Twitterpic

For those that follow my on twitter, you'll notice that I changed my profile pic.   Well, I decided to showcase a character for Star Trek Online, my own creation .. Yoti.    I love the character customization in STO and it was fun making a guy with a huge head, and thin .... appendages.   Notice that the stomach is big ... it is me after all :)

The costume is a version of the uniforms found in the movie 'Wrath of Khan' .. I just changed the colors.

50,000 word challenge ..

Ok, so I entered a contest (no real prize, just a challenge) to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.   So, here's what is going to happen, on November 1st i will post my writing on a blog, and you can check out my progress.   I'll do a link from this blog to the one that my story will be appearing in.

WARNING: the writing is going to suck, basically because in order to achieve this goal, I'm forgoing any editing, and THAT is going to be hard.   Story lines are going to stray, thoughts will go wild, but ... Editing is for December.

This challenge is part of the November being novel writing month, sponsored by www.nanowrimo.org  


Some days I will being doing less writing than other days, but it should be fun.  

Gobbled Sunday...

Taxi, TAXI!!

Turkey in a Can, I had that for supper.   I don't think that's natural, but there it is.   Had a great morning and Church, celebrating First Baptist Meaford's 126 anniversary.   I had cake, ice cream and pizza.  Life is good with cake, ice cream and pizza.   Anyway, as a way to balance everything out, I decided 'NO' to carbs and had a salad for supper with *sigh* canned Turkey.   So, instead of being somewhat healthy, the amount of salt in a can of turkey is astronomical.  I can feel my arteries hardening.    Not only was this a bad choice, but I watched the Addams Family movie on tv, with Popcorn.   Well, tomorrow is another day.

I remember an old Woody Allen movie where he's transported to the future, and he found out that everything was backwards .... all the junkfood was good for you, and not harmful.   THAT would be a great place.  

Gaming wise, I am now 'Kindred' with Forchel, which means buying a new mount.    It's furry.  One thing I've noticed with Lord of the Rings Online, the festival steeds look really amazing, but the horses that you really work hard on, and spend hours grinding  out, are sort of lackluster in comparison.    Well, at least the Forchel steed is the only one with long fur.  .. still, I think Turbine could of made the saddle a little fancier.

Next up, Inn league steed.  Gotta catch'em all.

I think I'm going to look more seriously at getting my masters degree in theology.   McMaster has a one day per week set up, which may work really well with my current schedule.    It'll take 5 years.    I think one day a week would be all that I could handle.

New Tunes

 I picked up the new KT Tunstall Cd.   Very awesome stuff.   I really enjoyed her previous album (drastic fantastic), but this one really brings out KT's rocker stylings with some hip-hop soul.  It seems strange to read, but the music seems more free, and fun.    Anyway, if you want a more mature sounding album, with some edge to it, check it out.  

Not much happening today, I did some repair work on the Garage, throwing some cement into some cracks.    Spent most of the day on the computer, doing some harvest festival stuff, as well as working on getting some rep from Forchel for my Burglar.  I also checked out the podcast from Casualstrolltomordor.com, and the podcast from Massively.com.

I also finished listening to the commentary from Tim Conway on  which is a great movie.  I enjoyed hearing about the late Don Knotts.  You can tell that the budget on this movie was really low, but the comedy still stands up, thanks to the mastery of Knotts and Conway.   There are some errors that stand out, like when the movie is supposed to be a period piece, early 20th century, but in the distance you can make out transport truck driving down a highway.   There are a few other things, but really, it can be forgiven.   The only extras on this blu-ray is the commentary, and some photos.    I wish that there was more, especially considering that I spent $37 on it.   Ahh, the price of a classic I guess.

On Netflix today, I checked out  and though the humor is very hokey, it's also very awesome.   Kurt Russell pulls off the role amazingly.   Almost forgot that John Carpenter made this flick (as well as 'The Thing' which also starred Kurt Russell), and that Kate Cattrall starred in this movie as well.   Really prefer her in this than in any Sex in the City show.   I wish that they would do a sequel to this movie.  

