Finally!!!

Someone with a brain finally came out and made my satellite TV work. He had to move the dish. I am a little irritated that I have a dish arm sticking out of the side of my house, but I will be able to remove it. The dish is now up higher near the second floor. It is silly, I know, but it was very exciting to watch something on a local network. I am just glad that most networks have their shows online to watch.

Fierce Storms Last Night

Last night Noah came into our room and told us he could hear the tornado sirens. Great. We tried to turn our the TV to see what the weather report was, but since we don't get any networks (yup. still) we had to rely on The Weather Channel and the radio. Basically a huge line of storms was traveling straight down I-70 towards Columbus. We live off of I-70. We are all fine and the house seems like it is all in one piece, but the wind and rain last night was a bit scary. I would like to turn on the TV to see what, if any, kind of damage was done, but as previously mentioned, we have no local networks. There were a few thunder booms that literally shook me. It is the only time that I can remember actually FEELING thunder. It was a little scary.

Open letter from Time Warner to Eric - I told you so.

You may remember that I switched from Time Warner Cable to Dish Network a whild back to get the Big Ten Network. The OSU vs. Wisconsin game was going to be on the Big Ten Network and I wasn't going to miss it (Time Warner doesn't carry the network). I was pretty happy with Dish Network. More channels, more HD channels, more DVR space, Sirius radio, and The Big Ten Network. All for, basically, the same price as cable. HOWEVER, things have since changed. If you don't know, when you use satellite TV, you pick up different channels from different signals from different satellites. I have counted three satellite signals that we recieve. Two work, one does not. Satellite 129 is seriously making me consider cancelling our satellite service. It is pretty hit and miss as to whether or not satellite 129 will work or not. Rain ir shine, it doesn't matter. You may think that this is not a huge deal, but satellite 129 carries all of the HD channels and our local networks. So, we can't watch the local news or local channel programming without some SERIOUS signal breaks or no signal at all. We have called, they have sent techs, four times. Each time, they fiddle with the dish, it gets better for a day or so, and then it goes back to crap. We are supposed to get someone else out here to fix the dish AGAIN this Thursday. If they can't get it righ this time, I am going to ask what we need to do to get rid of the service. I think Insight Cable carries the Big Ten Network. Unfortunately, they will probably try to hit us with an early contract agreement charge. I think it is $200. AAARRGGHHH!

New Music

I got a few new albums in the last few weeks. I haven't have too much time to listen to them though:

- Disturbed - Indestructable - I like heavy rock music. Not ear bleeding gives you a headache speed metal, but some good hard rock. That's Disturbed in a nutshell. I have always been a fan. So far so good. Another solid album.

- Seether - Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces - I haven't listened to this one too much yet. I usually listen to music in the car. I need to listen to my IPod more when I play Xbox rather that my Sirius radio. Again, I like all of Seether's old music, so I am hoping that this new album is just as good.

- Fair to Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True - Nice, long album name, eh? This is a different kind of album for me. As mentioned, I listen to Sirius radio when I play Xbox. Well, they play two songs on this album that I really like. All in all, I really like the whole album. The singer's voice is kind of schrill at times, king of like a young Geddy Lee from Rush. Maybe that's why I like them. They have a Irish feel about their music. It is different and I like it.

- Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Maddness - Another mouthful of an album name. I just got this yesterday, so I haven't listened to it much. Again, I heard a song I really liked on Sirius called Welcome Home. It is very good. The rest of the album has a The Mars Volta feel. I don't know how much I'll like it. I need to give it a few listens.

I bought the first two albums at Best Buy, so I have the CDs. The other two I bought on ITunes, so they are only on my computer and IPod. I can back them up on a CD, but probably won't. It seems a little weird though, buying music that is not on a CD.

