Halo Wars on Tuesday...

So I've been looking forward to "Halo Wars" on the Xbox 360 for a while now. A few weeks ago a demo came out for it on Xbox LIVE that got me even more excited for it. The demo was fun, sort of like a real time strategy/action game. It's an RTS, but it's pretty fast paced and streamlined so that you have quite a bit more action and actual fighting than managing resources and boring stuff like that.

If you know me you will also know that I'm a big "Halo" fan in the first place. I've got all three games, including the collector's edtion of "Halo 2" and the "Legendary Edition" of "Halo 3." Yes, the "Halo 3" ended up costing me nearly $150...but it was I guess worth it. I played "Halo 2" and "Halo 3" online almost non-stop for the first few months after they came out. "Halo 3" wasn't as great as "Halo 2" in my opinion, the online just wasn't quite as fun to me, but it still was a great game to play with friends.

I don't know how the multiplayer in "Halo Wars" will end up panning out, but the story is supposed to be pretty good. One that "Halo" fans will enjoy, from what I'm hearing.

I pick up my "Limited Edition Halo Wars" copy on Tuesday from Best Buy. Price is $79.99, but I've got $20 worth of Best Buy Reward Zone certificates, so I'll be paying the standard $59.99 price for the game.

Ceiling Fan

So on Tuesday Cathy and I are going to head out to get a new ceiling fan for the bedroom. The one that's in there still works...but it's pretty horrible looking. I don't really know why, but the entire thing looks like it's just hanging there.

Now, I know that ceiling fans are SUPPOSED to just hang there, but this one looks droopy and just wrong. Kind of like a weeping willow tree doesn't look like what a tree is supposed to look like.

We'll probably go get it when we get up on Tuesday. Then Tuesday evening Cathy has dinner with her godmother to go to, so I will be having my dad down to help me put the thing up. Once it's up I can then begin the final stages of painting in the room so that we can get our stuff moved into there.

We'll be getting the fan at Menard's. We found several of them there that we liked quite a bit, ranging in price from $50 to $200. We'll probably settle in for one in the $80-$120 range or so, I think.

I'm looking forward to getting the room done. I know it's been an ongoing thing that anyone reading this has read about probably 25 times...but I guess it's good to be able to slowly work on home improvement projects. I've had no sense of urgency about this at all, and as such it's been pretty enjoyable. I work on it when I want to, and that's pretty nice.

One More Week...

So the days are getting longer and longer...and that is NICE. It means that it's getting closer to spring. The best thing about it getting closer to spring is the fact that it means winter is getting closer to being over.

In one week Daylight Savings time starts...or ends...or whatever it is when you move the clocks forward one hour. So on March 8th, we'll be moving the clocks ahead. Then we'll be well on our way to 9:00 PM and still a bit of daylight left!!!

I look forward to spring because I can get the bikes back out. I can get the bicycles out. I can get the kayaks out. I can start trying to get over to the cottage every once in a while with Cathy.

Spring is just so much better than winter!!!

Lions Trying to Make Some Moves...

So today the Lions dealt QB Jon Kitna to the Dallas Cowboys for starting corner Anthony Henry. In my mind, it's a good move. The Lions needed a good cornerback for, oh, the last millennium or so. They also needed to get rid of Kitna. He wasn't winning them any games.

The moving of Kitna also signals to me that they are actually going to go ahead and draft Matt Stafford...and you know what?? I'm okay with that. Stafford seems like a competent QB. He seems smart and has good sense on the field. Sure, he'll be thrown to the wolves when he's starting after the 6th week, but it worked for Atlanta and Matt Ryan. Sure, Ryan was by most accounts a better QB when he got drafted than Stafford is now, but he's an NFL style QB that in my opinion is ready to play in the big leagues. The fact that the Lions signed washed up Daunte Culpepper to a contract extension is a good indicator that WHEN they draft Stafford, they will be looking to use Culpepper to get Stafford ready...maybe Stafford plays limited snaps this first year and then next year takes over...who knows, but either way I'm okay with the pick...

...however, this is all going to be a moot point if they in fact address the QB issue in another way before the draft. All kinds of news leaked around the league today that the Lions made a push to try and get Jay Cutler out of Denver. Rumors have it that Denver "wasn't shopping" Cutler, but that they didn't say "No" when asked if a trade was out of the question...this, of course, has made Cutler angry, so who knows...maybe a trade will be asked for in the coming weeks before the draft.