I see RED!

Went to the movies tonight, and watched the movie RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous).   It was a great spy(ish) romp, and it was great to see Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, and John Malchovich together in a movie.    Also worth the ticket to admission is the appearance of Ernest Borgnine.   Man, it's awesome to see him still acting.  

The movie had lots of great action, and really, and the ending was fantastic (btw, stay away from Mordovia)

Most of my time was spent doing Harvestmath quests in the shire, and attempting to get that elusive skeletal horse.

Blogg wise, I'm considering arranging my blogs, and have this one become a fanfic for my burg, while doing different blogs for different things.   Stay tuned for more info.

Finally, here is a pic of a sunset that I took with my blackberry, as I was on the way to the movies.   Kinda looks like the sun is firing lasers through the clouds.   I like it.   Wish I had a real camera with better quality with me at the time though.

The Haunted Burrow

Fall Festival in Middle Earth

It's Fall Festival time in Middle-earth, and I've gotta say, it's tons o' fun.   To the right is a pic of my 'Pojoh' burg, with the new festival horse, and of course a goblin mask.  One of the most fun things that Turbine has added this year is the haunted hobbit hole.  It seems like Bilbo Baggins left some surprises for those seeking his treasures.   As usual, casualstrolltomordor.com has a great low-down on all the festive activities.   Click here to find out all you wanted to know about the festival.

In celebration (kind of), I pulled out some classic Addams Family episodes and am watching them before bed.    Really funny stuff after all these years.

Apple sales top $20 billion - a new record

Apple sales top $20 billion - a new record

Hmm, Used to be that Apple was the underdog. Well, they're going to have to wait for my money until IPAD vs. 2 Then again, they already got my cash thanks to itunes. Dang, Apple is like that Godzilla that Microsoft was.

I remember the early '90's when Apple was on no one's mind, and everyone counted them out.

Text Addiction

I was watching 'The Hour' show on CBC, and there was a neat interview with Tom Greene, and he mentioned something that just sort of jumped at me ... really rare considering that it's Tom Greene.    Anywhoo, there was a mention of texting, the texting that people do on their cell phones acting similar to what dopamine does to our brain ... in fact stimulating our pleasure senses.    




Think about it, when we text, and we get a quick response on our cell phones, how do we feel?    We feel elated, joyful, that someone responded to our message.   If we don't get a response, there is a moment, no matter how brief, where we tend to feel sad or depressed that we weren't text-ed back.    Maybe your like "Yea I know, so what??"


Consider that there are people, mostly young people that can text upwards of 1000-3000 texts a month.    Simple messages.   Even if like, 500 of those produce positive/negative responses to centers of our brain, does this constant 'Dopamine increase/decrease' make texting a drug?   Just google 'Text addiction' and you'll find a plethora of studies that support the thought that it is.


If you think that texting can be addictive, just think about how texting can affect our ability to process pleasure and depression in the way that we communicate to other people, or how we seek positive reinforcement from our relationships.    


Now I'm not saying that texting is bad, or that you should throw away your cellphones, but I do think that there are things that can get in the way of real relationships, and texting is no substitute for actual conversations.    I  also think that there is a warning about how relationships will change in the next 20 years.


Isn't weird that cellphones, initially made so that people can communicate with each other, may in the end be the end of real communication with each other?


If your a teen or parent, looking for ways to curb text-addiction, a growing problem in our society, click here for some ideas.

Car Shopping.

Ok, my 2007 Dodge Caliber is still doing me fine, and everything is great with it, but ... if I could choose a dream car, there are a few from the annals of Hollywood which come to mind.   Here are my choices of ultimate cars to own, if I had the money to pwn.   In no particular order ..

Apparently if you have $150,000.00 sitting around, you can own a replica of the Batmobile ... courtesy of Fiberglass Freaks.   Totally awesome.

Next up, is a true '80's classic:











I've always loved the Munsters tv show, especially the first season.   Their car was the best, though ...

let's not forget Grandpa Munster's the .... Dragula

Now there's a ton of other cool cars, like Kitt from Knight Rider, or the 'General Lee' from Dukes of Hazzard.   But these ones are ones that REALLY stand out in my mind.    Until I get that UBER paycheck from some unknown source, I guess I'll stick to my Caliber.