The Happening

I mentioned yesterday that Jessica and I were going to see M. Knight Shyamalan's lastest film, The Happening. As mentioned, I have really enjoyed all of M's previous movies. They are all original ideas and usually have a big shocker at end. Bruce Willis is already dead, Samuel L Jackson is the main villian, etc. Some of the films are a bit 'out there' but if you can appreciate a good story, M knight tells some of the best. Anyway, The Happening probably won't go down as the greatest film ever, but I liked it. I can understand how some people may not like it because it requires some suspension of disbelief. It's a pretty intense film though. Some gore, some funniness, some action. I don't really want to go into what all happens, because Betsy wanted to see it, but it kind of makes you think about where our world is heading. The ending is a little anti-climactic, but all in all the movie was pretty intense. I also saw an X-Files movie trailer. I'm not sure how I feel about this after the X-Files have been on the shelf for so long. I'm sure I will see it, but will probably wait for NetFlix to send it to me. Oh and Zooey Deschanel has the most beautiful blue eyes. I give The Happening a B, but can see how others might not like it.

I guess I can go into the story a little. I had already figured out most of what was going to happen from the previews. Stop reading if you don't want to know.

OK. Basically, people living on the east coast start killing themselves due to a toxin in the air. If you've seen the previews, you see people jumping off roofs, stabbing themselves, jumping into lion's cages, etc. A lot of the deaths are pretty graphic and gross. The toxin first starts in large populace areas, so everyone starts leaving the cities and towns, but then it starts spreading. You follow Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel as they try to survive. They basically find evidence of the toxin wherever they try to go (seeing dead people), so they keep trying to evade it. It's a good thing that this movie was kind of short or else I would have gotten tired of seeing Mark and Zooey running all over the place seeing dead people. All in all The Happening is M Knight's 'save the planet' message. The toxin is occuring naturally from plants where people are, like Mother Nature warning us they she can kill us if we don't stop our distructive ways. Also, it shows how people are really kind of crappy to each other as everyone adopts a "save yourself" kind of attitude. The acting wasn't great, the ending was ho-hum, but the story and suspense made this movie worth the watch for me. No big shocker though, like in some of M's other films. You basically figure out where the toxin is coming from about half way through the movie.

Just what I ordered

Some fun things planned now. I'm not exactly going to be a social butterfly, but at least I have some things to look forward to.

- Tonight Jessica and I are going out for dinner and a movie. We LOVE the Movie Tavern. We actually went there a few weeks ago to see Kung Fu Panda, which was pretty good. Well, tonight we are going to see The Happening. I have heard mixed reviews, be we really like all of M Knight Shymalan's other movies. Hopfully the bad reviews are just from low brow people that don't get M Knight's films or they were expecting something different. I am going to keep an open mind.

- I got good news in regards to my Ohio State footbal tickets this year. Instead of getting a crappy 'pre-season' game like Younsgtown State, I am getting tickets for a Big Ten game. October 11th I get to go see the Buckeyes stomp all over Perdue. I think the Perdue Boilermakers are on a team low lately, but it's still a Big Ten game. It is a different feeling in the Shoe when it is a Big Ten game.

- I have decided to get some Indians tickets for a game in September. My dad is a fan, and I am trying to be one too. At least a better fan. I thought that it would be fun to take the boys and dad to see an Indians game. I think I am going for the September 21st game against the Detroit Tigers. Hopfully, it will be a game with some play-off implications. Of course, the way they have been playing lately, the Indians might be watching the play-offs from their couches in their living rooms. Still, it should be a fun time.

- My mom wants to take us (my family) to a resort in Upper Sandusky for a couple days. She is thinking either Cedar Point or one of those water parks up there. I am a little on the fence about this one. We will go, of course, but it may be frustrating chasing the kids all over the place. I know, I am a stick in the mud. I just need to learn how to go with the flow and enjoy myself.

