Friday, November 28, 2008

My Golden Army

What do you do with a hunting beard when your done hunting? Mimic the latest movie you pirated, of course. Which would be Hellboy 2. And tonight I will be drinking as much as he did. That is, I'll try to fit it in between slaying evil creatures from elfland and just being a badass in general.

I should mention that the look doesn't really fit right unless you have a stunning jawline like Ivan Drago or, as you know, Ron Perlman. Still, I really wish I could have that gun.

Well, with that, I'll be visiting every lowly biker bar in Milwaukee because im quiet sure you don't fuck with someone that has this on their face. Or at least let's hope so.

Listening to: Don't Trust Me by 3OH!3

PS, Here's a Toofer:

Titled: Only in Wisconsin

Monday, November 24, 2008

Teh Buck!

Ok. screw that stupid picture of my scope. Check out this beast. My grandpa just shot it this morning. 9 pointer, 19 1/2 " inside. very nice.

Down Periscope


You see anything down that scope?

lol, me neither.

I've only seen bout 3 does in my 3 days. zilch yesterday. 1 whole 11 hour day without seeing one thing. kinda pushes a man to drinkin'.

I was tryin to think of a cool picture I could take for you all and nothing really came to mind. I was a little surprised that camera could see down the scope. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a pic of this knarly shroom growin off a tree. Or maybe even a 14-pointer..

Oh well. Hope everyones stayin out of trouble!

Listening to: One by Metallica

Friday, November 21, 2008

Deep Freeze

EDIT: The link to the negative temperatures kinda makes me look like a pussy. I meant to point out that before sunrised it's in the negatives. The rest of the day should be fine.
So tomorrow's the big day. It's also the beginning of Cougar Season here in milwaukee according to our local entertainment sources, although I think they might be wrong. I shiver thinking that at 4:00am tomorrow morning, in the dark, I will be forced to dress as warm as humanly possible, and march out into negative temperatures as I wait for the sun to rise. Exciting isn't it? As
Kiltrunner would say, Hopefully I "catch a big one for a coat rack!". Catch being Kill, and, well, the rest of the sentence will probably be true..

I was told by Greg at one point that long posts were fine, and others have told me that I should write how I want. But honestly, I believe they opened pandora's box and I have been getting "wow your posts are long" comments after this weeks share. So thanks for the input, I'll be keeping them more to Greg's size from now on, unless it's a really good story.

I'll be mobile blogging from here on out until December 1st. I dunno how often, I actually did it a lot more then I thought I would for Bow hunting. I guess we'll see if it continues.

Listening to: Tuesday's Gone by Metallica (yeah, im not a huge fan, thanks pandora. *thumbs down* Oh, here we go. Stricken by Disturbed. GH3 anyone?)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The future

I tend to think up of a lot of futuristic things that I believe will either happen, or are just pretty cool. Most the time it's pretty science fiction. I actually just heard on Kramp and Adler that some old retired NFL famous guys are talking about changes that could make the NFL better and one was a chip in the football and some lights that made it glow a certain color if it crosses the first down or touchdown. Which reminds me a lot of a thought I had way back in the dorms about how hard it is for a judge in tennis to actually call a ball out of bounds or in. I figure they should have pressure sensitive tiling or courts that glow when hit, so its actually a lot of the same concept as the football thing. In the end I basically want to take all human error and judgement from the Umpire/ref job, which can be pretty stressful, and often determines games.

But yeah, I digress. The thing I wanted to talk to with you now is about the new Xbox live experience. Micro$oft is onto something with this.(or they had it to begin with) Now I have been considering getting a computer next to the tv. An HTPC as it were. This would primarily be used to download movies, or transfer over the network, so that we can watch downloads and online episodes on the big screen instead of huddling around the computer. So I was fooling around in the new xbox live, loving how easy it was to navigate, when I found the xbox Media Center link. I knew this existed before but never really looked into it. It ended up being perfect, we quickly connected to a local PC, browsed our battlestar galactica collection and it started streaming full screen over the network, quality was great too. So then I keep looking around, and wuddya know, Netflix is on there too. So if I ever feel like not being a pirate, and paying a mere $8.95 a month, I can stream unlimited HD movies directly to my TV.

So, that was just to fill you in on where I am at with the xbox. It is opening windows, that frankly, my nerdier friends probably already knew about. M'bad. The Sci-fi future inventions part that I want to talk about is the possibilities a Device such as this could hold. Lets not call it a gaming console. Let's call it a Multimedia Portal(or something fancy like that). It could very well resemble a xbox. But it would be exactly what I think my Tivo/Dvr should be, and more.

Purchasing and recording shows/movies go straight to the hard drive as easy to share files. You can share these, or home videos and pictures with friends and family on your friends list. You can connect with them and text/talk/video chat. It would basically be a social network on steroids, like Facebook combined with Xbox Live. If you wanted to make some free long distance calls over the internet and your relatives and family had this device it would be very simple. Grandparents could video conference from half way around the world and see their grandchild take his first steps. (picture these cisco commercials you've been seeing).