Mad Meaford Blogger on the Loose!!

MAD MEAFORD BLOGGER BLOGS AT MIDNIGHT!!   Well, ok, maybe not.  Anyways, I was reading the 'Meaford Express' today, and apparently there is someone blogging false accusations about the Mayor Francis Richardson an the Meaford town council.   Apparently the blogger is saying false stuff about the towns budget, use of money etc. etc.   I think this is causing some steam due to the fact that it's election season, and Next week is the big vote.   There were 2 articles on the subject done by reporter Chris Fell.

I find a couple things EXTREMELY amusing about the whole thing.   First, it's a bloody blog.   Anyone can blog crap, and most people do.   Hey look at my pages, talk about over-exaggeration.   Really, how much weight does an 'Anonymous Blog' give??  

Secondly, The town counsel is actually going to look into doing something legal about this?? Seriously, your going to spend tax payer's money on a legal suit against an Anonymous Blogger??  Really??    Spending $100/hr on a lawyer to just prove a point?  Use the money instead on infrastruction, or youth employment initiatives, or the fire department.  

The paper does say that the town is pretty open to its books, and that there is no wrong doing.   Which is great I think.   I also think it's great that the Mayor is very open to the public about the books.    Cool, Great.   But why, WHY bring attention then to a blogger that is "anonymous" to the public.   You just gave CREDIBILITY to the blogger.

Ahh, maybe this is a conspiracy, maybe there is no ANONYMOUS BLOGGER, but it's the Mayor and counsel making this all up, so that they can inadvertently show to those few of us that read the Meaford Express, that everything is on the up and up?!  ;)

I laugh at the small town sometimes, and a counsel that gets upset over a blog that we can't read, since the blog is anonymous.   Yes, I've used the word 'anonymous' way to many times.    Anyway, I think that the Blogger is really Homer Simpson ... who else would have so much fun causing an uproar in the community?   Hopefully Lisa stops him from typing anymore, before the Town considers legal action against anyone twittering or Facebooking some evil plot against the counsel.

Carving up the past ...

Once more, I'm back ... I find I'm taking way to many breaks from posting, which is weird, considering that I actually enjoy doing this.   But stuff keeps getting in the way.    Anyway, I am finally done with youth ministry after 11 1/2 years running a youth center, and like ... over 20 years of basically working with teens total.   It feels good to finally be done.

I attended my last meeting tonight, and though it was good seeing everyone for the last time, it was better knowing that, that chapter of my life is over.   Not that it was torture or anything, but I'm like a rabbit that has a carrot on a stick, and I'm driven to move ahead and leave what is behind.

You can check out my last newsletter I made for the youth center here.

God has been pushing me to this moment for a long time.   Tonight He gave me the idea for a book that I know He's been wanting me to write for a long time.    Not quite sure if it will take the form of a bible study, or a stand alone book.    I guess it all depends how things flow with the project.

Funny, I always thought I'd write a work of fiction, but if it's a study guide, but, so be it.   I'd mention the topic, and title, but that will wait for another time.    Needless to say, my main thoughts are written down quicklyas it came to me on my drive to the meeting that I attended.

On another topic: New Munsters TV show  Seriously, do we really need it?    They've tried to remake the classic cult series before, with disastrous results.   Unless it's black and white, and done with a  laugh track, the idea should remain dead and buried.   So hard to find original ideas on TV now-a-days.

Musically, I just downloaded the new Crystavox CD  ... as Christian metal goes, especially in the '90's, this was one of THE best bands out there.   This NEW Cd is a remix of their older stuff, and if you want some great Biblical messages, with massive doses of Metal, this is the band to listen to, and this is the CD to get.

Gaming-wise, been working a little on LOTRO, and Turbine has a new pumpkin carving contest, click to check it out.  I'm tempted to try my hand at it ... we'll see how bored I am.