I need to get out more

I have been kind of bored with life lately. I think that my problem is lack of motivation and interests. Plus, it is hard to do stuff when you are either working or home with the kids while your wife is working. I know I could do things with the kids, but adult interests and kid interests aren't quite the same. Plus, most fun things cost money, which I have none. Given the chance, I'm not too sure what I would do with myself. Probably try to join a soccer team or something. I am pretty out of shape though, so that might be a bit too much. I should get out more to excercise, but I hate excercising in front of people. Maybe I am just making excuses for myself to be lazy. Probably. I just wish that there was something out that that I would enjoy and could take my kids. That is harder than it sounds when dealing with a 14, 6, and 3 year old. Do something the little kids like and the big kid gets bored. Do something for the big kid and the little kids get excluded. Maybe I just need to get out of the house. It's been two weeks since I've had a 'break' from being at home. I have gone to the store, sure (with all the kids in tow), but that is far from recreation. I think I am going to go play poker tonight. I should have joined a summer bowling league. That one night a week out keeps me sane during the fall and winter. Boy, I sound like a whiney bitch and a bad parent, don't I? I think I have just been cooped up too long. A night out will do me some good.

In the week of Eric

A few things going on this week:

1. We are painting the basement. I don't mind painting, but the basement has a bunch of weird corners and angles. We are going with a light green. I was hoping that one gallon and one coat would do, but it looks like I am going to need to get a second gallon. The hardest part was moving all of the stuff away from the walls. Also, manuvering around the kids' toys. Oh yeah, since I have maniac children, there were a few holes and dents in the wall. Really, those are the main reason for the painting. four real holes and about fifteen or twenty dents. Fun stuff.

2. In the Best Buy add, I saw a new Quake game for the Xbox that was being sold with a free copy of Call of Duty 3. I bought COD 4 a while ago and went through it pretty quickly. I want to get into the multi player part of the game. I play Halo 3 multi player ALOT, but wanted to try something new. Anyway, a free game is enough for me to buy another game. Fun stuff. Especially if the free game is something I am interested in. I love first person shooters.

3. As mentioned above, I have been playing COD 4. The game itself is WAY fun. You vs. terrorists. It was too short for my taste (I was done in about a week) but I am really trying to get into the multi player mode. It's quite a change from Halo 3. Instead of charging in, guns blazing, you need to be careful and sneaky. It is realistic in that, if you get shot, you get killed. Halo 3 allows for you to take some damage and still keep going. I have my work cut out for myself if I am to get good at this COD game. One negative is that, even if you are a newbie, you get tossed in with experienced players. I am level 1 playing against level 34 players. H3 was better in that level 1 players get matched up with level 1 players.

4. There are new pictures on my Flickr page. See the link to the right.

drawing a blank lately

Not many posts of late.....sorry about that. I guess I have been drawing a blank when it comes to what to write. I guess I can give you a general update:

- We took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. It was really good. Some of it was silly Jack Black comedy that could have been left out, but the animation was great, the story was good, and the kids really liked it. I did too.

- BSG finally seems to be taking off this season. It had better. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. The last Cylon, Earth, Starbuck, why did they turn Apollo into a whiney bitch, etc. Last episode was really good.

- Noah met his bio-dad this weekend. they had been chatting on the phone and via internet for some time now, but they had never met face to face. Mostly because the guy is a bit of an asshole. I won't get into it too much, but Noah said he had a good time visiting with his 'other family'. I am hoping that it makes Noah appreciate what he has here. I would like to think that a weekend in a trailer park would make him see just how hard Jessica and I work for him and the other kids. Not that there is anything wrong with trailer parks, but I think Noah was happy to be back in his own room. With three other kids, I have no idea where they would all have slept. We (Jessica and I) are never going to have a relationship with these people (I think that someone who is behind on child support and has never sent his child a birthday card or Christmas present is a scum bag) but if Noah wants to, there is really nothing we can do about it. I just don't understand why he would want to see them. Personally, I would be pissed at someone that has never really made any effort to be in my life. I just hope that these people don't expect invitations to summer cookouts and family gatherings.