Another Seizure for Cooper...

Tonight Cooper had a mild seizure. It was probably the "best" seizure that I've recalled him having. He only went through the initial stages and it only lasted a couple of minutes.

It happened while he was getting amped up over getting some dinner. The three dogs were all getting really wild, and he just had it. When he got done with it I fed him and he ate just fine, then went outside and peed a river.

This is his first one in over 6 months. The last one he had was back on March 30th of this year. So it's been over 8 months actually.

Again, I'm only really putting this into the blog so that I can keep track of WHEN we KNOW he has them, so that if they become more common we can let the vet know.

For now he seems absolutely fine...but I'll keep my eyes on him.

FFL Regular Season is Done...

So all of my fantasy regular seasons are done. This last week wasn't the greatest for me...

In my first private league I got HAMMERED. 155-73. I'll fall to third place and enter the playoffs. That's the good news. The bad news?? The guy that just destroyed my team will be my first round opponent.

In my second private league, my team is done. My OTHER team won it's first playoff game 83-68. I'll move on to the next round and face the #2 overall seed. It should be a pretty close game.

In my first public league, I lost to fall to 7-7 and end up missing the playoffs by two games. Not too shabby, really, considering that I lost four games in a row in that league leading up to last week.

In my other public league, I lost to drop to 10-4. However, the guy that was tied with me also lost, so I'll go into the playoffs as the #1 seed. I have several hundred more points on the season than the guy I'll be playing...but nothing is ever a given.

That makes me 1-3 for this week...however, the one win was the one that was the most important, because it was in a playoff game.

For the season I am now at 39-30, which is good for a .565 winning percentage. Not too great, but not too bad. I am also in the playoffs with three of my five teams, which is pretty good.

In my Pick'Em league the Cards lost tonight so I didn't gain any more points, but EVERYONE in the league had the Cards picked so I lost 6 points to the guy in second place this week, but stay at 11 points up overall in the league.

Hanging On By a Thread...

...in my Pick'Em league.

After jumping out to a 17 point lead going into this week, I played it safe with most of my picks. However, the guy in second place went out on a limb with a couple of picks, and as such going into the game tonight he had picked up 11 points on me which had pulled him within 6 points of me.

Worse yet?? We had different picks for the Sunday night game...each with 5 points on the game. If he won, he'd pull within 1 point of the overall lead...if I won, I'd pull back to an 11 point lead overall.

Luckily, I had the Eagles picked and he had the Giants picked. At the end of that game, I was back to an 11 point overall lead. We both have the Cardinals picked for tomorrow night...I have 8 points on them and he has 7 points on them. So if the Cards can manage a win, I'll be back up to a 12 point overall lead. He'll have gained 5 points on me overall, but that's better than what could have been!!!

My Magic Collection...

My magic collection has been constantly growing since I came back from Las Vegas.

Since getting back I have acquired a collection of nearly 45 effects. I have asked for some for Christmas as well, and I'm anticipating having nearly 50 by the beginning of the year.

I'm having a lot of fun learning the tricks and then performing them for others...especially co-workers. I like tricks that work themselves, because I'm not very proficient at sleight of hand...but that hasn't limited the amazing results of many of the effects that I have. Of course, some of them that I have bought I like better than others...but overall I'm pretty happy with my collection.

Las Vegas, Lance Burton, and Carnival Games...

Lance Burton is my favorite magician. I've liked him ever since I was young when I saw a special starring him on TV. I've been to Vegas twice in the last 15 months, and BOTH times that I was there I wanted to see Lance perform at the Monte Carlo hotel. However, both times that we were there, somehow, he was on a break from performing and wasn't going to be there.

So I checked his website out for our trip in February, and of course there are no shows listed while we'll be there. I was a bit disappointed as I really want to see his show, so I contacted his web site to check to see if maybe the tickets just hadn't gone on sale yet. Luckily, they got back with me and said that Lance would be having standard performances all through February, but not all tickets for that month had gone on sale yet. So it looks like I'll finally be able to go and see him!!!