If the Lions end up getting a player like Cutler to helm the offense, I think the defense could use some help...and here's how I'd do it. That #1 pick?? Brian Orakpo out of Texas. The kid is a beast...a dominant player...and a guy that could easily make opposing offensive lines think twice. Yah, yah, yah...Aaron Curry is the talk of the town on the defensive side of the ball right now, but the Lions already have a good linebacker in Ernie Sims...they do NOT have a good defensive lineman. Besides, I address the linebacker issue in a moment. After that #1 pick, they spend that pick that they got from Dallas for bust WR Roy Williams on Rey Maualuga, linebacker out of USC. The kid is quiet, strong, fast, and darn good. He's the kind of guy that would work well with Ernie Sims...not to mention he's the kind of linebacker that you can drop into coverage.

Either way, so far I'm impressed with how the Lions are addressing this off season. They are making some intelligent moves on players, some intelligent moves with coaches, and are keeping their hand close to the vest when it comes to this draft.

I still feel that they should take Matt Stafford...or at the very least Mark Sanchez. But I just don't like the name "Sanchez." That doesn't have a "Face of the Team" ring to it like Brady, or Manning, or Montana, or Young, or Elway...that, and I don't think we should judge how great of a QB Mr. Sanchez is based solely on his Rose Bowl slapping around of an over rated Penn State team...

Trim and Walls Done...

So all of the trim and all of the walls that don't have wallpaper on them are finally done. I know that I didn't hit my goal of being into the room by the end of February, but that's alright.

This coming weekend my dad is coming down to help me put up a new ceiling fan. As soon as we get that taken care of I'll paint the ceiling and then the wallpaper will be coming down.

I did get something different accomplished this past weekend in the room that I hadn't been planning on at first. I actually rehung the closets so that they open and close correctly in that room.

Like I said, I'm still plugging away slowly but surely at the room. Hopefully I'll have it done in the next 10 days or so. Then after that I'll be tackling the bathroom that's connected to that room.

Slowly but surely...

Zombie Genocidist...

So tonight, after a few months of playing, I finally got the Zombie Genocidist Achievement in "Left 4 Dead."

Zombie Genocidist was an Achievement in the game for killing 53,595 zombies in the game. Tonight I finally got it, but as I got it I realized that I probably have more like 75,000 kills right now. The reason I say that is because I threw a pipe bomb and it killed probably about 30 zombies at once...but for some reason it only gave me three confirmed kills. Tonight alone I threw about 30 pipe bombs in the game. So if each one only counted about 1/10th of what they actually killed, I probably got an extra 500 kills just tonight. And if I got an extra 500 just tonight, I probably have quite a few extras over the last three months.

Either way, I got it...and now there's only two more Achievements in the game that I need. I'll probably get them right about the time the new maps come out, and they'll throw another few really tough Achievements into the game...

ID'd the Oil Leak on the GS...

So after a little bit of examination I've identified the oil leak on the Suzuki.

It's not a huge oil leak, but it seems to be a pesky one. It's coming from a few different spots, but I nailed the main culprits when looking at it this afternoon.

The valve cover gasket is a main source of the problem, but it's not the valve gasket itself...it's another smaller seal that seems to be held in place BY the valve cover gasket. On the web I am seeing them called "half moon seals." This is probably because they look like a half moon...duh. They are cheap parts, but getting to them will be a bit of a chore. While I am replacing them I might as well replace the valve cover gasket and adjust the valves, too.

I also noticed that the pickup for the tachometer leaks a bit. I've read that this is pretty normal on a bike this age, so replacing it would be necessary soon anyways. Luckily, that's a bit more of an easy fix, and still a relatively cheap part.

ANOTHER Painting Update...

So I got most of the trim painted. There are still a few spots that need some touch up, but for the most part it's done now.

I actually really like the way the light gray goes with the dark gray. It sets it off nicely, and when it's nice and bright in the room you can really see the difference between the two colors.

The trim ended up needing at least two coats in every spot for it to cover the old white that was on there. I think that might have something to do with the fact that I was going with a flat paint this time and painting over a glossy color. I didn't really want to do the glossy color for the trim...I just didn't feel that it would look quite right with the muted colors that we were using.

All in all I'm pretty happy with the results so far. Cathy is going to go back to Menard's to pick out a ceiling fan and hopefully I can get my dad to come down and help me hang it next week. After I get that hung, I should be pretty much done with the room, other than doing the trim on the windows this spring.

Oh yah, we'll also be looking at window coverings and such. Also some decorations for the room. But for the most part, it's almost finished...

