I registered this domain in October 2001. It was probably over $100/year at the time. A lot has happened since then. Watch this space.

Growing up watching Star Wars marathons late in to the night with my brother Kevin, I never stopped to think whether the movies were good or bad. In fact, I never stopped to recognize that they were separate movies at all. Only later in life when I would discuss the movies with friends did I realize that people ranked the films separately. To me I couldn’t see the point in watching just one of the three, so the idea was just crazy.

Our marathons happened several times each year and we never started earlier than 10pm. This was to ensure that we were properly sleep-deprived by the time we saw dancing Ewoks. We watched full-screen VHS copies of the movies, that were taped from HBO, on a 4:3 CRT television. The quality was poor and got worse with each screening due to the magnetic tape stretching more and more. Keeping the VCR remote handy for adjusting tracking was absolutely necessary. About halfway through, we would take a break to make a pot of Kraft Mac&Cheese with the dayglow powder cheese, as none other would suffice. The pot we cooked it in was so old that the teflon coating would often scrape off and we would find what we dubbed “teflon surprises” and sometimes competed to see who had the most. A full 12 pack of Mtn Dew was also required, though it did little to keep us awake due to that being our normal intake of caffeine on any other night. Kevin always made it to the end, while I developed the ability to occasionally wake up enough to react to one of his jokes so that he wouldn’t realize I was sleeping already (he always knew). This was my Star Wars experience.

Then the prequels came out and while I now have my own opinions of those movies, I was one of the people who left the theater after Episode I with a great feeling. I actually enjoyed the movie because I wasn’t comparing it at all to the originals. Sure, I hated Jar Jar, but it was the first Star Wars movie I got to see in the theater when it was released. Episode I showed me a familiar world that I knew from childhood and so long as Jedi were hitting things with lightsabers and spaceships were flying around, I was overjoyed.

It was at this time that I really started to realize that people had very strong opinions of the OT and the new prequels. Suddenly the innocence that I experienced with the OT was brought in to sharp focus. I came to understand that these movies did not exist only in late night sleep-deprived marathon sessions filled with Kraft Mac&Cheese and teflon surprises.

Why do I mention any of this now? Nostalgia, for one. This new film brought back so many of the feelings I had surrounding the OT and in turn took me back to that innocent time. But, also because I have been reading a lot of reactions on r/StarWars that were making me feel upset until I looked at this from this new perspective. Everyone’s experience with Star Wars is totally different and unique and valid. Make up your own mind about this new episode and don’t let trolls ruin it for you. Enjoy your two hours in a galaxy far, far away and say hi to some old friends one more time.

Updates are hard, guys. Noticing that I have Christmas posts in the most recent updates here has reminded me that I should be updating more often. So, here’s my list of Thanksgiving TV episodes!

Starting, of course, with…

King of the Hill
3×7: Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men (November 17, 1998)
4×7: The Hank’s Giving Episode (November 21, 1999)
5×4: Spin the Choice (November 19, 2000)
7×4: Goodbye Normal Jeans (November 24, 2002)

That 70’s Show
1×9: Thanksgiving (November 22, 1998)
5×8: Thank You (December 03, 2002)
7×9: You Can’t Always Get What You Want (November 24, 2004)

Roseanne
2×9: We Gather Together (October 21, 1989)
4×10: Thanksgiving ’91 (November 26, 1991)
6×10: Thanksgiving ’93 (November 23, 1993)
7×10: Thanksgiving ’94 (November 23, 1994)
8×8: The Last Thursday in November (November 21, 1995)
9×10: Home Is Where the Afghan Is (November 26, 1996)

South Park
1×8: Starvin’ Marvin (November 19, 1997)
4×13: Helen Keller! The Musical (November 22, 2000)
15×13: A History Channel Thanksgiving (November 09, 2011)
17×7: Black Friday (November 13, 2013)

I will add more as I watch! For a more complete list of Thanksgiving episodes, see this page:
List of Thanksgiving episodes

Most drivers in Los Angeles have experienced the horrors of the 110 West through Downtown LA. Most specifically the point where the left lanes (110W) and the right lanes (off-ramps and on-ramps from the 101) come together. Smart drivers know that if you miss your chance to merge left, there is a dedicated off-ramp for the 110W you can use instead.

As most of us know, there’s always that one asshole who waits until the very last moment to move left in order to get on the 110W. They usually do this in some dramatic display that reenforces how important it is that they make this lane change, usually including them driving over the rough median.

On my way to work, I was a few cars behind a CHP cruiser as it was passing this hectic area of the freeway. The cruiser was in the right lane of the 110W with a line of cars to his right that were all presumably heading for the off-ramps ahead.

At the very last possible moment, a black SUV had their expected moment of panic and suddenly changed lanes (across the solid white lines) and found himself DIRECTLY in front of the CHP cruiser. The lights on the cruiser immediately lit up, as though the officer knew this would happen… because he did.

My laughter at this point was completely uncontrollable, as I have waited years to see this exact scenario play out and it finally did. As I passed the douchebag, I of course had to get a look at them to see what kind of idiot would pull such a stupid move. What did I find but a white guy driving while ACTIVELY texting on his phone.

This really made my day. I can only hope that the officer pointed out the off-ramp that would have saved him not only time, but now money.

Because I find myself looking this up every year, here is my list of X-Mas episodes I will be watching this December! I may come back and rate them with a top 10, along with my top 10 X-Mas movies.

Continue reading →

Newly married and newly employed, I am taking back the web with a post to a dead WordPress site! Hooray! This will lead me down the rabbit hole of WP again and hopefully lead to even better things! Nice short post this time, but you can expect more from thePlayland in the very near future!

It’s Droid X Day!! I was so excited that I drove down to my local Verizon Wireless store this morning to join the crowds and get my early upgrade. When I arrived, a customer service agent let me know that since my free upgrade wasn’t until Jan 2011, I wasn’t going to be eligible for an upgrade! Oh no!

Dejected, I headed outside and called 611 on my cell. I was connected to a Verizon agent, working on his day off, who let me know that I DID qualify for a rebate-based early-upgrade discount! That’s all I really wanted, anyway, so I was elated! He said I could order it from him, so I asked if the same deal would be available in-store (since I am impatient and didn’t want to wait for shipping). He said yes, but that he would just waive the shipping and deliver overnight if I bought from him right then. To which I replied, “yes, please!”

At this point, I was already a happy customer. Then, he waived my early upgrade fee, too! Now I was really happy, but a little worried because I didn’t really want to pay the whole cost today. Tomorrow, yes. When it came time for the payment, he said I could pay now, or defer it to my monthly bill! Meaning I didn’t have to drop a dime today to get my new Droid X shipped overnight!

When I am asked why I don’t have an iPhone, my answer is Verizon. Not only do they provide me with coverage in my apartment (something AT&T cannot do), they just seem to give a crap about whether I am a happy customer. That’s something I NEVER experienced with Cingular/AT&T. So, while I enjoy using my iPod Touch and can see why people like iPhones so much, I can’t get behind Apple with their decision to limit themselves to AT&T.

DROID!

George Carlin is the first comedian I remember watching and hearing as a kid. And he was the only comedian who was able to make me fall from my chair, roll on the ground and hold my sides from laughing so hard.

A true wordsmith and a man who always said exactly what he meant. He will be sorely missed. The world just got a lot less funny.