what Jfitz did today

[jfitz]

I took my daughter to see "Tangled" today. I actually liked it! Good story, humorous scenes, the graphics were amazing. But, PG. The girl is 5. Really...the evil mother stabbs the hero?...Kinda heavy, ya know? No, I can't shelter my daughter forever. Yes, I'm still gonna try. That's my job. Indeed, today I failed. As an aside...the trailers were all for movies soon to be released in 3D. sigh. I ask, "Why? What's the point?" The graphics for "Tangled" were great. Isn't that enough? "Justin Bieber: The Behind the Scenes Experience in 3D" "Cars 2 in 3D" "Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D" (about gnomes that run wild in some old lady's yard playing out the Bard's story, insert eyeroll here) I don't get it. It's just not for me. What...the "story" isn't good enough to stand alone? Oh yeah, it's Hollywood...so no.

[jfitz]

Saw more movie trailers; "The Smurfs in 3D" and "Yogi Bear in 3D" BIG eye roll!!!! OMG, can't anyone, anyone make a NEW effing movie??!! I was watching the Macy's parade yesterday with the fam and low and behold; a performance from a Broadway play..."Elf" wow. Now those DB's on/off Broadway have to reprint scripts to stay employed? YOU'RE ALL FIRED!!!!!!! I should add that I don't have an appreciation for the "musical" as a medium anyway, but COME ON!!!

[jfitz]

Saw a commercial for a new A&E series..."The Hasselhoffs"...I just threw up in my mouth a little...another fine example of "The Wrong Guy Getting Famous"

[jfitz]

...the Social Networking Podcast...great stuff...bomb threats in D.C. Well, kinda a given, ya know, post-9/11 world and all that...My wife and I visited the seat of our national power several years ago, and while walking 'round the White House we stumbled upon a rally for some African nation...can't recall the 411 at this point in time, but nevertheless, it was cool to see something like that live and in person. We also saw the changing of the guard, as it were; the Secret Service sharp shooters posted atop the Executive Mansion were rotating their shift...that was cool...you didn't even know they were there until they just popped up and all badass rifles and such started moving around...way cool...I'm just a tourist man! About 6 months after 9/11, we went to Tennessee for a NASCAR race (I make no apologies for this) and our flight went to Roanoke, VA. Quaint little airport. Except for the overt military presence; soldiers in full combat gear sportin' M-16's! Whoa! WTF! This is just some rinky dink commuter airport here folks, right? No? A wee bit disconcerting, but at the time, airport security was at the govenors' discretion...or lack of in this case. But I suppose being south of the Mason-Dixon Line, and buckled firmly in the Bible Belt, and surrounded by Republican NRA-types, it was to be expected. I'm just a tourist man! This past summer, the fam and I visited the great state of Maine, summer home to the former leader of the free world, Mr. George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States of America...(crowd roar) anyway, we were at a little bistro for lunch and a mean-looking power boat quietly menuvered into the charming little harbor. All hands on deck! About 6 "casually dressed" thugs with crew cuts and boat shoes positioned themselves to surveil the waterside patio. Oh, hello, gentlemen, can we help you? I'm just a tourist, man! We looked over at the other end of the garden area, and low and behold, it's Mr. Read My Lips. The poor guy could barely sample a fry with all the security surrounding him. But, goes with the territory I suppose. And lastly, back in the Clinton era, Big Bill Himself visited Barrington, RI on a stumping excursion for a local Dem. Well, guess where I took my lunch break that day? Hint; I was a bit far from my authorized lunch locale that day. It was cool to see the motorcade with about a dozen Suburbans filled to the brim with serious looking gents peeking out the tailgate, with hands hidden from view. I'm just the mailman, man! Hey, I'm just spitballing here but, wouldn't this be a cool podcast topic; your experience with the Secret Service...FISTPUMP!!!

