Happy 50!

I can't let the day go by without mentioning it's the 50th anniversary of your favorite toy and mine, Lego! Even Google did a tribute with a Lego-themed logo.

Gotta love the brick! Although it's tough moving when you have about two cubic meters of the stuff....

(Un)Predictable

Lessee, what to kvetch about today? Well how about these guys?

If you look at this the day of the posting you can see that a very cold front is moving in today (Sunday). Yesterday, they said it was coming in Monday, on Thursday they said it was coming in Tuesday. And each day they "expanded" how long it's going to stick around by a day.

Now I know weather is a real chaotic system. It's hard to predict exactly what's going to happen with a real degree of accuracy. But the pattern described above is pretty consistent with these guys. Cold fronts move in faster and stay longer than these guys say almost every time. There's a part of me that wonders if it's actually an attempt to grab ratings. People don't like bad news and of course shy away when they don't like what they hear. For me, I'd rather get the "unspun" forecast if this is the case. I'm already in the habit of plugging the car in two days before the predict deep-freeze because of this.

Anyway, everyone complains about the weather around here, so in this case I'm just a single voice in the crowd, muffled by a scarf. I just hope the chill lets up a bit by next weekend: skiing in -30 in not my idea of fun. However there are hottubs and apparently a 2:1 female to male ratio going on this trip.

Every cloud has a silver lining?

Withdrawl

It's odd, but lately I've had the urge to renew my World of Warcraft subscription.

It's odd because at first, it was a huge hit with me. Sometime around level thirty I realized a couple of things:

• I had being doing basically the same thing over and over again
• The only way to customize my character was to get "uber-lewtz"
• 90% of the people I was playing with online were ass-hats

I'm still of course playing games, but since my nVidia card went to Silicon Heaven, it's been on my DS (Puzzle Quest) and my laptop (Sword of the Stars). But something is missing. I'm not 100% sure what: it may be the adrenaline rush of FPS combat, the rich and fantastic worlds offered online or the god-like power of an RTS.

That or I'm bored. Or I'm getting old.

With the writer's strike there's never anything all that good on TV (or at least the channels I can afford). So the cable is getting disconnected. With the fried board, I haven't been gaming nearly as much. I have been going to the gym on a pretty regular schedule, and am a quarter of a mile away from running five-k a session, despite the pack-a-day habit.

Dear gods, I can't actually be growing up can I?

Nah. Why else would I have all that Lego?

Embarrassment in my Pants

While I was doing laundry tonight I noticed something about my comfortable jeans.

Almost everyone has at least a pair of these. You know, the jeans that have frayed cuffs, worn knees, paint stains, bleach marks and in my case a huge hole in the back pocket where my cheap wallet has worn through. They're comfortable, lived in, good and trusted friends.

So while sorting through the washing I noticed something pretty dreadful. At some point I had worn a hole in the inseam just below the crotch. Naturally my first reaction was something on the lines of yeah baby! But it quickly dawned on me that the said worn-patch in the fabric was not from anything I could be proud of.

In fact...it was caused by my thighs rubbing together when I walked. This is embarrassing enough. But when the cute girl folding her laundry beside me saw this and realized the cause at the same moment as I did and she giggled I was mortified.

I gotta go check all my pants and learn how to sew re-enforcements in my remaining pants. And go run about 25k at the gym. And get diet pills. And then move to a remote cabin in the wilderness.

Gah...

The Theory

L'l Bro B may have hit upon why my next door neighbor has rage management issues: 'Roid Rage.

It makes perfect sense. Explosive outbursts manifested in violent action, seething rage and (possibly) domestic violence. When B mentioned the possibility, it "clicked".

I never understood the whole 'roid thing. That is I understand why guys want to get big 'n' strong but the stupid lengths they go to. Mind you that goes for plastic surgery, bulimia, excessive wardrobe dysfunction etc. Vanity, pure and simple.

Besides the mantra of "leaving a pretty corpse" doesn't make much sense if along the way you ensure nobody attends the funeral.

Post-It

Well it's already the ninth and I've only posted one entry this year so here's one just for filler. I did manage to get the new place. I shouldn't worry about these things - I have good credit, good references and a steady job - but I always get a tinge of anxiety when I apply for stuff like this. Maybe it's a fear of rejection but I like to think it's my past experiences with paper work.

