Black Friday Mayhem! Thanksgiving Shopping Havoc! -It comes early this year!

Well happy turkey week everyone! That's right, it's my 3rd annual Black Friday Post! -wow time is flying by.

This year, I have both Turkey day and Friday off of work, so we will have to plan accordingly. We also are on a fairly tight budget this year, as [you may notice from previous post] we now have a brand new home that needs plenty of it's own little necessity's. Indeed our home may be the one making off like a bandit this year.

But alas, i'm sure we may brave the shopping madness and hopefully score some sweet deals.

I am looking forward to our first holiday in our new home...relaxing a bit from a hard move, drinking some nice wine, having some ham, and sweet 'tater pie with the kiddos! ....mmmmmmm....pie....

This will be the third year shopping on black Friday, so we are going to arm ourselves accordingly. We have a strollers for Rowan and Aidan, which will be equiped with an ample supply of snacks, diapers, toys, to (hopefully) curtail the inevitable tantrum throughout the business. We have a list of the family members and a rough idea of a budget to work with. I have my best gel-inlaid sneakers and probably will strap on a powerful set of elbow and knee pads. Hey! It's a JUNGLE out there!

I will take no prisoners.

I fear for the worst, and expect that it will be bumper to bumper roads, and near-misses in the parking lots that day. Good thing we have decent insurance!

"i said that was MY spot!"

A funny thing came up when I was thinking of what I wanted to get for my wife for x-mas. Exactly how would I spy something, get it in our cart, pay for it, and get it into our car without her noticing? I can't. So I think we will have to have two separate carts, I may have to force her to run away until I get something hidden amongst all the kiddy toys etc. or maybe I just jot the items down in a little notepad and when WE have gotten everything for everyone else, I have her check out and go through the cashier and to the car, then I run around like a mad chicken and speed shop my wifes gifts??  sigh, last year I had to go BACK to the stores, and try to grab the stuff I wanted to get her...it wasn't easy.  There is also the question this year, of "shall I get her a 'ok' priced gift, and lots o' small ones, or just get her that one big, nice expensive one she's been wanting for years? "[there are multiple options of these as well]

What do you you all think?? Does anyone have any ideas?

I will leave it at that for now, did I mention yet that I luv the holidays?   ;/

-And just so I didn't completely waste your time reading excerpts from my personal life, here's a few links to get you on your way. I'm sure they will be happy I led you there.

#1 sites:  http://www.blackfriday.info/  and http://blackfriday.com/

http://www.bestbuy.com/

http://www.amazon.com/ (my personal fav)

http://www.target.com/ (my fav local store)

http://www.frys.com/

http://www.fredmeyer.com/ (for you Oregonian/Washingtonians)

http://www.walmart.com/ (if u really have to..ugh)

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

http://www.toysrus.com/

http://www.babiesrus.com/

http://www.sears.com/ (for that angle-grinding,circular sawing,super-sanding, Makita-drilling, Tim Allen-worshiping dude on your list)
http://www.oldnavy.com/

-and last but not least!

http://www.tylenol.com/ (the most important one for this holiday season methinks)

HAVE FUN!

Mission Completed - First House!

So besides all the facebook mentions, and much thankful congratz from our friends and family, I thought i'd make a quick post for our first home, which we FINALLY closed on November 9th.

I'll use my wife Heather's quote, as I think she said it best: "Once upon a time back in...gosh, March? My husband and I decided we wanted to make one of our biggest dreams a reality, and after many months of planning, hard work, downfalls, tears, anxiety, and one final large hump, we can safely say as of last week that we are now HOMEOWNERS! The house began as a lot and is now a home!"

Indeed, we have been through a lot with this one, with many lessons learned on the mortgage loan-obtaining part. Looking back, we had a number of things stacked up against us, and somehow, through sheer determination and brute force, we managed to plow through the obstacles and accomplish this one, ever so important goal for our family. It's still all a bit unreal, and all the homeowner responsibilities are lurking just under the surface, waiting to take a great majority of my time...but I tell you this: I won't mind it a bit. I'm so proud of this house, and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and many many more years of holidays and memories to come. 

