Just rolling along

Life has been pretty good lately. Gotten to see the friends a good bit. The new car has been such a relief. I can actually go places and not worry if it will start back up again! Been working a good bit and I've almost finished Christmas shopping.

Short and sweet update!

Here's a trailer for a movie I'm REALLY looking forward to...

The Wrestler

A NEEEEWWWW Car...dingdingdingding

Ok, maybe I don't sound like Bob Barker, but I did get a new car on December 8, 2008!!

A 2009 Toyota Scion xB!! It's silver and has lots of room for taking people and other various objects wherever they need to go.

Pictures soon!

Jeffrey Combs

Maybe you've heard of Jeffrey Combs. He has done movies like Re-Animator, The Frighteners and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer but is known (in my circles) as the best Star Trek guest actor EVER! He has played at least 7 different parts on Star Trek DS9, Voyager and Enterprise.



Weyoun is the most popular of these characters. He was a Vorta and served as a second in command of the Dominion. There were actually 8 Weyoun clones and he played all of them. He had an eerie charisma and always had the best lines. If you ever hear Walls and I say "Time to pack!" it's in reference to Weyoun.




Brunt was the Ferengi that even other Ferengi hated. Always one-upping Quark and trying to lead the Ferengi he was another great character.



Shran is an Andorian Commander and sometime helper on Enterprise. I'm only 14 episodes into the first season of Enterprise but he's already been on the show twice. And Combs is brilliant as always.

Combs stars in all kinds of B-Movies and guest spots on television. Even playing Captain Cold on THE FLASH television show. He is such an under rated actor. I recommend watching Star Trek...period, but watching the episodes with Combs makes it that much more pleasurable.

After the November breakdown...

Ok...I didn't really have a breakdown. More like a month long semi-depression. I re-read the blogs and that's definitely how I felt (and still feel in a way) but I've decided that worrying about problems doesn't fix them.

So things that have happened recently...

The Atlanta Falcons are 8-4!!! I said at the beginning of the season that they would win 7-8 games and that would be INCREDIBLE!! The better part is that we still have 4 games left!

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets beat the Georgia Bulldogs!! Can you believe it?

I've had 2 days off!! And I enjoyed them in the recliner. Football on Sunday and Star Trek Enterprise with Walls today. We watched a funny episode where Trip gets pregnant and another episode that Jeffrey Combs(Re-Animator) plays an Andorian. If you ever get a chance to listen to the Star Trek Enterprise opening song and compare it to the other Star Trek opening songs...you will laugh.

I've been getting sleepier earlier in the night. And sleepy during the day. Does this mean I'm getting old? Nah...I'm forever young.

I finished reading Ben Edlund's The Complete Tick! The inspiration for the animated (and short lived live action) TV shows. The comics were hilarious. I'm thinking about reading some "real" books. I just don't know what. If anyone reads this...suggest something. Maybe I'll start with Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Played some Great Dalmuti with the Phillips clan and Pat the other day. Of course I won :)!! I had a good time and got to see little Gracie again. Seeing her really does make me happy. She's so beautiful!

If you haven't played The Great Dalmuti I would recommend giving it a try. It's a very fun and easy game. Just be prepared to switch seats.

I watched the 1st season of The Big Bang Theory in less than 24 hours!! What an awesome show!! Especially for geeks like myself, who understand what the guys are talking about.Of course I'd believe the stuff from the X-Files before I'd believe that an uber-hot chick would befriend these guys.

So raise your glasses and let's bring in December with good cheer and happiness for everyone.

Positive thinking

My dog has been sick this week and I'm worried sick eventhough he's better and just a little lethargic right now. He's eating and using the bathroom and has seen the vet already. I can't help but worry.

A couple of roommates will be moving out next year. And my other roommate has made it perfectly clear that he cannot pay more than $400 rent. So we have to get another roommate and I just don't know who or how. So I worry.

My car has been acting up for a while. Now the brakes are starting to grind. I don't want to put more money into a car that I don't think will run much longer. I don't have the money for a new car. So I worry.

My sister is having problems with her marriage according to my mom. I don't see or hear from my sister very much, but I still love her and my nephew. So I worry.

I find my friends drifting away. So I worry.