Also, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but when Cathy and I went to Niagara Falls a few summers ago we had a TON of fun at "The Great Canadian Midway," which is a collection of carnival type games in a giant building right down near the falls. We really liked playing the games and winning tickets...to us it was almost like gambling but with a more certain payout.

Well, after looking around the web I found out that Circus Circus Hotel and Casino have a pretty spectacular indoor midway at their hotel. So we decided that one of the days we are there we are going to make our way down to Circus Circus and have some fun at their midway.

I really can't believe that I hadn't thought that they would have one before. I guess it just kind of slipped my mind that they were down there at all. They are so far down the strip that it's pretty easy to forget that they are there.

Either way, we're coming up with some things to do that are different than what we've done the last two times...so it's beginning to seem like it's going to be a full trip again...instead of just resting and relaxing!! However, I WILL be gambling a bit more this time...I'm a sports nut and the Winter Olympics will be on while we're there, so I'll be having some fun with that!!

Got Those Gifts Figured Out...

I figured out what I am going to get Cathy for Christmas. I found it online today and I really like it. I hope she ends up liking it, too.

I also realized I wasn't quite done with my shopping...I had everything all set for my grandfather, but I forgot to actually submit the purchase on Amazon. So I have to actually do that still as well, but that shouldn't be a big deal because I'm an Amazon Prime user so I get the free two day shipping.

After those couple of last things, I'll be all done with shopping...which means that I can avoid stores like the plague for that last couple weeks before Christmas!!! That will make me a happy camper!!

Almost Christmas Time...

It's almost Christmas time. I have all of my shopping done except for Cathy. She has given me a few ideas, but I'm having trouble finding what she wants (like it's out of stock online) and even the ideas that I've come up with on my own have been proving troublesome to find.

Hopefully in the next few days the things will be back in stock and I can get them all ordered and on the way. If not, I'm going to have to come up with some other ideas quick!!!

Crappy Weather...

It's super cold today...it also snowed about an inch or so.

Now it's raining, though, so the snow is turning into this disgusting slush. It's really slippery outside. I had to run to the store this evening and the going was pretty slow.

With the snow starting to come, and probably it's going to be around more and more over the next few months, I think that I'm going to get a sled. There's a pretty nice sledding hill at Cascades park, and I think it would be fun. Plus, they are only about $15...so it's cheap, too.

What a Fantasy Week!!!!!

Alright!!!! What a week!!! I had been waiting for a week like this for a while.

In my first private league, I ended up holding on with the help of Donald Driver and a bad day by Ray Rice. I ended up winning 116-104. That takes me to 7-6 in that league and I am solidly in second place. Best part?? I should have secured a playoff spot with the win. The best that the guy in fifth can get to is 6-7-1...so I should be locked for the playoffs.

In my second private league, with MY team I got yet another win. I wish I could have gotten a few more in the middle of the season. I held on for an 85-81 win, bringing my record to 6-7 and finishing the season with a 3 game winning streak. Even so, I will miss the playoffs with that team. I finished strong, though, which is okay in my book. I will finish 6-7.

My OTHER team in that league lost today. However, due to the other things that happened in the league, I secured a playoff spot with an 8-5 record. I've been inconsistent the last few weeks, but I also played a couple of the top teams in that span. I secured the third overall seed in the playoffs, which is pretty good. The playoffs in that league start next week.

In my first public league, I got a win to break my four game losing skid. I climb to 7-6, and maintain my fifth place position. I need a win next week, a loss by the guy in fourth, and I need to get about 30 more points than the guy in fourth in order to be able to make the playoffs. It's a long shot...but the good thing?? I'm actually playing the guy that is in fourth, so if I win I will get two of those three things out of the way right off the bat. The winning by 30 will be tough, though. The worst I can finish is going to be 7-7, though, so that's a successful season.

In my other public league, I had a nail biter!!! I went into the Monday Night game down by 23.26 points with Aaron Rodgers still to play. Well, when it was all said and done, Rodgers has gotten me 23.52 points...that's right, .26 points more than I needed for the win. I ended up winning the game 104.92-104.66. That takes me to 10-3 in that league, and solidly in first place. It was a close one, and barring any stat corrections I should come out with the win. I don't think there will be any stat corrections, because there was already a small one in the Monday Night game so I think I'll be good to go.