For example a while back our HR department informed me that I had been paying Alberta Health Care at the family rate instead of the single rate so there we going to give me back the difference. Last week I was informed from the same HR department that they received notice that from AHC that I had not paid for AHC since my departure from my previous job, so I owed them money. I'm now arguing with HR that while I did owe two months' worth the payments for the past six have have been deducted from my pay and obviously not forwarded to said government agency.

This is not the first time this has happened.

Back in university, part of tuition was supposedly going to the government to cover these health premiums. So I was surprised when I received a notice that I owed five years in back premiums. Over the course of six months I attempted to get the University to show it's payment records (which they said they had) to the AHC. They both said it's not their respective problem, it's yours so pay up now. Due to the fact I was a student all those years and had little to no income I did manage to reduce the amount owed to about $2500 which I had to eventually pay. Needless to say anyone from my alma matter who asks me to donate as an alumnus get the cold shoulder.

I'm moving in the middle of next month and due to having five weeks notice actually managed to get movers on a Saturday. This will cost me somewhere around $400 but I'll consider it money well spent. Although I do appreciate their help, my friends tend to get severely injured when helping me move. I consider it taking one for the team.

And I was sick today. I woke up with a slightly sore throat but by the time I did the ritual 3S (shower, shit, shave) routine it felt like someone was ramming low-grade sandpaper down my esophagus with splinter-handled plunger. I was going to email a notice to my boss that I was sick, but when I opened my web mail, I notice several panicked messages regarding that project I keep whinging about. So I went to work, determined that the problems were: 1) I had made an assumption that someone had done some due diligence and 2) apparently I didn't yell loudly enough that having someone fiddle with databases who thinks it works just like "Microsoft Money" is a bad idea. So after breathing heavily on several people I went home and slept. It was surprisingly quiet after all my whining about the noise and it may me reconsider the possibility that I'm just being too sensitive.

The idiot next door who is repeatedly slamming his closet door open and shut puts that to rest at least.

On the Road Again

As promised (threatened, whatever) I'm moving again. I put an application on a new apartment at noon today: seventh floor, concrete building.

So in addition some peace ad/or quiet, I'm actually going to be saving a good chunk of change:

• Rent, including parking, is going from $1250 to $1175. Plus I'll get secured underground parking instead of the open lot with no lights I have now.
• Power and cable is included, so that's another $90 a month in bills gone.
• The new place has a pretty decent gym, so I can drop my $50 a month membership at the one I go to now.

So lessee, that's $215 a month less than the place I'm in now, or $2580 a year. Plus it's quiet (or it least it can't be worse than where I am now. Plus the new place a has a huge balcony.

Unlike last time, I really only looked at the one place. Now normally that sounds stupid, but it was a place that was in competition with the current dive. it lost only because the layout was a bit odd and a tad smaller than where I am now. However right now I have quite a bit of space that's going to waste (my TV stand is about 6 feet from the wall). The storage is better at the new place as well: there is some.

It sounds like I'm trying to convince myself that this is a good idea doesn't it? Trust me, it is. Did I tell you about my neighbor across the hall's new baby? The one with colic?

This time around I'm hiring movers. granted I'm paying two rents for February but I'll get that back with the projected savings. However I'm sure the folks who helped me move last time would be more than willing to do the beer and food thing afterwards even if they don't do any back-straining, leg-breaking work.

I haven't had a decent night's sleep in five months. It's kind of scary really. I go to bed at night actually tensing in anticipation of the nocturnal cacophony that has categorized my tenancy here. That is not conducive to a restful slumber. See? I'm so excited I'm bringing out the $2 words! All I need to do now is just survive the next six weeks or so. A ski trip and a blind date over the next while may or may not help that. At least there's the potential that I'll actually be sleeping somewhere else with those.

And yes the gym has been busy since New year's but not as bad as I thought. Maybe people just gave up on trying? However there is new eye candy, which I would miss except that the new place houses swimsuit models who work out there. Okay, why did I not move there in the first place again? Sheesh...

Nooo Yar!

Ah we about to roll into '08. The twenty-first century is well on it's way and still no flying car! Maybe next year.

Much like Capa I'm not making any resolutions this year. I already started running (and lost twelve pounds and probably converted some more from fat to muscle) this year. that's about all I need really. Of course with the thousands making resolutions to start working out the gym is going to be a friggin' zoo for the next six weeks but I'll cope. New eye-candy after all...

However, I do have to get the hell outta dodge when my lease is up. It'll be worth the $2000 I'll have to spend (extra month's rent and moving expenses) to get a decent night's sleep. It's not so much a resolution as an act of a desperate sleep-deprived man.