So this isn't really an invention so much as it is a melding of technologies that are separated right now. Social Network, Communication (Video/voice/text), DVR, TV, Internet. I guess if google or xbox pushed something like this I would see it being pretty groundbreaking, if they got it right. The same way we see cell phone taking the responsibility of all our mobile devices.

There is probably a entrepreneur opportunity in here somewhere, I just don't have the motivation or capital to pursue it. I'll leave being rich to people like bill gates.

Listening to: The Grudge by Tool

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Shorty

So, I was trying to find the Kiltrunner blog post to reference, but its umm, gone? Either way, she posted about how some people at wallgreens were being rude and how the city has a pretty angry demeaner.

I was driving to Mayfair on my Friday Me day. I'm on the right lane, of 3, and someone is even with me on the left lane. We did that thing where you both start pulling into the middle lane at the same time. I happened to be in an excellent mood because I was on my way to pick up new video games, topperstix, and mt. dew. Treats I try to limit myself on. So, I am the happiest camper in the world. Anyway, we both start in, a we both check our blind spots as we cross the line and only make it a foot or 2 before we both realize that we were about to hit each other. I had my blinker on, and for arguements sake I'll assume she had her's on too. We were FAR from actually colliding or anything serious like that. We pull back into our respective lanes. So I just start chuckling, smile like the biggest dork, and wave spasmatically over to the person in the car next to me like it's a long lost friend. I did it quickly, then focused my attention on the road... It was as I was turning my head back forward that I realized she had the biggest scowl on the planet and was actually mad at me. The old grandma lady of 65+ had looked at me like I was the scum of the earth. I had done my goofy "OMGZ! HAI! HEART YOU!!" wave so fast that I didn't really even register her until I was turning forward again. Kinda like when you see someone you know in the hallway, and as soon as you look away you see them start the nod, or start to say hello. It's already too late and when you turn back (if you do) it's just awkward from that point on. So, my first response to her scowl is to turn and give the "Hey, umm, sorry, see me, being apologetic". So I turn back to give her some sort of "Sorry, whoops" face, and now shes the happiest Granny in the world, smiling ear to ear, like she wants to pinch the hell out of my cheeks. This had all happened so fast. My assumption is that her first instinct was to get pissed. Then she saw me being a gleeful spaz, and it must have just made her day. I think she actually waved back.

So that lasted only moments. I then took the middle lane and started on my way again. I looked in my rear view and I swear she was still laughing to herself.

It kind of angered me that someone's first reaction to something as innocent as 2 people turning into a lane at the same time, would be to be angry. I guess its an easy defense in a big city, just assume everyone else is in the wrong and you will never get hurt.

Either way, the moral of the story is if you show some affection, or a smile, you can turn someone's attitude right around.

Listening to: Send the Pain Below by Chevelle

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Tom's


Well, everyone's talking about past jobs these days. Figured I might have some pretty good stories about when I was back in Highschool working at Tom's Drive Ins. A local fast food restaurant (options of Culvers, prices of McDonald's, drive through or sit down) where my Mom had started working when she was 16 or 18. She rose through the ranks of management as the restaurant grew and multiplied. Eventually by her 30's she had become part owner, right up there with Tom and his 3 sons. So this meant it was a place where I worked growing up for some extra cash, and my brother actually still works today. I have 2 cousins who have worked at different locations, and an Aunt. So it's almost in my family as much as the Tom family.

Being a young employee and the "Boss's Son" is exactly what you think it is. Even if you think your above it, you aren't treated like every other employee. Because there isn't really an option of you being fired. (haha, actually, my brother proved that wrong. A story for another time perhaps) But before my brother proved it wrong, I felt there was no way I could do wrong, I was above the law. This didn't get to my head too much, and my parents both instilled pretty good morals and customer service skills in us. My mother specifically. She is, and still is today, in my eyes the best example of how to do customer service that I have seen. She knows exactly how to handle a angry customer, a disruptive employee, or a disgruntled husband. (ok, that last one was to make you guys laugh). She was loved by all employees and could get any pissed off customer, believe me there's tons, walking away thinking they won the argument and that they would recommend this place to friends. So I always wanted to make a good impression at least for my mom's sake. The part about being loved by all employees reminds me of how I convinced my mom to get Facebook 2-3 years ago so she could view my albums and see pictures of me in college (yeah, right next to the ones with me shotgunning beers and running the naked mile). Once her employees found her on facebook they all friended her and now she has dozens of teenagers posting on her wall about how cool Tom's was and how they are doing. I dye grass.