Life has a funny way of hitting you below the belt. I try my hardest to be positive, but it's hard to do. Maybe everything will be ok. Maybe it will all go to shit. Let's hope for the best, right?

Cold...cold...colder...frozen!

That's the way I feel sometimes when people think they know me. I wish that people would attempt to know each other. It seems that most folks get a first impression and then log that as "knowing" someone.

We're all deeper than we appear to be on the outside.

It seems that we are a nation of "I don't care's" and "whatevers" today. Maybe tomorrow we'll know each other.

Time flies...

I was just checking the blog again and noticed it had been a week since I posted something. It seems like only yesterday I was posting those videos and trying to figure out which musical sequences from movies that I love.

It seems like only yesterday that I was getting my drivers license or yesterday that my cousin was having her baby...who's now 18! I'm amazed at how some days seem to last forever and our lifetime flies by in the blink of an eye. Today I'm 32 and tomorrow I'll be 64 and chances are I won't double in age again(unless I'm uberfit).

I think I'll take it slow tomorrow and savor every bit of it.

Music in Movies

Some scenes from movies with great music! I've seen this on a couple of blogs.



This scene from 28 Weeks Later is VERY intense. The music fits the scene perfectly. The name of the song is "In A Heartbeat".



Hedwig & The Angry Inch is one of my favorite musicals and the song "Origin of Love" is my favorite from the movie. I bought the soundtrack for all of the songs!!



Another great song from Hedwig & The Angry Inch called "Wig In A Box".



Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" used to beat zombies and dance a little in Shaun of the Dead!

It's that time again...Deep Discount's 25% off sale - November 2008

Why, oh why, does Deep Discount feel the need to do this to me? Do they know I don't have the money to spend? Do they know that Ramen noodles are good for me and are trying to steer me to them? (BTW...Ramen noodles are chocked full of calories!! NOT good for you)

Twice a year (usually June and November) Deep Discount has a sale of 20% off. I usually drop about $200 or more on this sale. I use it to pick up TV on DVD that I've skipped or a movie that I didn't want to pay very much for. This time the sale has been bumped up to 25% just to get us to spend more, or maybe the economy sucks and they know we need it. So I'm looking through my collection and checking out the new DVDs and Blu-Rays that are coming out and I'm making a plan on what to buy.

So far I've made one order for...

• THREE STOOGES COLLECTION: Volume 1 - 1934-1936 $ 14.99
• THREE STOOGES COLLECTION: Volume 2 - 1937-1939 $ 14.98
• THREE STOOGES COLLECTION: Volume 3 - 1940-1942 $ 14.90
• THREE STOOGES COLLECTION: Volume 4 - 1943-1945 $ 14.90

I'm a big fan of the Three Stooges and these sets are great! I made the order on Friday November 7th and got them in on Monday November 10th! Talk about fast shipping...and it's free!!

I will definitely pick up Hellboy 2 on Blu-Ray and Scrubs: Season 7 by the end of the sale. These are no-brainers. But now I have to decide on other things I "need". Will I finally pick up those Mystery Science Theatre sets? Do I have to pick up A Clockwork Orange on Blu-Ray, or is the DVD good enough? I know that I should be worrying about the economy or when gas will rise again, but I can get these DVDs and not worry about spending money or driving anywhere to use gas. Ooohhh decisions...what will I do. The sale ends on November 23rd...we'll find out then.

What to feel?

Lately I've been on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. I try to get the best out of everything and try even harder to have fun all of the time. But it seems to get harder to do the older I get. I feel as if I'm missing out on all the things that I should be doing. Society tells me that I'm a "loser", a single man in his 30's with a "job" not a career. And lately that's the way I've been feeling. And this hurts really bad...I've never let society or ANYONE make me feel bad about myself and I've never felt depressed. I'll shake off this feeling, but for today I'm gonna mope about it for a little while. I need something, but I just don't know what it is.

But I said UPS and downs. So let's talk ups!

My employer and one of my best friends Bill and his wife Terri (who I love to death and is also one of my greatest friends and is nicer to me than anyone should be allowed) adopted a little girl this past week!! She's beautiful and her name is Alison Grace! Terri came back with her yesterday and I'm going to see her tonight!