...now, I'm off to start trying to rip down some wallpaper. If it doesn't go smoothly, we're just going to go rent a steamer!!!

Facebook...

So I've had a facebook account for a LONG time, and for some reason a couple of months ago I got a friend request from my brother in law. Now, I had never really used Facebook before. I signed up for it just because, I guess, and never actually used it. Even today, I still don't really know how to navigate it's interface or anything. I guess I'm just not really one for "social networking," because I don't really know how to use MySpace, either.

Well, anyways, after I got this friends request from my brother in law, it must have triggered something on the facebook site, because now I get random friends requests from random people that I've known in the past at least twice a week. A few of them I have gone and added. Others I have ignored. Still some I have gotten and I don't have any CLUE who the person sending it is.

Here's a hint. If we went to grade school together, and we haven't talked since, chances are we don't really like each other anymore, and I don't want to be your "facebook buddy."

I guess I just don't understand how my account lay there, dormant, for like over a year before people finally started bothering me about it. Strange.

Work on the GS Update...

So I was told by a friend online just today that the GS is a very finicky bike to work on. He was telling me that the rubber parts that hook to the carbs (the parts that I have to replace) are insanely difficult to work with if it's cold outside. He said that if it's cold outside, I would actually need to get a heat gun and heat them all up OR put a heating pad over the entire thing and leave it like that for about an hour.

Basically, he suggested that I wait until it gets above about 50 degrees outside to do any of the work that I had been planning to do on the intake side of things. He said it's not impossible to get the carbs in and out when those boots are cold, but it's definitely a TON more difficult.

So, seeing as I can't ride the bike until it gets warmer out anyways, I will be focusing some of my current time to work on the appearance things that I want to work on for the GS.

Starting out will be the seat. If you recall, I had a "king and queen" style seat on the bike...but I didn't really like the way that it looked. So I replaced it with a stock seat that I got from a guy over on GSResources. I think the stock seat flows with the lines of the bike quite a bit better.

That said, the seat that I got has solid foam, a solid pan, but a horrible cover. The cover is almost non-existent. It's all ripped up and damaged.

So I asked about recovering the seat over on GSR, and I was told of a place that makes new seat covers for old Japanese bikes. They sell them for about $70, which isn't too bad at all for a good quality seat cover. I will probably order one up pretty soon so that I can get started on some of the things that I CAN do to the GS while it's still cold outside.

This is what the seat WILL look like when the new cover is on.

Bought a New Game...as Cheaply as Ever...

So I got "Devil May Cry 4" for my Xbox 360 today. I'd been looking for a decent single player game to supplement my "Left 4 Dead" addiction.

I was at Blockbuster and they had some previously played games for sale. One of them was "DMC4." The only thing was, it was not in it's original game case...it didn't come with any manuals...it was in a plain, boring, basic, cheap, clear DVD case.

I don't normally like to buy things like this...but this one was only $9.99. That's $10.00 less than the ones that were coming with cases...so really like 50% off. I don't like to buy games like this because, well honestly, I like my game collection to "look nice." I generally take all of the "Used" tags off of any games I buy used. I make sure my cases are always clean and in good shape.

This is definitely a departure from the norm for me...but hey, it was cheap...right??

Painting Update!!!

So I have decided to change up the painting for one last time.

The windows in the room need to be painted the same color as the trim. However, with it being so cold there is always condensation on the inside of those windows, and that condensation tends to drip down and get onto the actual wood parts of the windows. It's not rotting or anything, but I don't think it would be a great idea to paint on wood that has gotten even a little bit wet.

So, with that said, I will be doing all of the trim EXCEPT the windows in the room. I will wait to do the windows until spring time when I don't have to worry about condensation or anything like that mucking up my paint.

That's going to make the trim in the room that much easier to finish...for now. I'll only have two walls with no windows on them, one with a door, and one with just a baseboard to finish up.

That means that realisitcally, all that is left to do is to pull that wallpaper down. I'll be tackling that on Thursday, I believe!!!

Three Day Weekend!!!

So we took an extra day off this weekend. I am planning on using that day to completely finish up painting the room, and maybe even get the cable run into that room.

We won't be going to work on Thursday. I think that I will work on the room mostly on Thursday, but I may get up and do some of the work on it tomorrow.

It's nearly done. The wallpaper and the painting of the final wall is the only really tough thing that needs to be done still. Then we'll have to move our furniture into the room and get everything all set up.

Gordon's Ear...

So I've been doing really well on Gordon's medications for his ear. He's been getting his drops before we go to bed, and he's been getting his antibiotics before bed and before I leave for work.

