You may have seen this story on the front page of CNN.com, where some guy with a Jamaican accent killed a cop and his dog, and shot another officer in the leg. This took place in Lakeland which is 15 minutes down the road from where I live. There’s cops, helicopters, and a manhunt going down to find this guy as I type this.
So what happens? My roommate tells me to walk the dogs at midnight. Sure, they have to be pottied, and I can’t live my life in fear, and to be quite honest I wasn’t really worried about it. But I was bored, and I wanted to give my roommate a guilt trip. So the conversation went down like this:
Me: “So you still want me to walk the dogs, huh?” Her: “Yep.” Me: “Oh, ok. (Pause) Which sounds worse? A) I really don’t like you anymore, Matt. or B) I want you to walk the dogs at midnight with a convicted killer on the loose somewhere in the vicinity of our neighborhood?” Her: “The dogs have to go out sometimes, you know.” Me: “Yeah, but I figure we can wait until the dogs are clamoring and absolutely begging at the door to go potty, and then when we let them out they’ll have no choice but to immediately relieve themselves not 2 feet from the door, thus negating my 10 minute walk down a pitch dark street.” Her: “Are you really that uncomfortable walking the dogs tonight?” Me: “Well … yeah, you know. I kind of value my life, a little bit, you know. Just a teensy, tiny bit. I can’t help it. God gave me this thing, perhaps you heard of it, it’s called survival instinct. Us men excel at it.” Her: “Well Matt, I don’t …” Me: “Are these your Final Words to me before I take the dogs out … ?”
At this point she breaks down and starts laughing uncontrollably. I think she knew I was just pulling her leg, but it took her a while to figure it out. Phew. I was afraid I was going to run out of guilties at that rate.
While listening to Pandora I heard a song that was a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins’s “Today” which I thought was really good. I haven’t heard any covers of SP’s music before, so I checked and saw that it was off of a tribute album called The Killer in You.
After purchasing the album, I went straight to one of my favorite songs on the Siamese Dream album, Mayonaise. The cover is by Emanuel, and I thoroughly enjoy how they did it, although I’ll always treasure the original version, which has special meaning to me growing up as a teen listening to their music.
I’m not one to really mull over bad calls in a sports game, but when it affects such a stellar performance by a freshman, and nearly costs the team the game, it has me really annoyed.
Here’s a video of the bad calls that was the reason why the game between the Florida Gators versus the Tennessee Volunteers has the Gators on top 21-20. The Vols should send a thank-you note to the referees for keeping them in the game to the very end, or at least ask them where they were when they almost lost to Air Force.
SEC officiating wasn’t just horrible in this game, but also in the LSU vs. Auburn game, where LSU ended up getting the short end of the stick.
I firmly believe that the new rule changes to the time for NCAA football games has the referees making bad calls (or not making any at all where there should’ve been one) because of these rule changes. They are pressured to save time in a football game, all so more TV commercials can be displayed.
When shopping for a MP3 player, I originally wanted a tiny flash-based one for when I go on early morning runs, since hard drive-based ones tend to skip when there are sudden movements. However, when I saw the iRiver Clix, I realized that I won’t be running all the time, so I might as well be able to enjoy it for when I’m not exercising.
The iRiver Clix (MSRP $199.99) features the ability to play music in these formats: .mp3, .ogg, and .wma. On top of that, it features the ability to play video, show pictures, and let you play Flash Lite games. It has a rather large (for a MP3 player) 2.2″ LCD screen that is quite bright, and which can display 260,000 colors. Additionally it has a built-in FM tuner, so you can listen to local FM radio stations.
It charges up the lithium-poly battery via the USB 2.0 cord, and a single charge can bring you between 10-20 hours (20 hours if you’re listening in the worst possible audio quality, don’t use the LCD screen much, and other best-case scenario variables.) You can expect around 13 hours of playtime for the average listener, less if you watch videos often and use an aggressive equalizer setting.
