I’m really quite disappointed with the Apple announcements today.
Hardly worth a “Media Event” to announce the inevitable Mac mini with an
Intel processor. Front Row with Bonjour is cool but I really wanted a
TiVo beater Mac mini.

I think the iPod Hi-Fi is a neat concept and as always with Apple, very
well executed but 349 dollars? It’s just too expensive.

Overall very disappointed.

This is gonna be a long one. Sit back.

This past weekend I hit up NYC with my friend Roseld. Our mission… to see Mike P, Evilbuddha, Zell, Steve and some of Roseld’s NYC friends. With them to attend the first ever NYC ComicCon and to spend a day filled with fun and laughter. Seems easy enough right? Well, sorta… and we did that… sorta… but I’ll tell you what, I really feel like what happened was the best thing I could ever have hoped for!

Since I was heading to NYC overnight on Saturday, I might as well make a weekend of it and go to visit my good friend Mike R on Friday night. Mike R lives about half of my way to NYC so the plan was set. Friday night went off well. Work got in the way at the end of Friday and I had a phone call I was planning to take @ 6pm that never happened but I got my ass to his place around 8, we had dinner and alot of good hanging out and Mac geekery and I got a decent nights sleep and headed out on Saturday.

Saturday I met up with Roseld and we headed to the Jacob Javits center. We got there way head of the scheduled time to meet up with Mike P and Evilbuddha. This is when we got the first bad news of the day. No more tickets being sold to the event. Gah! We didn’t have tickets. A quick call to Mike P, who made more calls, remedied that situation, he found 5 tickets at a nearby comic store and we were set. Shortly there after Evilbuddha showed up and we settled in to wait for Mike P and Company.

The convo was brilliant. Roseld and Buddha are both RoboGomos and they had no problem doing just that. I sat back and watched two friends engage in passionate converstation about a shared topic, and relished in it. I’ve not had the best success in mixing friends and this was going pretty good so far. We did all enjoy watching all of the people who were “dressed” up for the event. What took the cake was “Boximus Prime” a guy who was dressed in cardboard boxes made to look like Optimus Prime. It was riotous, especially since some of the boxes had grease stains on them from whatever was originally packed in them.

Mike P called and told us to come up and get in line with them. Cause the line was huge to get in. We all headed out to find then and the first suprise of the day… we ran into Scott, my best friend Vu’s boyfriend. I never really met him before and to be honest I was so focused on getting where I was getting that I didn’t even see him til he stopped me. I said Hi and introduced him to Roseld and Davis and then went off looking for Mike P. Woulda been nice to have a few more minutes to chat but I was on a mission.

When we caught up with Mike P, we were in a HUGE line. Oh well waiting with friends is better than waiting alone. After about 20 minutes and more than a one convo about leaving, a very strange looking man came around and told us the show was closed down. The fire marshall did it. He wasn’t official so we didn’t believe it. Until the guy in the red comic con tee came around, it was official. No getting in today. Seems they sold tickets without dates on them and everyone showed up today. We were now in the line to either get a priorty admission bracelet or get our money back. Guess which we had to choose? At first I was really bummed, but the day proved that to be a waste of time. I had so much fun with my friends that I ended up not caring.

We hit up Image Anime, lunch at Mustang Harry’s, met up with Zell, Steve and Roseld’s friend Wally at the Apple Store in SoHo (gawd I want the MacBook Pro now), lost Steve and Evilbuddha on our way to the Nintendo World store and Saint Pat’s Cathedral (and like Lestat, I did NOT burst in to flames when I entered), picked up Roseld’s friend Nomi (Showgirls anyone?) and had dinner at Sammy’s Noodle Shop (who knew cold noodles were so good!). After a dinner where Zell and I played too much Animal Crossing to be polite, we lost Nomi and Zell while we headed off with Wally to visit Ty’s. It was sooo cold walking around. The wind was blowing so hard and Roseld did not have a hat or gloves. My coat was no where near adequate for the weather. We were screwed. After one beer at Ty’s we decided to head back to our hotel. The night was hardly over as Roseld and I recorded not one but two podcasts. We however got hardly any sleep as we sat up for hours and hours chatting and shooting the shit! I was so tired driving home the next day.

It was a great weekend! If you want you can hear more about it by listening to my podcast.

To Roseld, I want to say thanks so much for being such a wonderful travelling companion, Mike P and Evilbuddha, thanks so much for taking a day that coulda been a disaster and making it so memorable. And to Zell, thanks so much for your company and your Animal Crossing Wisdom!