So that means that I went 4-1 this week...which puts me at a season total of 38-27, which is pretty good. I will have at least two teams with winning records, and at worst can have two teams with .500 records. I will only end up with one team with a losing record, and that is one game under .500. I have secured playoff spots in three of the five leagues and I'm still alive in the other league.

To top all of this off, the Packers won tonight which gained me another five points in my Pick'em league. The guy in second had the Ravens, so after this week I will have a 17 point lead. That will be the first point change in nearly three weeks in that league.

I'm Loving the Cardinals Tonight...

Today in my Pick'em league I was in a pretty bad spot.

I had a two point lead for the week over the guy that's right behind me, but he had 10 points on the Vikings tonight and I also had the Vikings, but with only 4 points on them. So if Minnesota would have won the game I would have been down by 4 points for the week.

We have different picks for tomorrow, with me having Green Bay with 5 points and him having Baltimore with 3 points.

So, had Minnesota won tonight he would have had a chance to gain 7 points on me for the week, which would have pulled him to within 3 points of me. But, since the Vikings lost, the most he can do is win tomorrow which would give him a one point win for the week. That would get him to 9 points back.

However, if Green Bay wins tomorrow, I'll end up winning this week by 7 points which will put me back to 17 points ahead.

We've been separated by 10 points since November 17th...so this is the first time that anything is really going to change at all.

I'm really glad the Cardinals handled the Vikings the way they did...they at the very least gave me room to breathe for the week!!

Going Back...

So we did it. We originally weren't planning on going back to Vegas for a while...but I decided that I would have the most fun with my bonus money by going on a trip. Cathy got an e-mail about getting 25% off the rates of the rooms at the Planet Hollywood if we booked more than 60 days in advance.

So we did it. We booked a room for four nights in late February.

We are going to go and just do some hanging out this time. Cathy wants to see a show, so we'll probably end up doing that, and we'll probably end up going to the Knight show at the Excalibur for dinner...but other than that I think it's going to be a whole lot of relaxing. I may end up renting us a car this time so that we can go and do some things that are a bit out of the way if we want to, but I'm not 100% sure on that yet.

So now I'm in the process of trying to find some good fares to get out there. It's looking like the whole thing should cost me right around $800, which isn't too bad at all!!

Fantasy Week Results...

So now that the first game of the week is almost over (Jets-Bills) I think it's time to update what ended up happening this weekend in my fantasy leagues.

As I posted earlier, it wasn't very pretty...but it wasn't all bad.

In my first private league, I ended up winning and going to 6-6. Amazingly that puts me solidly in second place. Two more games before the playoffs, and it would appear that if I win one of them I'll be in really solid position to make the post season.

In my second private league, with my team I ended up winning to go to 5-7. I'm out of the playoffs with that team, but that doesn't mean I can't play spoiler for a few other teams. With my other team I ended up losing to drop to 8-4 and have not yet secured a playoff spot. However, even if I lose next week the team that is in 9th place will need to score nearly 300 points to overtake me, so I'm pretty sure I'll end up in the playoffs with that team.

In my first public league I dropped my fourth straight game to fall to 6-6. I'm not out of the playoffs yet, but I need to win my last two and have the guy ahead of me lose at least one of his games in order to get in...so I'm not really counting on much.

In my other public league I dropped my second straight game to fall to 9-3, however I'm in first place still and have secured a playoff spot.

That brings my overall record for the season to 34-26. I have basically secured two playoff spots and I'm looking solid for a third one. Not too shabby so far...lets just hope I can bring home a trophy or two.

Also in my Pick'em league I ended up staying ahead by 10 points. The guy in second and me had different teams for the Monday Night game...luckily I had the Saints and he had the Pats, so I gained the point I had lost back. The guy in third is now 58 points behind me, so he's effectively out of the running. Basically, me and the guy in second are fighting for the gold now...as the other two have fallen so far behind that they can't seem to get back into it.

The Rejuvenation of My Laptop...

I have a laptop that is a couple of years old.

