Twev1701.net

If you are reading this, it means that we have officially moved to our new server with our new host.

That’s not to say there may be a few hiccups over the next few days and we really settle in.

I have had good experience so far with this new host, since I also host ‘Growing Up Geek’ with them as well. Things should not only be much faster, but a hell of a lot more reliable. No more “Error Connecting To Database” messages every time you bring up the site.

At least that’s the plan anyway.

All in all I can’t complain too much. This is only our third host in 7 years. Our first move wasn’t something I wanted to do, but had to due to our increasing traffic. But, in the end, after they screwed up my domain, it was for the best. This last move, again, was something I didn’t want to do, but had to. Globat’s service has just been to unreliable lately. It really sucks because we really used to believe in them, so much so, that they were our host of choice for all i/o Computers web customers. It really pisses me off because I am pre-paid with Globat until April 2010.

Oh well.

Jess and I finally go to go see the newest/last Indiana Jones film last night. I have heard a wide range of opinions from it was really great, to it was just an ok movie, to they ruined the Indy franchise.

Personally, I loved it! In that theater last night, it was like I was 12 again. Jess and I disagreed with out assessments of the film afterwards on the drive home, but she was unable to sway me to her opinion.

For those of you who haven’t see it, no worries. I’m not going to ruin it for you. I myself pretty much avoided anything written about the film since I didn’t want to know anything going into it.

But, for those of you who have seen it and want my opinion, just highlight the blank space below. PLEASE don’t do this if you don’t want to read any spoilers!!

From start to finish, I really enjoyed this film. The main contention between the wife and myself was over the use of aliens in this movie. I thought that they way they used the alien premise was brilliant. My defending argument pro-alien argument is that it is no more contrived then using the Arc in ‘Raiders’.

I really enjoyed the notion that the crystal skull was in fact not crystal, but a real alien’s skull. Said aliens’s bones are not composed of calcium, but a silicate material resembling Earth’s quartz. Being a long time fan of alien stories, I was delighted that they brought the whole Mayan mythos into the mix. Given that the movie is set in the 1950s, bringing in not only aliens, but Roswell, the atomic bomb, and The Red Scare, was not only important, but vital to the movie. It really set a different tone for the movie compared to the rest.

I will have to admit though, that the only part I honestly thought was cheesy was revealing the ‘flying saucer’ at the end. Sure, you kind of knew it was coming, but I thought that the movie may have benefited from a different approach. Since it was established that they are inter-dimensional beings, simply having them fold in on themselves, in my opinion, would have been the better choice. That way Indy’s question of “Where did they go?” would be better suited if we never really see where or how they left.

I as really pleased to see they never ‘officially’ passed the torch to anyone else. At the end where Mutt goes to put on Indy’s hat, and Indy snatches it off of him was great. Also, his marriage to Marion brings the Indy saga to a nice, comfortable close.

Speaking of close, it was nice to see a lot of homage in this film as well. From seeing the Arc in the warehouse, to Marcus and Henry Sr.’s pictures on Indy’s desk, to the nod back to the Young Indy series. For once, I can say George Lucas did a good job of writing good story.

All in all it was a great trip to take for the 2hr 4min runtime. This is one movie I will be happy to add to my collection when it comes out.

Looking over the archives for today reveals that today is the 2nd anniversary of getting my cable modem, and thus, leaving the horrid world of dial-up internet behind.

Today was Memorial Day, and to most people, today is a Holiday. Me? I work in retail so today was just another work day for me. In fact, today was my 6th day in a row. Tomorrow will be my 7th in a row, and thankfully, my last since I have Wednesday and Thursday off. After putting in my 9 hours, I can home and then headed off to my parent’s house for a little cookout.

I’ve scheduled myself for a nice 10 day vacation at the end of June. We’re not going anywhere, and in fact, Jess will be working most of the time I am off. This is a vacation for me to get some stuff done around the house, play some games, and relax. I really can’t wait!

For me, I’m going to finish watching ‘Cast Away’ on Blu-ray and then head to bed.

So now that I have a PS3, I have been enjoying the wonder that is high definition movies. However, while shopping for some new Blu-ray movies yesterday I had a moment of deja vu.

Back in 1998 when DVDs were first coming out and I got my first player, the average price for a movie was $30-$40. Now a days, that’s what you’d expect to pay for a boxset. You can buy single DVDs now for around $4.99. New movies usually sell for about $14.99.

But because Blu-ray discs are the newest and greatest out there, the average movie price right now is $24.99, with the newest releases around the $34.99-$39.99 range.

It’s funny how things tend to start over again every few years.

*On a side note — HD is totally worth the investment!!

I really don’t feel like going into the details, but my wife suggested that I make a post to vent a bit. Here is the dirty and the nasty.

We spent four amazing days in Gettysburg. I have been rally stressed out for the past few months, and by the time we left on Monday morning from Gettysburg, all the stress was gone–to quickly return ten fold when we got home.

While we were away, our home was robbed. I’m not going to go into what was taken, but let’s just say it was over $3,100 worth of goods. The local and state police were here taking prints. Their investigation is underway.

What pisses me off the most is that they took things that my wife not only loved, but saved for months to purchase. Those of you that are married, will understand my rage.

What has gotten me through all of this is the love of my wife, and the great support of our friends and Jess’s family. Hell, I even had one of my installers from work drop me a line to make sure we were okay and to see if we needed anything.

We really are lucky to have such great friends.

Tonight is the last night we are spending in Gettysburg on this trip. Tomorrow, we head home and back to reality.

I don’t want to go.

It’s not that I don’t want to go home, it’s just that I don’t want to leave this town. In the 3 short days we have been here, I have fallen in love with this town.

Our 3 days thus far have been quite fun. We’ve been on tours of President Eisenhower’s home, many museums, traveled across the battlefields, went on a ghost walk, got an old time picture taken, and ate some pretty damn good Greek food. Tonight we even did a little ghost hunting ourselves with a late night drive though Devil’s Den. Although nothing ever turned up in the pictures we took there, it was a blast anyway.

When we get home tomorrow I’m going to sit down and upload all the good pictures from out trip. For now, it’s time to relax and enjoy our last night in our suite.