Halloween party! Had a blast at the halloween party at Wes and Jessica's house. It's always great to see friends. Even greater to see them drunk! I don't remember much about that night.

New friends! I've recently been hanging out with EJ and Ashley. They are very cool (i.e. - likes the same things as me) and easygoing people. I need to set up another horror movie night.

Snow Patrol "Chasing Cars" - I get misty eyed every time I hear this song. If I ever direct a film...this song will be in it.

Rock Band 2 - Just a fun game with great music.

Gears of War 2 - The new multiplayer game. I've enjoyed the little bit I've played so far. The Horde multiplayer option was amazing!

And last... A new president! Barack Obama will take over in January and I can't wait. This man offers us a change from the last 8 years. Not just a change but a GREAT change. I have faith in him and I hope he lives up to the potential that the voters saw in him.

...

...random post

It's been a long time...

...since I've blogged.

Why not?

Haven't had much to blog about. Just been doing the daily grind of waking up, feeding the animals, getting ready for work, working, going home and watching something on the television.

Thing of note...Marlena is throwing Kelly a birthday party next Saturday. It's a surprise party! I wonder if we can pull it off.

Tonight I'm going to Wes' 30th Birthday party at Buffalo's Cafe. I'll welcome him to the 30's club.

Found out yesterday that I'm going to Las Vegas for the THIRD time! This time I don't get to do any planning ahead though. We're going on September 5th and staying until the 8th. That's plenty of time to blow my money and come back broker than I've ever been.

Star Trek Girl!

I've decided that I only need one thing in a girl...she must like Star Trek.

Is this girl out there?

A New Day

I've been having a week of blahs.

First - I made the blog invisible. Only I can read it. I didn't realize I had folks reading it that may get pissed off with me.

Second - My X-Box 360 Elite gave me the Red Ring of Death. Now I'm sending it back to get fixed.

Third - Mice! 7 in total so far.

Oh well. I did get to see the new X-Files movie last night. It was not great. The month of sci-fi watching is almost over too. Guess I need something new for August.

...

...forgotten and forgiven

The Dark Knight & Hellboy 2

Both were very good.

The Dark Knight took a step from comic book movie to actual crime suspense. Nolan does a good job of getting alot from all of his characters. And, of course, Heath Ledger was great as The Joker!

No Watchmen trailer though...

Hellboy 2 used more comedy than the first and it works in the movie's favor. I spent most of the movie laughing my ass off! The bad guys are beautiful. Thank God Del Toro doesn't rely heavily on CGI and can give us these unique creatures.

Whoops!

I actually got Monday off, so dry those tears because Mike got a day off.

Going to see The Dark Knight tonight!! I hope it's great and I hope we get a Watchmen trailer!

19 days in a row

Blue Beetle had to die again in Booster Gold # 10. RIP Ted.

In preparation for the upcoming 15th Anniversary of Bunjee's Comics, Bill and I, will be working at the Griffin store for the next couple of Mondays to prepare. We will be adding in some comics and cleaning up the clutter in the back. I also agreed to work for Bill today (Sunday July 13th) because he wasn't feeling well yesterday and he wanted to see his mom today. So my 19 days began on July 8th and will continue to July 26th. At least I'll make more money, and I can watch DVDs at work!

I mopped the kitchen floor last night. I seem to be really bad at it. I always seem to use too much water or whatever solution I've poured in the water. I get worried that the floor will never dry and I'll be walking on water(not like Jesus) or soap. But it always seems to work out in the end. Just some sort of paranoia. Unfortunately I have a roommate, who shall remain nameless(Patrick) that loves to cook, and loves to leave a mess in the kitchen. So I'll enjoy the day or two that the floor looks good.

Watched Batman: Gotham Knight last night. It was horrible. It consists of 6 different animated stories and all of them are drawn in an anime style. The stories were set inbetween Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. The stories were dull and the animation was pretty bad.

Damn it's raining outside. Luckily Georgia has gotten a fair amount of rain this summer. At least Sonny won't have to pray for it now.

Sci-Fi DVD watching month!