So tonight it's myself, a take-away Pepper Beef bowl, a bottle of Stoli and the new director's cuts of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and of course, the Geek) and my all-time favorite, Blade Runner - The Final Cut.

And because I'm single, maybe spend the Christmas money Grandma gave me on (NSFW) something special for my own self.

Thanks Grandma!

Addendum: The new smoking law goes into effect as of midnight. This basically means that yo can't smoke within 5 meters of a door (before it was three). Also it tchnically means that I can't smoke on my balcony (at least as I read it, IANAL) as it is less than five meters from my door. So if any of the 60+ year old bylaw enforcement officers can actually climb up four stories to hand me the ticket I'll pay it.

Sock it to Me!

Well, the whole Christmas show is over and I have plenty of socks. No shock, I guess but overall it was nice but it is also over which is just as good. I ate far too much bad food, relaxed with the family and generally am looking forward to a couple of days on my oddy-knocky.

One surprising event was the dreaded annual Trivial Pursuit game. Most years, it's just something that has to be borne before I could haul my grumbling stomach back to the fold-out couch and snack on Tums all night. This year was quite different it sems. As stated previously the L'il Bros with both there and we turned it into a total trash-talking festival. My Mon and Step-Dad burst a gut, as well as some of the guests who weren't quite sure what to make of it at first but soon got into the mood, or rather, pulled themselves down to our level. It was actually quite enjoyable.

As stated, it's over. Now it's just figuring out what to do with myself over the next few days. I need two new pairs of shoes, my dry-cleaning and I haven't seen my Comic Book Guy in a few weeks. Add going to the gym and you have a pretty dull week (okay, three days really) planned.

Love it!

Gonna Party Like it's 1999

Well, maybe. We'll see how New Year's Eve turns out.

But before that of course is Mid-Winter Holiday Celebration Period formally known as Christmas. I fully admit I Grinched on the whole gift thing this year but I did tell everyone that all that is required for me is a card (and no, not a new video card).

This year it will be Little Bro's G 'n' B down in Lethbridge visiting Mama-San. First time in a few years all three have been in the same province at this time of year so that's cool. And Mom is thrilled silly, natch.

Random stuff. I watched 10 last night on BRAVO! a.k.a. peasant porno. I will fully admit I was drawn to it as I was flipping channels and just happened across a large amount of skin on my new hi-def television screen. I had never seen it before and I was quite surprised it was actually funny.

I also got to thinking that if they made this movie today there would be Christian Right-Wing "Won't Someone Think of the Children" Jihad. There lots of nudity, couples with open relationships, swingers and conspicuous consumption of "grass". The term seems so archaic now, but anyways. We are living in much different times than twenty years ago. And to our detriment I think.

Finally got my copy of "Sword of the Stars". Love that game! Spent my entire day playing it, despite the laundry, shopping, cleaning and sundry chores I have to do, but that's what time off is for. For me at any rate. So the only thing I'm expecting in the mail is my new passport, which I fully intend to use come February. If I'm not moving.

Other Randomness. I'm being "set-up" for a not-a-blind-date. You know, where you "the victim" get invited out to something with a group of people to include "the other victim". This all started as a friend of mine met this girl through an acquaintance. There was much girl talk and the subject came around to finding a nice, honest, quiet guy who doesn't want to party all the time and keeps himself to himself. A description I grudgingly fit well. It got me thinking that it is hard to meet guys like that for the pretty obvious reason they (okay, we) don't get out much. It's pretty close to "Why Can't I Meet a Nice Guy?" to which my answer is my "You do everyday but you aren't attracted to nice guys" rant. There's a legit reasoning that if you want to meet a quiet guy you really have to pay attention.

Still, would be nice if I had a picture....

Well, I have to get packing to go to the Calorie Intake Extravaganza known as Mom's place. You all have yourself a good Christmas (or other holiday, you know who you are). I'll whine, rant and occasionally have something poignant to say before the new year.

Well, two outta three anyways.

... Before the Storm

Aaaand that didn't last long. The needle on the Stupidex at work got buried again.

Why, oh why do people let things get the crisis point before bloody well telling someone about it. Lack of planning on your part yadd yadda yadda.

I need a beach and vodka. Instead I'll go to the gym, come home and drink vodka.

