I braved the snow a couple days ago and made the trip to Best Buy to get the Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle DVD. When I got there, I found that every single copy was sold out. They even had a special display case for that movie and it was completely empty.
That made me at least a little bit mad. I thought I was the only one dumb and immature enough to want to get stupid movies like Harold and Kumar or Napoleon Dynamite. Now I realize that there are many more idiots out there just like me.
Anyways, I ended up finding the DVD at Wal-Mart and when I was buying it using one of those "self-checkout" stations, the thing beeped and the voice said "Authorization Required", not letting me proceed. This confused me until the attendant came by and told me he just had to make sure I was at least 17. Funny, I never realized that stores actually check whether or not you're old enough to buy a certain movie.
The experience also made me think, as I was showing the attendant guy what movie I was buying. Would I be more embarrassed about getting a movie like Harold & Kumar cause it's such a stupid movie, or more embarrased about buying a porno DVD? I think it might be a close argument. Not that I personally was that embarrassed about buying H&K; after all, I've bought many Britney Spears CDs in the past, even got her McDonald's CD, as well as her stickers and folders.
I noticed that when Best Buy, Circuit City, or Wal-Mart have DVD sales, they seem to always dicount the Braveheart DVD. Which is weird, since they put all these crappy movies that nobody is ever going to buy in the same bin. I suspect they are trying to sell as many copies of that DVD, before they suddenly announce that they are releasing a "special collector's edition" 4-disc set with 100 minutes of unreleased footage and directors commentary. Actually, I can almost guarantee that's what's gonna happen. Too bad I already fell for their tricks and bought the regular Braveheart DVD a few months ago when Circuit City was having their specials.
At work, I moved again. The project I'm working on got its own room and now I am upstairs again. Not that big of a deal, I kind of like the move so far cause I have more space in my new spot.
Weekend was pretty good, visited Ray (and saw P for a little bit) in Milwaukee. The trip was yet another reminder for me that my body is getting old though. We went out to a few local bars Friday night, and by about 1am I was pretty much sleepwalking around with the rest of the group. Don't know how the other guys still had the energy to go to the casino afterwards, but for me there was no way.
Saturday morning, played some ball at a Marquette gym. Their place is pretty much like IMPE, maybe a little older and not as fancy. Ran a couple full court games and after the first 2 times up and down the court, felt like my lungs were gonna collapse. Not good, but I lasted longer than I thought I would. Played alright too, especially considering I haven't touched a basketball in maybe 3 years.
Also checked out a local brewery tour, place was called Lakefront. It was a pretty good tour and for $5, you get a souvenir glass and 4 beers. Can't beat that deal. If any of you out there ever go to this place, I recommend the Lakefront White, it tastes a lot like Blue Moon.
Afternoon, watched the Illini beat Purdue. Not the prettiest game, but a win is a win. Still haven't decided if Dee or Luther is our best player, and coming into this season I thought Deron would easily be the MVP. So I guess that tells you how balanced this team is. Gotta love Dee though, after he hit one of his big 2nd half shots, he showed everyone his pride for ILLINOIS:
This is now my desktop wallpaper. We definitely need more guys like him in Chicago, who stay loyal to the programs around here.
Anyways, after the Illini game, we played some ping pong, and then they were going to hit up the Bucks/Jazz game. I didn't feel like I would be able to go to the game and drive back to Illinois afterwards, so I decided to just call it a trip there, skip the game and head home early. From what I heard, the Bucks game sucked anyways and I didn't miss much.
Some of the pictures from Milwaukee:
Another fun part from the weekend was the heater going out at our townhouse. It's like losing electricity, except not as fun. Actually it wasn't too bad, I just wore a couple extra layers, and between my halogen light, 2 computers, TV, and ironing my clothes, enough heat was generated to survive. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those super cold winter days outside, not sure how we would've held up under worse conditions.
I haven't done a list in a while, how about a list of services/amenities I use, in increasing order of how much it sucks if/when it goes down:
10. GPS - Yes, I do use GPS from time to time for navigation purposes.
9. Regular TV - When I think about it, there's not a lot of stuff I really watch on regular TV anymore. Pretty much just football on Sundays, and reruns of King of Queens on the U.
8. Radio - Radio is actually pretty important to me, especially when you consider that it includes both AM and FM. A free source of music at any given time, and when there's no good songs on at all, there's always sports talk to listen to. And when I'm not near a TV, or I'm near a TV that sucks/doesn't have cable (i.e. Darien home), I can usually listen to important game broadcasts on the radio.
7. Cell phone - This has moved down my list significantly in the past year or so. I have consciously been trying not to depend on my phone as much, and let that little thing control my life. At one point things were just ridiculous and I had to just turn it off when I didn't absolutely need it. Still, I can't live entirely without my phone, and it definitely sucks when my cell service goes down.
6. Cable TV - It's got everything regular TV has, but oh so much more. Sportscenter, Pimp My Ride, World Series of Poker, college basketball, Chappelle's Show, the list goes on.
5. Heat - I guess it depends on how cold it is outside. As I described above, it wasn't so bad last night considering I have 2 blankets and wore many layers. But if it were one of those sub-zero Chicago winter nights, that would suck a lot more.
4. Electricity - Needs no explanation. We've all experienced power outages, it happens at least a few times a year to remind us of how much we would miss electricity if we didn't have it. Among other things, it means no light at night, stuff in the fridge spoils, sump pump fails and house floods.
3. Internet - Unlike cell phones, I can't realistically envision forcing myself to depend on the internet less. I've already written plenty of stuff about what I need the internet for, and it seems like I'm still constantly finding more uses for it.
2. Gasoline - We've never had a serious gasoline shortage during our driving years, but if one ever happened, I would be screwed. Driving a car that struggles to get 20 mpg on the highway doesn't exactly help.
1. Water/Plumbing - We need water for drinking, obviously, but that's not the biggest thing that scares me. What if you couldn't flush your toilets for more than a day or two? Oh the horror.