The good news is that he seems to be doing pretty well. His ear looks better and he doesn't yelp when I touch it anymore, so I'm sure those are signs that it's getting healed.

The bad news is that the antibiotics are causing him to drink a ton of water, which in turn is causing him to go to the potty while we're at work and he's in his crate. I know he can't help it and he doesn't mean to do it, but it's been a mess anyways.

He's got about 4 days worth of ear drops left, and about a week of pills left, so hopefully after he gets done with those he'll be able to cut back on the water again and go back to normal!!

But the best part is that his ear is doing better...and he seems to be in quite better spirits.

Congratulations, and RIP...

So tonight was a fitting end to a career that was way too short.

Heath Ledger won an Oscar, posthumously of course, for his spectacular portrayal of The Joker in last summer's "The Dark Knight." The award was accepted by his parents and his sister.

Over the years, I had grown to really enjoy Heath Ledger's work. I can honestly say that of all the movies that I saw him in, there wasn't a single one that I didn't think he did a stellar job acting in.

My favorite parts that he played were, obviously, The Joker in "The Dark Knight," Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein in "A Knight's Tale," and Patrick Verona in "10 Things I Hate About You."

There were others, and I even enjoyed "Brokeback Mountain."

But the thing that bothers me the most about his passing was that he was seeming to come into his own as he got more mature. He was able to make parts his own. I have always found myself to be the type of person that thinks an actor is great when he or she makes you FORGET that they are the one playing the part...few actors right now really have that, and Heath did. His parts, to me, were more memorable for the character than for the actor that played them...and it's too bad that we have had him taken away before we got to see what he was truly capable of.

With this, I would like to say congratulations to Mr. Ledger...and godspeed.

Arthur is Thriving...

So the new fish that I put into the aquarium is thriving. He's actually built himself a den under the bridge thing that I have in the tank.

He actually moved a bunch of rocks out of the way, and actually some of them were pretty large, in order to make it easier for him to get under the bridge quickly.

The only problem is he doesn't seem to be eating. But from what I've read, betta fish often times won't eat for a few days after they are put in a new tank or after they have had their food changed. So I'm sure he'll start eating soon.

But either way, he's doing pretty well I think.

Heavy Snow...

So there's a snowstorm predicted for tomorrow. It's supposed to bring us four to six inches of the white junk. Then on Sunday there's supposed to be more snow, but not quite as much...something like one to two more inches.

So, after the weekend, we will probably have anywhere between 5 and 9 inches of snow covering the ground. That's more snow than I really want to deal with. I'm really getting sick of the winter time. I guess the good news it's supposed to rain and be at least 35 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday, so it will probably all melt less than 3 days after we get it, which is good.

I'm just really ready for springtime. I'm ready to get the bike out and get it up and running. I'm ready to start working in the yard again. I'm ready for it to be a good 60 degrees or more out everyday. I'm ready for no more snow.

I'm just really sick of the winter.

New Fish...

I can't remember if I posted about it or not, but Achilles died about a week or so ago. The ick that he had been sick with I think finally caused him to die. It sucked, because he was doing pretty well and seemed like he was getting a little bit better, then later that night he was dead.

I decided to flush the tank all out and get it running again to try and clear out the disease. Well, after a little more than a week I finally tore it all apart today. I put in boiling water to kill any parasites or bacteria that were left, then let the filter run for several hours.

Then tonight I ran to the store and picked out a new fish. It's a Siamese Fighting Fish, or a betta. His name is Arthur. I don't have a picture of him, but he's purple, white, blue, and red. This is a picture I found of a betta so that you can see what they look like, just in case you didn't know...

He's Back...

So next week Tiger Woods returns to the PGA from his recovery. I'm excited about this because golf is MUCH more boring to me whenever Tiger isn't playing...and it's been a while and it's finally time for him to get back out on the course.

Having Trouble Sleeping Lately...

So I don't know what exactly the problem has been, but lately I really just can't seem to sleep.

I stay up till 4 or 5 in the morning everyday of the week then get up for work at 11:00 am or so. Then on the weekends I stay up even later and sleep in really late.

I don't know what it is, but I simply can't seem to even want to go to bed anytime before then. Even on days that I feel tired all day long, by the time I get home from work I just don't feel like going to bed.

I think if I could get myself back on track even for just a few days I'd be fine, but I just can't seem to get back on track. It's really starting to irritate me, and I think it's starting to bother Cathy that I'm up till all hours of the night every night.