It's a Dell Inspiron B120. It's got a Celeron 1.4 ghz processor in it with a small hard drive and 512 megabytes of RAM.

Well, I had been thinking about getting a new computer with some of my bonus money from work. But then I started thinking...maybe I can make this Dell work a whole lot better. I don't really use it for much other than browsing the internet, storing pictures, using Notepad, and downloading iTunes Apps for my iPod. So there really isn't any reason that I would need some super computer to be able to do those things.

I set about getting it running in tip-top shape again. I ordered one gig of RAM from Crucial. The system can support up to 2 gigabytes, but after some research I found that in this system 2 gigs wouldn't be much better than 1 gig. That, and I could upgrade to 1.5 gigs for $30...to upgrade to 2 gigs would have cost me $60. So the one gig was a much better value as far as I was concerned.

Next, while waiting for the RAM to come in the mail I went about taking care of some things on the operating system. I started out running my Spybot to look for spyware and then ran my AVG to check for viruses. Both of those came back with nothing, so I ran a scandisk on the system and got rid of some unused files. I then ran a defrag on the system which took FOREVER.

I was then turned on to a little program called CCleaner. CCleaner is a system cleaner utility that does a whole bunch of things. It helps you remove programs, it clears internet caches, it clears temporary files. Basically, it cleans crap off of your computer (which by the way is what that firs "c" in "CCleaner" means...crap). I used the program to remove over 1.5 gigabytes of programs and unnecessary cache and temporary files. I had no clue that much of my hard drive was being taken up by those things. That alone made the system run quite a bit faster...especially on the internet. CCleaner also has a part of it's program that runs a registry scan and clean. Using that I found that I had nearly 1,000 registry errors. CCleaner fixed all of those for me as well.

I then found that the company that makes CCleaner also makes a defrag utility that they claim is better than the one that comes with Windows. It's called Defraggler. I downloaded that and used it. To my surprise it did seem to do more than the Windows one did, and not only that but it did it infinitely faster. I don't know if it was so much faster because I had just run the defrag a few days earlier, or if it's because it's just a better program.

The last thing I did software wise was upgrade to a better spyware program. I downloaded and used a program called Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes is exactly what it sounds like...a program that checks for malware of all kinds...viruses, spyware, trojans, roots, worms...the works. It's not a good substitute for an actual anti-virus program because it focuses on getting viruses that other AV programs miss or can't remove. I ran that program and found that I had a couple of problems. One was a Trojan Horse of some kind and the other was a worm that was rampant on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter earlier this year. I never use Facebook, but apparently the worm can enter your system even by logging in, which I do occassionally, so I'm sure that's where I got the worm. I've got no clue where the Trojan Horse would have come from. Either way, both of them were removed. I noticed a drastic increase in performance of the computer as soon as I had used Malwarebytes.

Then today my RAM came. One nice little stick of one gigabyte. It took me two tries to get it installed correctly...the first time I didn't have it pushed far enough in to the slot...but once I got it in the computer instantly recognized it and now I have 1.5 gigabytes of RAM in the system. Before when I was using the computer like I typically would, I would have anywhere from 400-600 megabytes of memory being used by the page file...so basically I was maxing out my RAM and then some. Now with the new RAM in there I don't have to worry about that at all anymore.

Now that everything is done, the laptop seems like a new computer. It's running crisp and fast, even better than I remember it ever running. I got all of this done for a grand total of $30. The programs were all free so the only thing I actually paid for was the RAM.

I MAY think about buying a new hard drive for the computer soon. I have a 40 gigabyte one in there now, but apparently I can get quite a bit better performance out of a new larger one that is also faster. I have found a few in the $50 range that should work perfectly. To do this though, I may have to take it to a friend to have them do it because I don't have Windows discs anymore. I might not even end up doing it...you never know.

All in all, I'm really happy with what I've done to it. I would HIGHLY recommend CCleaner to anyone that is having some issues with performance on their PC. I would also HIGHLY recommend Malwarebytes. Defraggler may or may not be a better program than the defrag system in Windows...I'm not sure...but it's free, too, so that one I would recommend as well.

