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Like most guys, I love little electronic gadgets. It probably all started for me back in the days of those primitive handheld electronic games like Coleco’s Electronic Quarterback and Mattel’s Electronic Baseball. As a matter of fact, I think I still have the Electronic Quarterback stored away in my attic somewhere. I make it a point to not dig it up and turn it on because my personal memories of it are a lot more fun than the harsh reality of what it’s like to actually play with it now. Those lil’ red LED lights and fixed block patterns aren’t going to “wow” anyone nowadays. But man, it was the hi-tech gadget to have as a kid way back when!

as you can see, I pre-date the Nintendo GameBoy-era but you already knew that about me, right?

Anyway, these days, I’ve been hankerin’ for one of those pocket HD camcorders. I don’t know why since I have video capable digital cameras and of course a regular camcorder. I guess, it’s the simplicity of those lil’ FlipHDs. I don’t know. but I want it!!

Gizmodo just posted a comparison of the popular pocket HDs a couple days ago. they declared the Flip Ultra HD as the winner of their shootout. but I’m personally leaning toward the Kodak ZX1 at the moment since it’s built a bit more rugged and claims to be “weather resistant”. So far, I haven’t seen a fully water-proof/shock-proof model yet. Since I’m known to drop things from time to time, I’d rather have something more rugged than stylish. Hopefully I’ll be able to find one for cheap during one of those after-thanksgiving sales.
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With the heavy rains in our area the last couple days, I was made well aware that I was overdue for tire replacement on my SUV this morning. I had a hell of a time driving into work on these slick roads. My old tires aren’t BALD or anything but they sure didn’t grip the roads that well. While on the interstate, I could feel the front-wheel drive slipping underneath me. I had to keep it well under the speed limit and also made a conscious effort to stay far from other cars. Especially when there are so many ignorant people SPEEDING down the interstate during these conditions!!

It seemed that I wasn’t the ONLY one having problems with the rain-soaked roads. I passed a number of accidents and actually witnessed a Honda Accord spinning out of control after hitting a rather large puddle on the highway.

Luckily I made it to work OK. but the forecast calls for the rains to continue on for the next two days. ugh.

Here’s an excerpt from the local news about the wet road conditions –

Slick roads caused several wrecks across the Triangle Wednesday morning, and the Interstate 440 Beltline was especially treacherous.
A car hydroplaned and flipped over on westbound I-440 between Glenwood Avenue and Lake Boone Trail shortly after 2 a.m., and crews had to cut a woman out of the car. A pickup overturned on eastbound I-440 between Six Forks and Wake Forest roads about 10 minutes earlier.

“We are going to get a lot of rain in our area. We’ll likely have some flooding issues around here by the time it’s all said and done on Friday,” Gardner said.
Car dealers on Wake Forest Road cleared vehicles off their lots in case nearby Crabtree Creek flooded.

I stepped out of the house this morning and quickly realized that I dressed like a UPS driver today!!

brown jacket, brown pants and brown shoes. ugh. I’m surprised I didn’t finish the ensemble off with a brown polo shirt.

what was I thinking? apparently my fashion sense was completely turned off this monday morning. I know, I know, is it EVER on? ..har, har.

Even after realizing what I looked like, I still didn’t have the energy to go back in to re-think my outfit and just went straight to work.

yeah, I’m feeling brown today. what’s it to ya?

I thought I’d pass this along for any gamers (or parents of gamers) out there. For a limited time, Tanga.com is offering a 1-year subscription to Nintendo Power Magazine for only $4.99. Just be sure to use the coupon code: b7bd when you checkout.

I purchased a subscription for my kids who just love their Nintendo Wii and DS games. I think it’s a great deal – plus tanga lets you use paypal to pay for it which works out perfect for me since I always tend to have a balance on my paypal account.

use this link to sign up for a subscription.

game on!

OK the owner of the local Seoul Garden officially pissed me off. I’ve tended to shy away from this place in the past even though its probably the best place in town to get some korean food. The old guy that owns the restaurant has always rubbed me the wrong way. he’s got a way in making me feel like some sort of idiot just because I can’t speak the language. it’s the same reason why I don’t want to attend korean churches. All the elders treat you like you’ve got leprosy or something when you don’t speak proper korean.

anyway, I had placed a take-out order over the phone and then when I got there, I realized that he messed up my order. First he tried to make it appear that *I* was mistaken. but when he double checked what he wrote down, he muttered something under his breath basically acknowledging that he messed up. but he didn’t apologize. then he made me wait another twenty minutes for them to correct my order.

I was fuming!

I never liked the guy. and I hate the fact that I give him my business especially when he so condescending. AND NOW he’s NOT apologizing to me for fucking up my order. what an asshole. what’s the big deal anyway? Say you’re sorry and be done with it. Obviously it’s your typical “korean pride” issues.

again, when it was finally time to pay for my order, he had another opportunity to apologize to me and he DIDN’T do it. Not only that but he charged me full price for the meals. come on, you’re the owner for pete’s sake! can’t ya give a frequent customer a small discount for making him wait for your mistake???? fucker.