[jfitz]

BTW...that survey was entertaining to listen to. Nate Dawg, you do a fine Rocky, but no Billy Idol? Sky diving...did it! Several years ago, way back in B.C. (that's Before Camille, my daughter) A bunch of my wife's cousins had planned to do this at the end of the summer. My wife and I decided at the last minute to go watch. Well, she got all jacked by the "I survived" vibe that was floating around, so she decided to give it a go. Naturally I had to as well to protect my manhood. It was the most frightening and wonderful experience I had at that point in my life. Honestly, I wasn't afraid at all until it was time to position myself at the open door of the plane at 2 miles up. Time just stopped, and all was quiet for about 2 seconds. Then my heart started pounding, my mouth went dry, and I thought..."this is fucking crazy, I'm not at all pleased with my wife right now." Then I had an epiphany...I'm not going to fall out of this plane...well, not in the accidental sense of the term. The whole point is to leave this flying machine and plummet to the Earth, but in a controlled sort of way. (nice rationalizing) It was a tandem dive, so I wasn't going anywhere until the instructor was ready. At that moment, I was at peace...well, as much as one can be at the moment one is about to jump out of a plane 10,000 feet in the air. It was surprisingly cold way up there, with the air blowing my cheeks apart at about 150mph! And fucking loud! Then after a short period of time, I felt a massive jolt in my groin, and then...silence...not a sound...no more ice cold wind...just a peacefull floating back down to Earth, gently swaying under the parachute. We did this at the Middletown Airport...it was a crystal clear day, no clouds...we could see Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and at one point it looked as if we were going to land on one of the aircraft carriers docking at the Navy pier. I'm just a sky diver, man! Oh, wait, this was before 9/11, whew. It was a zen-like feeling landing on the ground, all safe and sound, a euphoric sense of accomplishment and survival. But it's one of those things for me that once is enough. No need to tempt fate. I'm a parent now. Although, I highly recommend this event to anyone contemplating a bit of adventure. I would never scuba dive, as I have an irrational fear of water, especially deep dark ocean water. I did not cut my daughter's umbilical cord, I'm the squeamish sort, don't judge, I know my limitations. I did however, ride in a racecar travelling at 145mph! FISTPUMP!!! Damn, that concrete wall is close! That was awesome! And that, I would do again if it weren't so damn expensive and I weren't so damn cheap.

[Nathan Soares]

Now that I know Jfitz's whole life and then some, I feel like I can sleep soundly tonight. Seriously though thank you for the great feedback. We were very undecided about the survey. Miss you tons at the "job".
PEACE

[jfitz]

Nate Dawg, this is on a second window! FISTPUMP!!!...big sigh...ya know how I mentioned my distain for all things e-lec-tronic, well this has been my week with tech toys; my VCR ate 2 tapes recently (it's OK, it was 14 years old) and I ordered a new VCR/DVD player through Amazon. I did some research first, and was a bit surprised by the poor reviews for this type of product. Customers mostly cited quality control issues for their displeasure. F-ing China! Anyway I proceeded to purchase one with a bit of trepidation, figureing that its use would be limited to a small number of tapes for my daughter to watch. It arrived, and of course I got a stomach ache opening the damn box, thinking about what levels of aggrevation I'll be experiencing in the next hour or so. Call me clarevoyant. I couldn't get the f-ing contraption to work. No image appeared on the TV screen! Really? How hard is this supposed to be, for the love of God?! I sheepishly asked my father-in-law to hook it up for me. Worked right away. I had the wires plugged in wrong. My fault. Rrrrrr! I'm just spitballing here but, what's with all the wires and connections? Can't be simpler?...deep breath...my desk top computer seems to have contracted a virus. Great. I'm a bit ignorant as to the whole cause and effect of computer viruses, but what a confusing pain in the ass. Just saying. I was searching Yahoo News, closed out Windows, then the monitor went a bit fuzzy, then a virus protection alert window appeared on the screen. X out, pop up, x out, pop up, x out, pop up. Enough already! Go away! The prompt was telling me to run this virus scan now! Before all data is lost! Really?Then the wallpaper disappeared and a warning about the programs being disabled was displayed on the screen. So I diligently tried to run the anti-virus program I do have to no avail. Disabled. Perfect. I tried to right click the icon that made itself at home on the screen to delete it, nope. I went into Tools to get rid of it, nope. All Programs, nope. System Restore, nope. Well I'm out of ideas. Time to call a friend of mine who does this stuff for a living. Confirmed; virus. Nice...breathe...now my lap top...the imaging on the screen got faded, blurry, and like an old TV set with aluminum foil for an antenna. My first thought was that I was having a mental breakdown because of this computer/VCR shit, or a stoke, but no such luck. My tech toys have conspired to fuck with me this week. I did a virus scan, nope. Shut it down, start it up, still there. Called my friend again. Good news; not a virus. Bad news; something's faulty with the "vid-e-o processor" or the "mother-board" or some such part. Fantastic. GD thing's not even a year old! Ooo, still under warrenty! Win for me! Sort of. Stay tuned for more news on the Tech Front.