A forum that I go to pretty frequently(DVDTalk) has started a Sci-Fi DVD watching contest for July. Being the big fan that I am, I've been participating. So far I've watched sixteen movies(or 2 1 hour TV shows that total 1 movie). Mostly I've been watching Babylon 5 with my roommate 5000, but I've also used my Netflix account to watch some classic sci-fi that I had never seen. I also watched Alien / Aliens on my new TV and home theatre surround sound and it was INCREDIBLE.

I've set up the living room of my house as a "man's" room. I've put up posters of The Terminator, Shaun of the Dead, Big Trouble in Little China, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Casablanca. I have a new 46' Sharp Aquos LCD 1080p TV and a LG Home Theater Surround Sound system with 5 disc DVD receiver. I even mounted the rear speakers in the back of the room! And I have my PS3 and XBox 360 hooked up. My roommate Patrick has his Nintendo Wii hooked up (yes, we have all 3 systems). Oh...I also let Marlena put up a Sex and the City poster, but I digress. So if you never, ever...ever see me, it's because I can't afford to do anything now. But I have a room that makes me happy!

Last night the Tripod (Marlena, Kelly and Rachel) went with their S/Os to the Tom Petty concert. Patrick called while Petty played Runnin Down a Dream and Marlena called as he did American Girl! Sounds like they had a pretty good time. I heard he even did some of the songs from the Mudcrutch album...that's pretty cool.

Hellboy 2 tonight!! I can't wait. I'm a huge fan of Guillermo Del Toro and Hellboy!! I have been anticipating this movie all summer...the initial reviews are good, so I'm happy.

Tom Waits - July 5th at the Fox Theatre

There was a time that I thought I would never get to see Tom Waits in concert. Now I've seen him twice in the last two years! The concert was incredible and Tom was so enthusiastic and gracious to the crowd. I hope he comes back in a couple of years!

Here's the setlist...

Lucinda / Take me down to the well (or was it Ain't Going Down to the Well?)
Down in the hole
Falling down
Chocolate Jesus
All the world is green
Cemetery Polka
Cause of it all / 'Til the money runs out
Such a scream
November
Hold on
Black market baby
9th and Hennepin
Lie to me
Lucky day
On the nickel
Lost in the harbour
Innocent when you dream
Hoist that rag
Make it rain
Dirt in the ground
Get behind the mule
Hang down your head
Jesus gonna be here
Singapore

Encore
Eyeball Kid
Anywhere I lay my head

4th of July

Took it easy for the first part of the day. Finally got my home theatre system set up to a level I enjoy. The rear speakers and center speaker wouldn't work on the PS3, so I went into the settings and changed the HDMI audio function to Bitstream. Worked like a charm. Watched Sunshine on Blu-Ray and then watched 3 episodes of Star Trek Voyager with Walls and 5000.

Went to the Worthan party around 7pm with Jud and Walls in tow. Had some wonderful food and talked for a while before playing some volleyball. I thought I did pretty good this time and I thought that everyone did good. Maybe we're getting better with age? After the volleyball I drank some Orange Vodka, some Jaiger(sp?) and some girly Smirnoffs. Got a little buzz and chatted with the folks out on the patio. Had some interesting discussions about movies. Watched Walls get drunker and drunker until he finally vomited on the side of the house. Laughed when he came back to the patio. Finished the night with some deep political talk. I've mellowed out to this kind of argument. I would have put up a strong fight years ago, but I've come to realize that you can't change anyone's mind. It's impossible these days, so I just listen and sometimes throw my 2 cents in. I don't think anyone got mad, we're all friends here.

Finished the night by talking to Chip, Lil' Boshanks and Pitts in the driveway. Went home about 4 am and got up at 9am this morning.

And I'll be going to see Tom Waits at the Fox Theatre tonight!! Can't wait!! I'll post a set list after the concert!

Eight Degrees of Friendship

We all have friends of different degrees. Here are the degrees...In my opinion.