Strange Calm

This is going to sound weird, but I've actually had a couple of good days at work. Now some may invoke the old chestnut of "holiday spirit" as a reason to which I reply "exorcism". It's been slightly less nuts this week so I've had a chance to put a major dent in the task list, explain reality to a few folks who were obviously listening and in general get shit done.

Morale has improved remarkably.

And speaking of the holiday, by now I have usually put aside the bah, humbug mentality this close to Christmas but it seems not this year. I'm waiting for the days off in great anticipation but the actual event of Christmas I don't give a curdled eggnog about. Not that this is a bad thing (for me at any rate) but it does mean the normally low tolerance for carols, mistletoe and other sundries is reading zero on the "Fest-O-Meter". That actually sounds like I'm negative but the reality is very much a sense of indifference. Maybe I'm just old.

And until this moment I didn't make the connection that New Year's Eve is hot on the heels of the Yuletide.

It's entirely possible that my brain turned Buddhist without telling me.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another old friend has passed away: my graphics card on my main computer.

Actually friend may be a bit strong. I picked it up nVidia 7400 (or something) because my old nVidia 4200 (or something) just wasn't up to snuff for a game I wanted to play (Battlefield 2142). It was one of those "suspect" brands that one never hears of. Now normally when I build or upgrade my machine, I get the good stuff, top of the line. This issue was my motherboard doesn't handle PCIE cards and this was the only AGP card out there that had the guts required for the newer games.

By a stroke of luck (and after I had a stroke) I found my old video card. Thank gods I'm a pack-rat. But the new one is toast.

Now my rig is over three years old, the motherboard and CPU at any rate. It's time for a brand new machine. But I always need that one motivator, that one piece of software, that game that makes me build a new pulsing powerhouse of geeky potency.

There's nothing out there now that makes me want to do that. Seriously. The one game that I have on order (and have been waiting for for six weeks) is Sword of the Stars and it's expansion, which runs just peachy on my laptop.

So I'm going to hold off a bit. I will pick up a juicy external hard drive to dump all my files in just in case it's the motherboard going south but I'll hold off on the new rig for a while.

Maybe something like this....

Mind you, I may have the card still under warantee: I seem to recall being in a good mood and buying the extended one....

Sleepy Time

Now this may sound a bit odd, but you're here, so you should have at least some expectation of the possibility.

When I wake up, I have always had the feeling that time had elapsed whilst I slumbered. Regardless of how much time I had been asleep, when I wake up there's a part of me that knows somehow that time was passing I was sleeping.

This week was different for some reason. When I woke up, I felt like I just blinked instead of snored for seven hours. My body, my mind, whatever had no sensation of time having been passed. It's disturbing in a couple of subtle ways. For one, now I'm not sure what is normal. What do other people feel when they wake up? The visceral knowledge of passed time or the instant time-shift from last night to this morning?

In trying to draw a parallel here, the best I could come up with is: imagine you woke up one morning and discovered that you were right-handed. When you went to bed last night, and every previous night of your life, you were left handed. The shift from south-paw to rightie is perfectly perfect; your newly dominant hand feels exactly right (pun intended). But your mind is screaming something different; you have always been right-handed but you know it should be the other way around. That's kind of what I've been feeling like but maybe not to that extreme.

Creepy, with just a hint of nightmare.

Days Off

I've taken today (Monday) and tomorrow off using some of the banked time from the death march, so naturellment I'm sick. Only myself to blame I suppose, L'il Bro B and I got completely inebriated Friday night. You know you're getting old when you get a two day hangover from ten screwdrivers. And a couple of shots of tequila, even if it was the good stuff.

So really today and tomorrow is my weekend, running around doing all that stuff I should have been doing as I lay groaning on the couch.

Whilst lying down with all the lights off, I did get a chance to think about the whole career thing. Of course (see the next to last post) I am a bit bitter about this business. It seems like programming, when you're a corporate developer (build software for internal customers) as opposed to a product developer (build software to sell) really is a no-win situation at most times. I'm wondering if that's a product of the whole "sufficiently advanced technology seems like magic" thing.

Now the above mis-quote always implies a bunch of illiterate tribesmen oo-ing and ah-ing at something like a toaster or a flashlight. I'm beginning to think that this actually applies quite well to modern, urban technological society.

Take your car for example. While some could tinker with an old-style engine, very few could get their head around modern cars. And let's face it, most people turn the key and when it goes "vroom" you're good to go. There's very little comprehension on what exactly that key starts: most people could never figure out what's happening under the hood.

