Things Lil N' Says

Both of them are in the upstairs bathroom drinking water...

"God, (Lil maN') you smell like Spaghettio's and beef, it makes me want to throw up"

Maybe it's just late, but that made me laugh.  I have no idea why they are both up, they were sleeping for more than 3 hours prior to this.

It also seems as though Lil maN' will laugh at about anything... as something really dorky has him laughing hysterically in the bathroom, I thought for a moment that someone was tickling him, but no, he's by himself in there now rambling and singing Shinedown then laughing. 

@*#($&(*&@#$?????

I've had some messed up days, but this one truly took the cake in terms of sheer mind numbing technological irritation.

Let me set the stage:  Ever since I purchased this computer, I get a log in message whenever I reboot or turn the computer on "Would you like to create your system recovery disc now?" which I have generally (or stupidly, as you might see it) ignored/avoided. 

Well, today I had a DVD, so I thought I'd finally get that done.  Followed the instructions implicitly, inserted the DVD into the player, and rebooted. 

Nothing

Monitors were not working at all, sounded like the computer itself was.  So on a hunch, I removed my aftermarket graphics card, hooked the monitor to the one old port, and voila, she restarted. 

Then I couldn't get the mouse to work, Ohhh yah, they don't tell you this, you need to install the mouse into the uppermost USB port, like the "natural" spot when you first buy a computer, they would tell you to put that USB port somewhere right outside there.  So I then got the computer back up and running...

GONE

All my files, photos, paperwork, everything just POOF disappeared.  So I've purchased a program that is supposed to be able to recover as many of them as it can, we'll see. 

I was about as frustrated today as I've ever been... phone was acting up, not taking calls, or being impossible to input data without a 30 second lag.  Oh well, glad that's over.

Lil' Vader?

I had some people asking me about the "new" car I purchased.  Thought I'd do a post quick to cover this. 

I really liked the Buick, it was without a doubt the nicest car for a long trip that I've ever owned.  Don't get me wrong, I'll always prefer the SRT-4 in terms of "fun" value, but there is something to be said for luxury.  But, the monthly payment, and the 21.5 mpg average were really starting to kick my butt.

I looked around online at Camry's and Accords, but their gas mileage wasn't all that great either, and the dealers wanted an arm and a leg for them.  Then someone mentioned the Chevy Cruze Eco to me.   So I went online to search for them and research them too.  I have always liked the looks of the Cruzes, ever since I saw one while at Camp Parks in California for a military school.  I figured I'd get a manual, because they get about 5 mpg higher than the automatics do. 

The first one I found in the Omaha area was a red one, then a burgundy one, both of them being out of the question, as I don't feel the need to MAKE myself look fast.  Then, at Plaza Buick here in Omaha, there was a black one, it was an automatic, but still I wanted to take it for a spin.  The car has a 1.4L turbo, which seems so piddly reading about it, but the car has surprising get up and go.  The main complaints about the car online are "loud tires" and "aggressive shift patterns".  Well I don't know too many cars with louder tires than an SRT-4 (the KDW2's aggressive tread pattern tends to do that) and God knows the truck transmission in that thing shifts hard as hell.  So I didn't really even notice the tire noise.  It does shift aggressively, and the auto stick is slow as hell to engage, unfortunately. 

BUT, so many good things about the car.  It's like a pint sized version of the Buick, well, 4/5th size lets call it.  Comfortable, and I was blown away at just how much it did indeed look like the Buick.  In fact a lot of people don't even notice at first that I'm driving a different car now.  See for yourself:

Subtle differences, but so much in common.  Lil N' first blurted out "HEY, where did all the red dots come from in here? WHO DID THIS???" (car has red fabric highlights all over).

Not the greatest angle, but you can see what I'm talking about.  So far I'm pushing more than 35% better gas mileage, that's huge.  Pretty darn happy.  Here are some other photos of the car:

Yesterday, Yo Yo, Today, McPicnic

The kids, especially Lil N', wanted Yo Yo Berry after we ate the other night and I wasn't able to take them, so yesterday we did indeed end up in the land of yogurt and candy.  I find it rather funny that they offer "low" and "no-fat" yogurt, yet then you have about 100 of the most atrocious toppings in terms of health that you can have, might as well go the Coldstone Creamery route if you are going to do that.

As you can see, lil maN's love of strawberries continues.  Interesting how placement makes that spoon look gigantic, he just happened to be waving it around.

And today, well, despite my insinuating that they would just LOVE go get pizza and pasta at Ci Ci's, there was no turning them away from McDonalds.  All grins as we ate at the park, despite having to chase down trash every 30 seconds or so. 

It was pretty chilly for a picnic but we still had fun.  They ran around the playground slides for about 5 minutes then much like me decided that staying out there was too freaking cold.  So off we went to head for home at that point.

Still The Best Show On Television

As I was watching the final few episodes last season for Walking Dead, I found myself at times actually wondering "Hmm, this show could actually be better than Game of Thrones..." but after today's episode of G.o.T. I have once again solidified my position that, indeed, HBO has the best show out there.

To get more specific about this particular episode, I keep thinking that 'The Hound' Clegane has some sort of internal battle going on between choosing life or death at any given time.  He flees King's Landing, as fire envelopes all the ships beyond the mud gate (although one could say his fear of fire may have drove him), he calls out "the Stark bitch" at Arya Stark, as though his choice to indulge that little bit of information would somehow bring him favor from his captors.  Yet in the dank caves, when faced with ridicule, he would repeatedly call out for them to "get on with it!" and "if you are going to cut my throat, do it already!"  Along with the life/death struggle, he also seems torn with wanting to be a better person, yet resigned to the fact that he is too far gone to ever get away from being what he perceives himself, or at least he perceives others see him as:  A ruthless killer with no real honor or loyalties.  You would almost see his current situation befitting him in a lot of ways, he seems to despite the requirements of loyalty as much as he enjoys a propensity for violence.

Ah, then there is Margaery Tyrell... seemingly willing to throw herself bodily at anyone who has even the slightest hint at being king, now she is offering her hand in "friendship" to Sansa Stark.  Something seems very fishy about what she is doing.  I would like to believe her family is aware of Littlefinger's alleged plans with Sansa, however behind all the "good deeds" Margaery seems to be doing there is something that just doesn't seem right about her.  Perhaps she still sees Sansa as a threat to her self assumed inevitability to being queen, or something worse, but I have a bad feeling about her intentions.

Ah, and then we get to the final segment, with Daenerys Targaryen.  I kept thinking she knew a little more about what was being said the last couple of episodes that involved her... and her knowledge of the Valyrian language took that far further than what I'd expected.  Even just before that, as she handed off the dragon, you got the feeling that she was in complete control, and I started to think "OH SHIT, she's going to kill that guy!"  I didn't expect that she was going to take the whole city down, which was far and away more awesome yet.  That wide eyed look on Daenery's personal slave hand maiden, Missandei, basically set it all.  Sort of the "Holy shit!" followed by the unspoken "YES!!!" as Daenerys gave the commands to bring the city down.  She's becoming more and more impressive with every episode, such a far cry from the "unsullied spoiled rich girl" she was portrayed as in the beginning of the series. 

I think I could go on and on about the other parts of the episode.  I enjoy this show so much, I often wonder if it is simply a matter of never being able to fully grasp what is going on in probably 15 different storylines that slightly intertwine most often, and then go headlong into a collision at other times, with awesome consequences.  I love this show!