Here's how it turned out!                       Construction -  Aug. 4

 Breakfast Area

 Shiney new Kitchen! All maytag appliances.

                     Center Island sink/dishwasher, w/ Aidan showing off the spacious living room.

 Master Bath Tub, (Shower is on right)

Completed - [Sept] Nov 2010

For anyone interested [in this area], The builder was Stone Bridge Homes NW, via Don Morissette Realty.

We ended up with a respectable 4.5% Fixed 30 Yr Rate with a VA Home Loan. Of Course, we couldn't have accomplished most of the icky parts of this without our exhausted and relieved mortgage broker, Mark Wilson @ Innova Mortgage!  If you haven't used your VA loan yet, the market is still perfect for you to get a home now! It's not easy, but if you can make it through, it's the best time to buy in a long time, and the future can only go up right? 

                                Now I gotta get a Lawn Mower! (among a hundred other things!!)



Interpol - (2010 Self-titled Album) - Micro-Review

It was a rushed morning, I was coming back from a rare appointment with the doctor which reminded myself of the age I am now forced to be mindful of, and so, reeling with worries and doubts of the future in general I was distracted out of my numb platitude by the radio in my aging old black prelude. The new INTERPOL album has just dropped today! My favorite store would sure to have a copy, and so a small deviation from home and kids and family would naturally be first order on this cool and bright morning.

I arrived at Target with only the morning merchandise stockers and sales people shuffling around in good spirits. When I got to the music area, I dodged my way smugly around the morning meeting, a flinting memory to my old days as a early morning salesman at many electronic stores in the area. Go Team Go! and Be HAPPY and HELPFUL!  I felt many bored and curious eyes watch as I grabbed the brand new album on the top shelf of the 'New Release' rack, just as I heard the manager state to his children- "Umm..and today the band 'Interpol' has a new release...Weezer.." Just then I turned and smiled sheepishly at everyone watching me grab THE very first copy of the store, heck, probably in my CITY..that morning!  I was pretty excited actually - when my wife and I saw this band a few years back at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland during the 'Our Love to Admire' Tour, we were both effectively blown away by how crisp, clean, and beautiful they sounded...my wife adding that they were extremely well dressed young lads. I was enthralled by the precision and relentless drumming of Sam Fogarino, the arena-filling majesty that was Mr. Daniel Kessler and his Rickenbacker. (In other words, they rocked), and I quickly began to realize they would be one of my all-time, long staying favorite bands.  They already had won me over with the amazing 'Antics' album, with the song 'Evil' impossible to keep out of my head.

I read a brief in SPIN magazine that all was not as they had hoped...but that all wasn't lost. So I was hoping for the best. Back at my car, tearing the wrapping off and flipping the plastic case open...it fell off into my hand-the hinge broken into pieces. Apparently picking the first on the shelf wasn't so good an idea. I groaned- oh nooo....a bad omen?

It's apparent that this record is split right in two, between the stronger/faster tracks within the first 5, then comes screeching to a halt right after Barricade- the first radio single. Not that this in itself is bad, just that it leaves one wanting a nice fire-branded, energy track on the second half -which begins to trail off into experimental techno-ballads with some nice moments here and there. The setup here suggests strongly a thematic and artistic quality to the album, which is probably what garners it the most consternation among casual listeners, if not long-time fans.

First song- Success= Nice...so far so good!... I liked how it's moody layers grabbed me. I instantly thought, if this is a sign of things to come, I'll be quite happy with this album. If there is a song most like their old albums here, it would be this one.  Many swirling vocal lines and atmosheric orchestrations hovering like mist in the background. A memorable line: "I've got two secrets , but I only told you one"

Second song-Memory Serves- Ok, but the chorus seems almost too layered with Pauls vocals. Again, stylistic choices.