OK, hear me now people! I ain’t going back to his restaurant. he obviously doesn’t appreciate my business. Seoul Garden is dead to me. you hear me, DEAD.

I hope you all are feeling better than me right now.

ugh. Thankfully I don’t have anything severe like the swine flu but still- the headaches, body aches, congestion and coughs ain’t a bed of roses neither!!

a week after our visit to Carowinds, one of their coasters malfunctioned with riders on board. yikes!

I can’t say that I’m surprised at the news since we had witnessed a number of rides breaking down during our visit to the amusement park. Luckily none of the coasters broke down while WE were on them.

It’s interesting to note that the coaster that broke down is their newest coaster. You’d think that the newer coasters would be “safer” than the older ones.

—
Carowinds coaster breaks down with riders on board
Published: Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 From Staff Reports – WSOC – TV

No serious injuries were reported.
—

yes, I get my kicks searching for konglish-type items at my local korean grocery store.

yup, I’m just a little kid trapped in an old man’s body. heh.

now with colder temperatures upon us, we took our winter comforters out from storage. They smelled like the needed some freshing up so we decided to head out to the local laundromat to get those comforters washed. as you might have guessed, they’re a bit too bulky for the washing machine at home. anyway, we haven’t been to a coin operated laundromat in AGES so it took a while to find one near us.

luckily we found one that had one of the washers that could handle larger loads. it took $8 in quarters plus a couple bucks for detergent (we forgot to bring our own – that’s how out of practice we are!!).

then of course there’s the additional time waiting around for the dryers to do their thang. anyway, it was fun sitting there reminiscing about our youngers days when a visit to the laundromat was a regular requirement.

of course we’re thankful that we no longer have to spend time each week at the coin operated laundromat!!

We took the kids to Carowinds over the weekend. We opted to do the park during the fall since it’s less crowded and the weather is nice and cool. And it turned out great – no long lines and no sweating profusely under a blazing hot sun. Here’s my quick sum-up of what we experienced during our visit to the amusement park.

The Good
- Carowinds had an october special that discounted the adult ticket prices by almost 50%. awesome!

- Afterburn is a great coaster. Nighthawk made me disoriented. and the “Drop Tower” almost made the wife pee her pants.

- the younger set LOVED Danny Phantom’s Flyers. I think they rode that particular ride the most out of all the rides. but it’s a bit scary to think about the amount of wear and tear the riders must have on these cables that hold the individual carts. if a cable goes snap, that rider is a goner! yikes!

- found an ultra clean men’s bathroom in the park. it’s located at the far end of the park near the Jukebox Diner. some of the other bathrooms were a bit dingy and old. but for some reason, the bathroom near the Diner was clean and almost looked brand-new.

- the kids give thumbs up to the following: Flying Dutchman’s Revenge, Fairly Odd Coaster, Rugrants Runaway Reptar, Hurler, Carolina Cobra, Vortex, Afterburn and Danny Phantom’s Flyers

The Bad
- they have a go-cart track and a bungee/flying contraption thing-y but they both cost extra. harumph. they should be included with admission if you ask me!

-the following were pretty darn lame: Scooby-Doo’s Haunted Mansion, the Dora the Explorer train ride, the LazyTown Sporticopters.

- the “age factor” reared its ugly head again. man, I can’t keep up with my oldest son any more. He was having a blast riding all the thrill rides and after the fourth or fifth coaster, I was pretty much done for the day. ouch.

- most of the newer steel coasters were too short for my tastes. since it wasn’t crowded, we had the opportunity to re-ride ‘em multiple times if we wanted to. but man, if I had to stand in long lines for some of those coasters, I’d feel gypped afterwards.

- ugh, the food/refreshment prices are high. yeah, it’s pretty standard for amusement parks but still, feeding the family put the hurt on my wallet. ouch.

- the park closes at 5:30pm in the fall.

The Ugly
- what in the world possessed me to eat their BBQ pork sandwich for lunch? ugh. bad choice. it felt like I had a bowling ball in my stomach for the rest of the afternoon. avoid the BBQ at all costs!

- I’m guessing Carowinds is still in a “transitional phase”. From what I understand, Paramount is no longer running the park. The park is now with the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. All the Paramount movie references are gone and the rides now have generic names like “Hurler”, “Afterburn” and “Vortex”. Surprisingly, the Nicktoons portion (the lil’ kids section) of the park is still around. but for how long? who knows. This might be the last year we’ll get to see the Nickelodeon characters in the park. sadly, most of the attractions in Carowinds are in need of a facelift. lots of rides showing their age. lots of faded colors and we saw a couple rides malfunction during our visit. yikes. hopefully things will improve with the new owners.
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