1. The girlfriend/boyfriend/Significant Other/ husband/ wife - This outranks #2 just in the fact that you had a huge ceremony to spend all your time with this person.
2. The Best Friend - Some of us have more than 1 of these. But most have singled it down to one person that they can tell everything too.
3. The Friend - This is someone that you see a lot and share some secrets with, but maybe not everything.
4. The Casual Friend - This is someone that you may not see very often, but when you get together you can talk for awhile. But you probably won't talk again for a while afterwards.
5. The Mutual Friend - Someone that you meet through another friend. You can have fun with this person, but usually only when the other person that both of you know is around.
6. The Long Lost Friend - Someone you may not see for years, but on a rare occasion you bump into and chat for a while.
7. The Work Friend - This is someone that you are pretty close to at work. And you may even hang out after work and get dinner or a drink together. But let's face it, once one of you leave the job...you won't talk much.
8. The Online Friend - Maybe you met this person through MySpace, Facebook or some online forum. You may share lots in common with this person, but you also fear that if you ever hung out with them in person...you may not share as much in common.

I have at least one of each of these. And all of these friendships are incredibly valuable to me. Of course I'm sure that most folks don't like to think of themselves as "long lost" or just the "mutual" friend, but that's just the way it is. And I know that some hate to be called the "online" friend...lol.

Well...those are my thoughts today. Short and simple as always. Be good!

Ramen Noodles with Ketchup

I used to think they were tasty. But after tonight I think I'll retire the "fake spaghetti".

Had two days in a row off and, as usual, they flew by. I did manage to get to Best Buy and pick up a surround sound system for my TV and some DVDs. And I got a GREAT deal on some DVDs today.

Best Buy had a sale on the TV series 24 (seasons 1 - 6) for $16.99 apiece. This totals about $102 + tax for the entire set. WELL...the 1st season had a coupon for $15 off seasons 2 - 6 if you buy season 1. So this took $15 off EVERY season, making each season $1.99 apiece.

24 Season 1 - $16.99
24 Seasons 2 - 6 - $1. 99 apiece

= $26.94 + tax

Now I've watched the first two seasons and enjoyed the show. Now I can catch up on the rest of the series and paid less than SRP for ONE season of the show. I felt like a champ that day!! I also used a 10% off coupon on my surround system which saved my about $50!!

I also got a sneak peek of Hancock with Will Smith! I really enjoyed the beginning and ending. I think it slows down in the middle, but it's still a really good movie.

Next Friday is Hellboy2 and it looks GREAT!

Oh well...I'm tired of typing. Good night!

Missing stuff...

Last night Heather and Charlie came over to Lot 1 to have dinner with Patrick and Marlena. This was the 2nd night in a row we got to see them. Getting to talk to Heather was fun. I hardly ever see the Beauchamp family anymore. And it's no one's fault that we hardly see each other, it's just a case of them having their lives to lead and me having mine. I don't usually "miss" people this much, but I think it's the fact that I lived with them for so long and share so much in common with them.

Maybe I'm just being a little girl (or a big girl in my case) but we all miss folks from time to time, so shuddup!!

Call of Duty 4

I don't play alot of video games. But when I get addicted I will play for a while. Recently I've started playing Call of Duty 4 with some friends online. This game is amazing!! You get to play against folks from all across the country and even some in other countries! You can play a variety of maps and play different types of games like Deathmatch, Free-for-All and others.

I've been playing with the Cheese clan (Cheeseforce1, CheeseClub, Cheese5000 and Cheeseheart) and I'm CheeseMcClane. We are a pretty good team. By good, I mean that they are good and I ride their coattails to victory. I'm not as bad as some, but I'm definitely in the lower percentile.

And the trash talking. It is not for the politically correct folks of the world. I've never had a 12 year old call me a "douchebag" before, until now. Trash talking seems to be where everyone can vent about sexual preference, race, nationality, gender and age. And boy some folks can vent! I've always thought that my friends and I didn't sound very Southern, but apparently we do. It's hilarious to listen to the impressions of us.

There is alot of hate in this game.

But luckily I take the moral high ground and don't really trash talk. Maybe it's because I suck.

A Braves game to forget, but a night to remember...

I like to take in the good time that my friends are having. Sometimes this causes me to be a little quiet (to which some may disagree).