Computers of course, are even bigger ju-ju.

When a person turns on the computer, it really does seem like magic. Words, images sounds, music all happen with no clue as to how it actually happens. Big magic. I could explain some of it (more than most at any rate) but at its heart it's one big magic box.

So people see a computer as the product of the arcane. Maybe not in those words, but if you work in the industry you see the borderline fear and discomfort many people have for computers. As long as they work, they are safe but as soon as something (almost anything) goes wrong there's a general throwing up and wringing of hands (interesting image). The folks like me are called to perform their rituals (as long as the ritual of ctrl-alt-del is invoked). The techs are the grand high wizards and exorcists of digital demons really.

Now take into account all the stories you heard growing up: Aladdin, Merlin, any and all wicked witches in any Disney movie. There are themes that run through almost all of these stories:

1. Magic happens at a snap of the fingers.
2. all magic is inherently dangerous.
3. the practitioners are at best shady characters and at worst outright evil.

It makes me wonder, in the gestalt of the societal mind, if computers and those that actually work with them are at some level just distrusted. On the one hand you have people making demands of the geeks as if they wave their magic wands (or probably their enchanted keyboards) and stuff just happens with an instant miracle. On the other, if a tech says it's not possible or that it "doesn't work like that", there's a reaction that speaks more to distrust rather than an acknowledgment of expertise. As if they think we're holding something back or we have a nefarious scheme to kidnap the princess. Which has an appeal but royalty tends to be high maintenance and have expensive tastes: most geeks don't get paid that much.

Techno-philosophical food for thought at any rate.

I Scare Myself

Umm, okay, wow. That last post down there? That's over the top, even for me.

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to consider if I'm at the right job. I like coding, I like databases, I like coding databases, but being responsible is just too much responsibility.

And I think I'm on the no-fly list so I can't work with Capa. They never return my calls....

It's Called "Post Mortem" for a Reason

Today, after the death march, we had the post-mortem.

For those who think I'm referring to CSI, what actually happens is that when a project is done, all the people involved get together to go over what happened and figure out what went well, what could have gone better and what needs to be done in the future to do things well.

This sounds very productive: constructive criticism accompanied by a willingness to improve is a cornerstone to change. What actually happens is another matter.

While I've been to an occasional post-mortem that had to be broken up by the riot squad, they are the (surprisingly) exception rather than the rule. What normally happens is that the technical folks identify that they succeeded (except where obviously they didn't) in spite of the ridiculous timelines, nebulous and ever-changing requirements and dearth of tools which should be standard but are actually not in the budget.

And of course the people who set the timelines, requirements and budgets are present. It's always a laugh when they get defensive and try to justify their short-sightedness and sundry other petty politics and stupidity with the following standard come-backs:

1. We Need to be Competitive: This usually means that the competition did "it" already and we are just following along, despite the fact that the competition has probably working on "it" for the past couple of years.
   
2. Our Goals Were Well Defined: while this may be true, it is only so in a narrow sense. The goal is to make money by spending none of it and investing the lives of our minions is cheaper than actually planning something. That would be extraneous to the goal and waste of everyones time as the actual requirements will change at a rate that could power a small community for a decade. Besides, they get the bonuses while the techs are denied holidays because of operational requirements.
   
3. It's Part of our Corporate Vision: Same as the above, really, but the boss's boss gets the bonus. the same executive who got shit-faced at a conference or other public event and "announced" the product to the press and gave a definitive deadline. All because he read something about in the in-flight magazine.
   
4. Our Success is Measured at the Corporate Level, not the Individual Level: If that was true I'd be making the same salary and bonuses as the VP of marketing. next.
   
5. It's a Team Effort: One I'm starting to despise as it sounds more and more like the people in charge are putting a fix in.
   
6. What Happened to the IT Work Ethic?: First off, the slaving-at-a-keyboard for 80 hours a week burst with the Internet Dot Com bubble. Most programmers I know just see it as a job. Not to mention in those days the place you worked for provided for food, drink, shelter, recreation etc so their technical people had no reason to leave. When I don't have to pay for my coffee, we'll talk. Besides, while we were working late at night, the sponsor was being wined and dined at a mansion in Spain.
   
7. We Have an Entrepreneurial Spirit: Now I understand that there is a great amount of drive to succeed with a entrepreneurial initiative. Much of that derives from the fact that the very high risk with a high level of personal investment is accompanied by a possible very high reward. I earn a salary, so my reward is pretty damn low for the investment I'm being forced to make.