Now..the third song- Summer Well- At first this song raises an eyebrow, then gets your fingers tapping as you admire the intricate percussion, then a pulsing base line-like an old Atari game theme, the quiet piano marching before Paul Banks low musings..then BAM, that burst of sound and guitar and singing all in a millisecond announce that they are not a band that has given up it's intense emotional turns. These are among my favorite qualities of the best Interpol songs, how you feel the shift going somewhere, quieter, a different key perhaps, then they catch you off-guard by going where you least expect in the next bridge, or chorus.
This song, is epic. By far the #1 best quality song on this album, and one that I try to avoid listening to too much, because it is simply amazing and I don't ever want it to wear out.

Lights is a strong song, it is a linear song, like a march up a cliff..it begins with a pleading man for a lost love...the steady beat driving you ever onward...presumably to a climax that releases a mountain of pent up longing..but alas, a peak that doesn't come. The song maintains this steady climb and then just fades out...not one change before the fall. Not so much a fall but a wither away.

Barricade grows on you, if only for its sheer energy and restlessness. At first I didn't know what to make of Paul's higher than normal pitched chorus...but it equates itself to frantic desperation, which seems fitting for a song desperate to either go back to, or get into something or somewhere it once was. Many of Interpol's songs are maddeningly vague with the lyrics, so one is left to form their own story- which is perhaps what they, as many, great artists want you to do.

As for the second half of the album..well...you should give it a great many turns, and don't dismiss it on first listen. Many whom find fault in these songs, should wonder if perhaps they have little patience to spare in this world of 20 second sound-bytes. It is part of the overall story, and it is as valid as any unique young artists surrealistic painting to study.

This record, like the long-time fans will tell you, grows on you. It hasn't left my ol' cars CD player for a month now. As much as I want to take it out for fear of ruining it, I go back to that song #3 every morning...to study it a bit more.

"Why We Fight" - Complete video here. Must watch documentary on the Military-Industrial Complex.

"Why We Fight" -a riveting 2005 Sony pictures documentary directed by Eugene Jarecki. I must have missed this one, until now. An eye opening, but hardly surprising summation of the Military-Industrial Complex, as forewarned by our last great president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He saw into the future, and was dead-on accurate about what he wished to warn Americans of, and we have fulfilled tenfold despite his warning. But as any wise man or woman will tell you...Americans have short memories. 

It is slightly over an hour and a half, the complete film here- but you will have lasting impressions, and a sense of perspective perhaps you hadn't before. I wish the majority of the American public would see this film-it is enlightening to say the very least. 

So go grab some coffee, and a sandwich...get comfortable and please find this film as important as I have.

5 Creepy Ways Video Games Are Trying to Get You Addicted!

I stumbled along this article, and believe it to be a must-read for ANYONE whom plays games more than just casually, or knows anyone whom they have ever called 'addicted' to their video games.

There is a disturbing amount of truth evident here, in the psychological tried-and-true methods to which game designers strive for ever more profitable game designs. For some, reading this i'm sure will be an enlightening, if not shocking, experience. For others, it will merely put words to what they may already know about themselves. The dark secrets of why they play the games they love.

I am one of them.

Please check out this humorous but cautionary tale on the funny site: Cracked.com HERE

-An excerpt:
"Why is your mom obsessively harvesting her crops in Farmville? Because they wither and rot if she doesn't. In Ultima Online, your house or castle would start to decay if you didn't return to it regularly. In Animal Crossing, the town grows over with weeds and your virtual house becomes infested with cockroaches if you don't log in often enough. It's the crown jewel of game programming douchebaggery--keep the player clicking and clicking and clicking just to avoid losing the stuff they worked so hard to get."

In other hilarious/related news: "Addicted Gamer Sues Game-Maker, Says He is ‘Unable to Function’

By: David Kravets of WIRED.com