… and I should be asleep but of course I’m not. Tomorrow today I am heading to NYC for the first ever NYC Comic Con. I’m stoke of course. I’m meeting up with Mike P, Davis, Zell, and Steve. I’m very excited to be back in the city and to be chilling with such cool people. I also hope to hit up the NintendoWorld store and newfriend, who is coming too wants to hit up FAO Schwartz. It should be a good time. Expect pictures and probably a podcast or two out of it!

Shit I need to go to bed. I am NOT tired.

Nite.

You don’t get more Gomo (geeky homo) than this…

A bathtub with jacuzzi and a flat panel TV with DVD player.

Holy Sh*t. I need to get one.

More info here on the La Scala Tub.

Well not on my real house! But my house is finally paid off in Animal Crossing: Wild World. I’ve paid my debt to Tom Nook! Oh and more good news, Nook’s Cranny (my local store) is being upgraded to a Nook n’ Go! Sweet!!!!

Yes I’m addicted… so sad.

“Come see some fun new products from Apple.”

You better believe it!

Click here for more info.

Well it appears the beloved RIAA has back pedaled once again. I have my opinions on this but I’m gonna try to be unbiased on this one. Apparently even tho they testified in front of the highest court in the land (well the Supreme Court here in “the States”) saying…

“it’s perfectly lawful to take a CD that you’ve purchased, upload it on to your computer, and put it on to your iPod.”

They are now saying… well it’s not. And you can’t do it anymore.

You know what f*ck unbiased. What the hell is this? How much do they wanna screw people? I totally understand their stance on piracy. I get how money is lost for artists when that happens. I even understand and agree with DRMs like iTunes’ FairPlay DRM, but at what point do I get to USE what I bought? The FairPlay DRM is clear. I get that but now I can’t rip a CD I own for my own use without sharing it to my iPod??

If I’m going to get sued for stealing music (and only the music i want mind you), and I’m gonna get sued for buying a CD (filled with tracks I don’t want) and ripping it to my iPod, why spend the money? How on earth is this helping people who try to do things legally? Way to perjure yourself RIAA.

Feel free to read for yourself here. I expect or rather hope for some comments on this post.

Okay, I knew it would happen. And it did. I’m now OBSESSED with Animal Crossing:Wild World on my Nintendo DS.

It’s so much fun and thanks to Zell for all his help and gifts. He rocks. I’m hooked, even the boyfriend is starting to get addicted. I’m about to skip lunch and play for an hour!

Gah! Stop me…

Saturday night rocked. Plain and simple. “Newfriend” and his boyfriend came over for dinner on Saturday and we had a great time.

We had made plans for a sort of pot luck dinner. I had planned to make a dinner of Chicken Parm but newfriend’s announcement that they were bringing “Puerto Rican Rice and Beans” lead to a last minute menu change. My boyfriend decided to make chicken enchiladas. And they turned out great. He knows how to cook and Saturday night was no exception.

But that’s not all we had to eat. Not only did my boyfriend have a back up dish (beef soft tacos) since he had never made enchiladas before, but newfriend and his boyfriend brought not only the Rice and Beans, but also Potato Salad with Ham, an Onion tartlet and a Veggie Quiche. All were delish. I had never had a quiche before and I loved it. The ham was a great addition to the potato salad and the rice and beans were the perfect compliment to the enchiladas, and it was not too spicy at all.
Dinner was sublime.

After dinner, we headed up to the loft to play Mario Party 7 on my Gamecube. Now I know what you’re thinking…how GOMO is that? I wasn’t sure this was gonna be a big hit but I figured I’d try. Mario Party is a virtual board game that can be played with up to 4 people (or 4 teams). So far everyone who’s played the game with us has fallen in love with it. In that game, everyone has a good time.

I was worried that newfriend’s boyfriend might not be feeling it but boy was I wrong. Everyone laughed their asses off and had a good time! At one point newfriend laughed so hard I thought he might pass out from lack of oxygen.

And in the end I lost the game, but I am content that I won in several other ways.

Thanks to newfriend and his boyfriend for such a wonderful time.

Today is my best friend Vu’s birthday. Please send him your warmest wishes as he is embarking potentially on some major challenges in 2006! Here’s hoping a Tiger is lucky in the year of the Dog.

Chuc Sinh Nhat Vui Ve!

Happy Birthday Vu.

UPDATE: Vu tells me I forgot the punctuation in the above statment. Any one know Vietnamese and want to correct me ? - macboyX