Space opera rock, there wasn’t much of it after Pink Floyd, but M83 (which is just one man) has really given it a style all their own with their ”Before the Dawn Heals Us“ album. It spans the highest joys to the lowest sorrows, and sometimes does it in a single song. On this album is a lot of fantastic songs, and the one I have up for listening today is one of the best. The music video for it is just as awesome. You can check it out at Youtube (do a search for M83.) The album is the kind that grows on you very quickly with each listen.
Like most people, when I heard news that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, died, I immediately went online to check the main news outlets to see if it wasn’t a hoax. Sure enough, much to my shock and horror, it really happened. I was really floored. I was saddened by Richard Pryor’s death, he meant a lot to me as a comedian who never failed to crack me up, and the same with Rodney Dangerfield. But Steve Irwin was more involved in my life, as I had watched so many of his shows, seen so many interviews with him, and a couple of documentaries about him.
I know everywhere you go, whether online, on television, even the ballpark people are talking about him. Some may even be getting sick of hearing about it. However, I’d like add my own thoughts to the whole thing, so bear with me.
Sure, it was likely inevitable that he would get killed, and most everyone thought it’d be by a crocodile. It still doesn’t make it fair, because he was making such a positive impact with so many people, no matter how young or old they are. Steve Irwin gave me a newfound appreciation towards some of the more unsavory wildlife out there, and he also showed that you can be deeply passionate about your job and still have fun. To lose him really creates a void in the world where someone left such a footprint on everyone. My roommate, being female, thinks all snakes are yucky and evil, but Steve Irwin has changed her mind somewhat, and that, my friends, is a huge deal.
There’s been some who called him a careless daredevil, a thrillseeker who was pushed more and more to do dangerous stunts for better television ratings. Steve himself said he does that to himself, he’s always challenging himself. We all do it, if we never challenged ourself, we’d become complacent and bored in our life. However, I don’t think he belongs in the usual classification of daredevils/thrillseekers. He was calculated, smart, and careful. He was as much a proud father as a conservationist. He always had experts on hand when he was dealing with animals he wasn’t too intimately familiar with, and always did research beforehand. It’s not like he was tempting fate unneccesarily just for the adrenaline, he was doing it for a good purpose.
One last thing, something that has me a bit annoyed. I’ve heard a lot of Australians online and in the media complain about Steve Irwin. They say his accent is exaggerated, that he’s a flamboyant showman, and people outside of Australia ask them if they have a crocodile in their backyard because of them. They regard him as an embarrasement to the country.
Which shows me how utterly shallow a lot of Australians are. Boo-frickety-hoo! Because I’m American, people think President Bush and automatically assume I’m stupid and arrogant. People that paint such a broad brush don’t even get a second thought from me. If they’re so stupid as to assume something so asinine, then I’m stupid if I let them affect me and my attitude.
I’m going to miss Steve Irwin a lot, and I can’t begin to imagine how painful this is for his wife, Terri, and their two kids. The little girl, Bindi, is old enough to be severely affected by this news, and my heart goes out to that family. Steve has done so much for the planet, for Australia, and on top of it all, he was a great dad. He’s a hero a lot of people will sorely miss.
I imagine he’s in Heaven right now, approaching an angel, touching their wings, and saying, “Crikey! Ain’t she gorgeous!?!?”
This review was originally posted on foogaming.com - but since that site is no longer up, I decided to repost it here for anyone looking for feedback on these excellent headphones.
My old earphones, Shure E2c, gave up the ghost after 2 years of extensive use. It served me well, but I want headphones that actually last. So thus my research on the net brought me to the purchase of the Audio Technica ATH-A500, which is only made in Japan. Word is that it is great for gaming, having a soundstage that is great for closed circumaural headphones. Along with the headphones, I also invested in the Headroom Total Airhead headphone amp.
Like most people, when I heard news that 
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