But, why am I just writing about it now? Well, cuz I am an old fart who worked a full 8.25 hour day, ate at Wendy's which is totally out of the normal food chain for me these days, drank a few beers and was out past midnight on a school night. Rush ruled. But they also kicked my ass. When I got to work yesterday, my boss said to me "so dave, how was it?" and the first words out of my mouth were "loud." That's right, I said loud. Can you believe it? He was the one that really called attention to it. I called one of the best, most talented band, loud, when I could have said "they played with such musicianship and energy, it might as well have been 1982." Well, anyway, the show rocked. They played for over three hours, with a brief intermission because "they are of advanced age." We respected that because it just gave us old foggies a reason to sit down and ease our achy legs. Of all the 28 songs they played, I only did not recognize 3 songs. Not bad. I swear I have never seen so much air drumming and air guitaring going on in one spot at one time. My buddy Michael was playing every note perfectly. Yesterday he said his arms were even sore from all the "playing." He even plays drums in real life.

We are SO getting this for our kitchen island.

Well, we finally broke down and ordered a new TV. A Sharp AQUOS 42" High-definition 1080p LCD TV (LC42D62U) to be exact. After doing much research and talking to friends, and one friend in particular who is a major audiophile/technofile with the same exact TV, I decided it was the right choice. Now, I just hope Friends and Gilmore Girls issue HD DVDs soon!

From all of the research I did, I found this site, buydig.com. They offer a wide selection of electronics and accessories, for the cheapest price I could find. Not only were they cheap - which sometimes can be a flag - they are cnet.com, pricegrabber.com, yahoo, and bizrate.com

This is IMPACT.

These go out to the people in Minneapolis that may have been injured, involved in, or know someone that was no the bridge. What a travesty.

Check this out. We are hitting the Red Rocks show on Aug. 8th. NOW, I can't wait!

I know this sounds a bit dramatic, but a piece of me is gone for now with the sale of the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones, to Rupert (obviously heavily right-leaning) Murdoch of News Corp. ( try this link if the wsj doesn't work)

For years I have read the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) while on vacation -eagerly picking one up at the airport bookstore. And for the past two years, I have been a WSJ subscriber.

I read it every morning to and from work on the train. I love it. But this all could change. I am not saying it WILL, I just have a suspicion that it could.

But maybe that is not such a bad thing. News Corp. has deep pockets that could increase technologies which would enhance their website and enable the WSJ to focus on other business aspects, but....

I am a pessimist. I just renewed my subscription for two years, which, by the way, was discounted to half price just this month. This leads me to believe they are worried of losing valuable, long-time readers. Alas, I will continue to read and hope that the ink does not start running off the right-hand pages for if it does, this reader slash subscriber is outta here, going back to the beloved New York Times.