Not too Shabby Fantasy Week So Far...

So after a couple of rough weeks, this one is shaping up to be not so bad. I lost some games, but I was projected to get beaten in every single game, so that's not bad if you ask me.

In my first private league I am up 136-114 with one guy to play on my team. He's finished. So that takes me to 6-6 in that league and into third place at worst. The guy in second is losing though, and if he loses we'll have a three way tie for second.

In my second private league, my team won to go to 5-7. Oddly enough I'm STILL not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs in that league. My other team lost thanks to Cedric Benson not playing to drop to 8-4. I am still looking very good for the playoffs with that team, but probably won't clinch this week.

In my first public league I am leading by 24 points, but he's got a couple of guys left to play...one of which is Drew Brees, so that one is still up in the air. A win would take me to 7-5...a loss to 6-6. A loss will probably put me into the consolation round only...a win puts me in good position for the playoffs.

In my other public league I have lost to drop me to 9-3...the good news, it looks like the guy I was tied for first with will also lose to drop to 8-3, which will force a three way tie for first place. If one of the two 6-5 teams in that league lose then the top four teams will all clinch playoff spots. Then we'll just be battling for seeding.

My Pick'em league went pretty well. I had a 21 point lead going into the second half of games this week, but lost that quickly due to losses by Jacksonville and Arizona. However, the guy in second place can only at best gain two points on me overall, which would still lead me with an 8 point lead. However, I think we both have the same team picked for tomorrow night, which means that I should still have a 9 point lead. I also distanced myself from the guy in third even more. I believe that I'll be about 50 points ahead of him...which mainly means that I'm fighting with only the guy in second for the gold. Should be an interesting run to end the season!!

Holiday Bonus...

Penguin has a Holiday Bonus every year.

Basically, if you buy a certain dollar amount worth of magic you get free stuff. If you spend more you get more free stuff.

I've been holding off on buying a couple of effects because I was waiting for the Bonus to be announced...only problem, it still isn't up yet.

They had said that it would be announced the day after Thanksgiving, which was today, but after the end of the day there still hadn't been any announcement made. I still have no idea what the bonus is going to be, because I wasn't around the site last year.

I guess I'll just keep (im)patiently waiting and hope that they announce the stuff early next week.

More Thoughts on Laptop/Netbook...

So I had decided that I was originally going to get myself a nice little netbook right after the new year.

I started looking into some things that I could do to maybe get my laptop running a bit better, and I came across a few things.

First of all, I found a program called CCleaner. It runs a sweep of all kinds of things that a virus or spyware scanner doesn't do. It cleans out all kinds of things that are taking up space. I freed up over 1.5 gigabytes of information by using this program. I then used it to run a registry cleaner, and it found nearly 1,000 total errors in my registry on my computer. So I fixed all of those with it.

I then ran a scandisk and a disk defrag. After all of this I found some programs that were constantly running that were taking up valuable system resources. I killed those programs and then shut everything down and brought it back up.

Wow, what a difference it made. The laptop is running like new again...but I did find a pretty major flaw in my system. It only has 504 megabytes of RAM. I then checked my system performance and found that even with only one window of Firefox running I was using 498 megabytes of memory. So basically, I am maxing out the RAM that this computer has. I went over to Crucial.com to check what they had to offer, and I found that I can double my RAM to 1 gigabyte for $30...or I could go all the way to 2 gigs for $59.

I did some research and asked a few questions on a message board and found out that if I were to go to the 1 gig of RAM I would probably notice a MAJOR increase in performance on the machine. The guys said that going to 2 gigs might be a bit overkill, but it couldn't hurt. So right now I'm thinking about ordering the 1 gigabyte of RAM in the next few days and installing it to see what kind of difference it makes.



Basically, the way I'm looking at it is if I can spend $30 or $60 to get this laptop back to the performance that I would like it to have, well, that's a lot better than spending a few hundred on a netbook. I do like the idea of the netbook, but I also really like my laptop...so if I can save it I think I'd rather do that.

So I'll be ordering at least 1 gig of RAM in the next few days...and I'll be hoping that makes this thing work quite a bit better!!!