Last night I went to see the Atlanta Braves play the Seattle Mariners with Kelly, Walls and Rachel. We started out early, so that we could get to the pre-game Budweiser cookout. We dined on hot dogs, hamburgers and BBQ. Nothing spectacular, but mom always told me not to complain about free food...so it was DELICIOUS!! Oh yeah...I forgot the free beer!! This is where I took in the good times of my friends. I had a cup of Bud Lite(to help out the kidneys, I hate beer). But I did get to watch the rest of the group go for the gold in beer drinking. After many cups, belches and tons of drunken laughing...I declared Rachel the winner for tying Walls in cups downed AND the fact that she was still partying after the game. Walls didn't look too good. He may have conversed with the porcelain god last night.

The game was not exciting. The Braves got their clocks cleaned 10-2 by the worst team in baseball!! And Chipper Jones got hurt. Walls and I made the most of it by booing and heckling Jeff Francouer. This was even better when "Frenchie" got hit by a pitch and we heckled more. Folks around us gave us the "evil glare" and I'm certain we're headed to hell, but Francouer was fine and finished the game. After the game we moved to the seats behind home plate and watched the postgame fireworks show. It was gorgeous!! Very fun to watch as they played various classical music. As we walked to the car we ran into some friends, Catherine and Dustin, and chatted with them for a bit. Extremely weird that we ran into them in a town with over a million people and a stadium with over forty thousand!

As the designated driver I got to drive Kelly's car to the Waffle House in front of Bunjee's in Griffin. I had some technical difficulties(like forgetting to turn on the lights and then having the brights on) but I got us to the WH in one piece!! There we joked around with the friendly staff and cheered on the cook as he threw sausages onto the griddle!! We continued to joke around and have fun. We listened to Journey and Van Halen on the jukebox...how could we not have fun!

Another awesome night with my friends. I can't wait for the next!

Things I learned...

1. Do NOT let drunk people carry foam tomahawks! They abuse them and you!
2. 70mph fastball is not slow. My fastball is 53 mph! But I can place the ball!
3. The south is full of beautiful women and they love the Atlanta Braves!
4. Half the people at Braves games wear Jeff Franceour jerseys...just like Michael Vick jerseys at a Falcons game. That's why they must be booed, plus the fact they suck!
5. Women love to take pictures of themselves. MySpace servers beware.

Starting out...
Starting out... Today...today...today you get to witness my foray into an everyday type of blog. I have to warn you that I don't have anything interesting to say, nor do I have interesting pictures to show. I will do my best to entertain you with sleight of hand or clever wordplay about nothing. Wannna know a little about me? No. Ok, let's do it anyways...I'm 32 years old and single. I used to think I was too old to be single. Now it seems that getting married at a later age is in. Who knows, who cares? I live at Lot 1 in Milner, Georgia. I'm on my 2nd tour of duty here. I've lived with at least 8 people, 3 dogs, 4 cats and 1 fish here. Now I have 3 roommates, 1 dog and 2 cats. One of the cats is not mine, but I treat him like he's mine.

I've worked at too many places that have closed down. Here's a list of jobs and how long I worked there...

Dundee Mills # 1 plant(later became Springs) - 5 1/2 years (closed down)
Amazon.com (McDonough Ga) - 2 1/2 years (closed down)
Footstar Inc. - 2 1/2 years (closed down)
Bunjee's Comics - 3 1/2 years - current

I have to say that I really enjoy working at Bunjee's. I get to talk with some interesting folks and hang out with friends there. Will I ever be rich working there...nope, but is life about money? I do miss working at Amazon.com though. I made pretty good money and had fun there. I was always amazed to ride up and down the aisles and see all the amazing stuff.

Which brings me to my hobbies! Prepare yourself for total geek explosion. I LOVE my DVD collection. I have around 1000 titles and I've just stepped into the Blu-Ray world. My favorite thing to do is watch movies. Maybe it's an escape from real life issues. I would ask my psychiatrist if I had one. Secondly, I collect comics. It's something I've done for over half my life. Another escape from real life issues? I do have a 1st appearance of the Punisher in Amazing Spider-man # 129!! So there! I also love Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! I hold this geek flag high.

After reading about my hobbies I'm sure you're thinking that I'm some sort of shut-in. This is incorrect. While I may not be on the bar/club scene, I do love to hang out with my friends. I get out a couple of times a week to eat out with friends and maybe see a movie.

That's a little about me. I'll try to keep this updated, so let's hope for more Mikeblog in the future!