[jfitz]

Update from the Tech Front; Desktop: virus eliminated, system restored. Laptop: shipped off to Toshiba HQ for a full diagnostic. Actually just the service center for a replacing of the video card. What a fucking hassle that was. First I called the Staples store I bought that damned thing from to explain the situation. Response: can't touch it, sir. Ya gotta call the 800 # first. Duely noted. "Hello, 1-800 Staples? Yeah, my laptop's broken. No, I didn't drop it. No, I didn't download anything off the Web. Yes, it's still under warranty. Oh, OK, sorry to bother you, I'll call Toshiba now, thanks for your lack of help." "Hello, Toshiba? Could you speak up, you're halfway around the world, I can't really here you. That's F-I-T...how many times do I need to spell my name?" (is it too much to ask that someone on the other end of the line speak English? The King's English. Not Broken English. I'm not a racist. I'm a pragmatist. If neither of us is understanding the other, what's the point?) Anyway...before anyone can help me, the warranty needs to be registered. Really? Didn't the techie do that back in January when I bought the GD extended warranty? No? Okey dokey, let's do that now. Oh wait, that department is closed until 8am tomorrow, Pacific Time. Breathe. Next day, warranty registered, let's do this. Toshiba guy then tells me to bring it to a local Best Buy. Yeah but, and then, I thought that, but I didn't buy it there, I bought it from Staples. Fine. Have it your way. Honestly, the last place I want to be at this time of the year is a Best Buy, but whutev. So Best Buy guy says, "no can do Dude. Ya ditnt buyit heeah." Say again...never mind. "Hey Toshiba-san! Yeah it's me again...F-I-T...really?! Best Buy won't touch it, CUZ I DIDN'T BUY IT THERE!!!! Oh, now you want me to bring it to a UPS Store to send it to your own repair facility? What a great idea! Now we're on the same page!"...deep breath...more updates to follow...hopefully soon...we'll see...

[bchezze22]

good luck with that!!!!!!

[jfitz]

Well, got the laptop back today. Seems to be running properly. Apparently there was a loose LCD cable thingy. Right. The planets are starting to align themselves in order for me again. Good. OK all you Spitballers, let's get 2010 behind us and get started on 2011! You can't tell from this text, but I pronounced it "twenty ten" and "twenty eleven." I know, I'm cool like dat.

[jfitz]

"What did he write?" Excellant point Chris and Nathan! We are "afraid of the truth." Rewriting any book is destroying art. Whether it's a work by Mark Twain or The Bard or Adolf Hitler, it is what is! Let's not pretend it didn't happen, folks!

[jfitz]

The dead birds...fireworks? really? All those birds never heard fireworks before? This is what happens when the Hollywood writers go on strike; we get bad news stories. It's almost as if no effort was put into a semi-logical spin, false as it may be. The Dumbing-down of America continues!

[jfitz]

"8tracks"...sounds like a cool site...a listen to one's playlist is a peek into one's soul...good point Chris; about someone likeing their own music (as in tastes). To put a playlist out there on the web for all to see, with info about who put the aforementioned list there, in a way takes courage. Just thinking about it makes me feel exposed and vulnerable...and excited! You know that feeling you get when you discover some new tunes and you want to share it with all your friends and you feel like that new band's advocate and you go out there and champion mightily for that great new sound and then someone else gains that same appriciation for it that you have and then one day you hear it on the radio and you get all jacked and you feel like a proud parent or coach?...uh...anyway...I'm not sure how many people would like the music I like, but I can tell you at least how many don't; 10!

[jfitz]

Hey! I am not a red-headed stepchild! I never had red hair and I certainly don't now! I have gray hair...I'm a grown-ass man! And I'm a middle child...which is much worse...thank you very much!

[Nathan Soares]

you are too a red-headed step child...no one wants one of those!