Drats...

...it's snowing.



That means it's officially time for me to go into my semi-hibernational state that is required when it officially becomes winter here in Michigan.

Net Book...

My laptop has been acting up a bit over the last few months. It is starting to do those little things that "old" computers start to do when they are on their last legs. Hanging up when doing simple operations, not loading programs correctly, locking up to the point where it needs to be manually powered down. You know, things like that.

So I'm thinking right now that I might end up getting myself one of those little netbook laptops to replace it. Pretty much the ONLY things I do with my laptop are browse the web, type notes to myself with Notepad, and store my photos and videos that I take. I don't play games, I don't do anything major, and the MAIN use it gets is for browsing the web.

I believe that a netbook would be perfect for what I'm looking for, so I think I'm going to use some my bonus from work to get myself one. I'm looking right now at the Dell Mini 10. It gets really good reviews and I like the way it looks. Unfortunately, the price on it ranges quite a bit...so I'll have to do some research to see what exactly I want so I don't spend money that I don't need to spend...and also so that I don't end up with a computer that doesn't do the things I want it to.

Got My Phone...

My new phone came today just like it was supposed to.

I got it out of it's package and got it turned on. Verizon has really streamlined the activation process when you are upgraded to a new phone. As soon as the phone was turned on it told me to press "1 then send" to activate. I did that and within about 45 seconds I was good to go with the new phone.

I like it quite a bit. It's a good size, looks nice, and has quite a few nice features. The only downside that I've found so far is that my old Centro did text messaging almost like instant messaging...it looked like an AIM conversation when you viewed it, which I thought was really cool. This new Samsung phone doesn't do that...it's texts are just straight text messages.

It takes good pictures, and it came with a USB cord to manage photos and such on the phone with a PC, which is a really nice feature.

I went looking for a case for it tonight, but couldn't find one that I liked...so I ended up cutting up a baby sock and sewing an end of it shut to make a small pouch for the phone. It works like a charm, and best of all instead of $20-30 for an actual case, this one cost me $1.50 and about 10 minutes.

Overall I'm satisfied so far...but I'll have to update in a few months if that changes. I was happy with my Centro for the first 100 days or so...then it all fell apart. But all of the other just regular phones I've had I have been very happy with, so I don't think this one will be any different!!!

ANOTHER Rough Fantasy Week...

I would really like it if I could put together two solid weeks in FFL, but I'm just not having any luck doing that.

In my first private league I lost. That drops me to 5-6. Oddly enough, however, I think I actually moved UP one position into third place. That league is all out of whack because the leader is 11-0 and there's only 8 teams, so second place is a 6-5 team and then the rest of us are all below .500.

In my second private league, with my first team I won to climb to 4-7 and into 15th place. I'm out of the playoffs in that league, however, so it doesn't really matter. With my second team I also won, to go to 8-3 and stay solidly in second place. With a win or a tie next weekend I should be able to clinch a playoff spot. I may actually even be able to clinch with a loss if some other teams lose, but let's not have that...let's just win and get it over with.

In my first public league I lost my third straight game to drop to 6-5 and into 5th place. I have a game next week against a guy that I'm pretty sure has stopped playing, so hopefully my slide will end then and I'll get into good position to make the playoffs.

In my second public league I also lost, dropping me to 9-2 and into second place again because the other guy at 9-2 has six more points than me. I'm fairly certain that I've got a lock on a playoff spot in the league, but I haven't officially clinched yet.

So that makes me 2-3 on the week...which seems to be about what I've been doing for the last 6 weeks. It also brings my season record to: 32-23, which isn't really very good. That's a .581 winning percentage...luckily I'm looking pretty good for the playoffs in at least two of the leagues, and probably one more. I'm only really completely out of it in one league, so I could end up making the playoffs in four different leagues.


In my Pick'em League I held my lead...however, what was a 20-something point lead just a few weeks ago is now only 10 points. The guy that is currently in second has picked up 17 points on me in the last three weeks, so it's time to get back on point with that. This week three of us tied with 98 points...and I'm now 40 points ahead of the third place guy so he's falling farther and farther behind.