I could go on, but even I can only be so bitter (hard to believe I know). I still enjoy post-mortems as it's the only real opportunity to see men in $3000 suits look uncomfortable. And I get to make them feel that way. As for the career limiting move factor, I've mad more CLMs in a year than most people do in a lifetime. I consider it a "perk".

My God, It's Full of Pixels

Got the new TV. Niiiiiiice.....

Of course the first movie was The Incredibles and of course it looked fantastic. Once I figured out how to configure the DVD player to work with the TV.

Now, of course, is trying to figure out if I get a PS3 or X Box 360.

Dammit! I need more cash.

Just Breathe

Wow, it's done. The death march on our lovely piece of software is out the door. I'd like to say good riddance but there was a bunch of stuff we had to pull to make the deadline and our "sponsors" want it in by Christmas. However we'll be doing it my way. There are problems with the newly deployed system because of (approved) shortcuts that is taking up time.

It's done when it's done. Not to mention I have a very overworked team at the moment that really just want to coast until the holidays and I can't blame them. They're not used to this pace. I don't want them to get used to it. That of course means that the sponsors can't get used the pace. I've been using the term "unsustainable level of effort" quite a bit lately, so we'll see how that goes.

On the home front, well I haven't been home all that much. Yesterday was the first day in over six weeks I've done a top-to-bottom house cleaning. I have a pretty high tolerance for things getting ... disheveled but I have my limits.

I acquired a nice little Lego box that is just hint of things to come. Looks like my favorite toy company is waking up to the fact that they make toys, and not model kits.

I've also purchased, but have to receive, a pretty high end panel TV through work. A little pricey, so I'm thinking I need to cancel cable to afford it No great loss: I watch DVDs and my mind is loosening up a bit with the whole downloading thing. Software and music I will still buy: having worked in both industries, I know that there are some lame arguments involving the folks who actually make the music or software, but they hold true. Of course the record companies (and the MafIAAs) are fighting a losing battle but I have faith that straight economics and consumer backlash will change that up.

TV is a different matter though. I know, it's a double standard but the sheer amount of crap on the idiot box is astounding. Those few shows I enjoy have one or more of: random air time and date, late broadcast slot or cancelled after the first season. Seriously, BSG 3.0 should have been out a long while ago.... And the prices for boxed sets of other shows I want to watch cost more than a medium-quality DVD player.Don't these people want to make money off of me? C'mon, as a consumer I'll pony up some dough but we have to meet somewhere in the middle.

On the romantic front, I'm more inclined to get a dog than a girlfriend. No, not for that you friggin' pervs. I've had it with dating. Twenty years of serial monogamy with no result? Yup, time to hang 'em up. Take that last sentence as you will.

Anyways, I have to hit the gym (running routine to re-establish) and work for a couple of minutes. When I'm back, I'm going to look into this whole "torrent" thing.

It's Been a While

Hey folks, just checking in.

The last few weeks has been, shall we say, a mite? tad? touch? busy with the much-afore mentioned death march. This is being written mere minutes before I go back to work for the final push. It is my sincere hope that this really is the last weekend I work for a while, but that's my fight (and I hope I actually can win).

In the meantime, November sees three paycheques for myself. As I'm on a bi-weekly schedule for that good ol' envelope, this happens two months of the year. So I spent it! Well most of it anyways. In a week a pick up a new 32" plasma 1080p TV. I got a pretty good deal for a pretty high-end slab o' radiation.

This, of course, will be the thin end of the wedge. With the TV, I'll need to get a DVD player that matches. L'il bro B found one that does a great job of cleaning up the signal for regular DVDs for 1080p TVs. Looks amazing. Granted it's not a big deal if most of your viewing pleasure consists of cartoons but what the heck.

Then there's the who "next-gen" console possibility. I've been trying to decide if I should get a PS3 or the X-box 360. Now that the PS3 price has fallen a bit they can actually be compared. In my view there's no clear winner yet (and believe me I tried to pick one). It's a simple case of not enough software for each. Last time I had to chose I went with a PS2 instead of the original X-box. Now I don't regret the choice (having replaced the PS2 recently) but at the time, it looked like the PS2 was going to be all about sport games: all the "cool kids" were exclusive to X-box. So I'll be holding off for now. Guitar Hero is just as fun on the last gen as it is on the next gen.

Besides, I want to get a Wacom tablet.....