In the beginning, it was local, family owned, and things were simple. We were allowed to eat food as long as it wasn't in view of the customer. I always worked in the back kitchen, I was deathly afraid of customer contact, and although I was very social and professional when I had to be, I was too shy to take a job doing it. So I would just make food, take the frozen patties out of the meat drawer (teeheehee) and put them on the conveyor belt through the grill. Then take some buns off the bun rack (teeheehee) and put those on another lower conveyor belt that would toast them. Then if it wasn't busy I moved onto the next station which was making the burgers. After about 1-2 minutes of conveyor action, everything would plop out onto the trays. The buns were a bit quicker so if you were good you would look at the receipt and build the burger before the burgers were done cooking. For example: A Tom's special, consisted of Special sauce (mayo, ketchup, relish), Lettuce, Tomato, and a slice of cheese. Then hopefully whoever was "putting on" had put on 2 burgers, because that's all thats needed to complete the TS. If it was a busy day you had someone "Putting on", Someone "making" and someone "wrapping". This would be because there is a constant flow of food that need to be made into burgers and it works better to split it up. Then you slide the TS over to the wrapper, he sets it in the stack of wraps and goes one corner over the top, the 2 sides to the left and right go up on top of the first fold, and then you roll the whole thing over one last time so its neatly packaged and into the bag. You then yell at the guy who is "frying" to your right if there is any big items on this receipt. He/she will be making fries usually(Or cheese curds, breaded chicken, cod, perch, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, mushrooms etc), salt them, slide them into their respective bag, drop this into a bigger bag, staple the receipt on it, yell the number on the receipt and set it through the window for the front line to bring out to the customer or drive through.

The front line had clean aprons (mine were messed with ketchup and mustard smears) and they took care of the ice cream and beverages in the orders. We had nearly any icecream item you could imagine. So, the front line did the order taking, drinks, ice cream, the delivered the meal and took the money. I never touched that part.

So, as I was getting to in the beginning, things were simple, you could munch on some fries you made in the back kitchen as long as a customer couldn't see you. I remember old managers who were maybe a little less mature and would show me a great concoction where you take a handful of fries, roll them in a cheese slice, dip them first in the mayo bin, then in the ketchup bin (because the mayo won't leave remnants in the ketchup) and then take a huge bite, mmm mmm good. Or other employees would have contests on who could make the best concoction in the fryers. Which are very fun things when you aren't busy. Take a bun top from the rack and wad it into a ball, then throw it in the fryer for a couple minutes, throw some sugar on there and you have a makeshift donut. (I should add that working a fryer is a unique experience. You don't know much about fast food until you have the scars of the fryer to prove it. Let just say fryers like to pop, and spit, randomly without warning. You get scalded quite frequently.)

So as you can picture this was great. But with power comes great responsibility. Tom's kept growing and getting more locations, and the big wigs had to start taking positions where they weren't working at the locations, they were managing from a building off site. Then the corporate nature started to creep in. You soon HAD to wear gloves when handling food. You could never eat food unless you were on break, and then you had to pay for it. Well, I was the Boss's son, and I had been there since the beginning, no one could tell me when I couldn't dip a few frys in the mayo and eat what I earned. I got into trouble a couple times, and by a couple I mean repeatedly, until I got the point that times had changed and I was setting a bad example for the new employees who were just starting.

These changes started gradually and eventually I went off to college and Tom's changed completely from the way I had left it. They wanted to franchise the business and start selling the name to people out of the area as you would a culvers or mcdonalds (Culvers might actually still be family owned.. so scratch that). So in order to create a franchise you need to make everything streamlined, standardized, and corporate. And you need to buy out partnerships and ownerships. My mother had to sell her portion of the business and become a general manager. She had the option to buy the very first franchised building and it was a very big decision for the family, sort of like a very expensive stock. If we put the money into this and it failed we would not be sitting pretty. In the end my mom decided against the franchise and just held the position as general manager. They hired big executive types to start running the marketing strategies, and to make Tom's more appealing for possible franchisees.

Well, since this blog is long enough already I'll make a long story short, Tom's still kinda rocks, but it wasn't a big hit as they expected. No one is buying the franchise and expanding the business. The new blood hired on to bolster sales and to "corporatize" Tom's is younger and my mom's old connections don't mean as much any more. So younger employees are getting promotions and more responsibilities then my mother, who has been there since the beginning and is honostly The Best employee the have ever had. (did I mention her job for years was to simply go to a Tom's location who's sales were horrible, and manage it until it was leading all the Tom's in sales.... Then she would go on to the next crappy location and work there teaching the employees her ways, until it rose above its competition?) So thats where we are at today. Cue a declining economy and I'm pretty glad we never went into that first franchise.

So, I didn't know where I was going to go with this post, as usual, but once I start typeing I find little treasures all over and I just go for an hour. So I apologize completely if this wasted anyones time. Tom's is a pretty big part of my family, it was there for my first job, which is always a big step for an adolescent. It has matured with my family and now who knows what the future will bring.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

we=here.

Friday, November 14, 2008

A Very BLaZE Vacation

So, I was sitting in the woods, and I think to myself: Hunting, it sure is a great hobby, a great pastime, and I love where I am at and what I am doing. But I must point out, it is a product of my father’s upraising. And that got me thinking about what I would do with my vacation time if I wasn’t using 3/4’s of it to hunt.

I would probably be stuck on the same boat as my friends, who are using it up randomly now that the end of the year is arriving and the days will soon vanish for next years 2 weeks. I wonder what I would do for myself, to really indulge in a day off if given the chance.

Well, after all this pondering I decided to cut the hunt (at least the bow portion) down a day early, pack up, and come back home. Now I am having a me day. And boy is it exciting. Video games, junk food, and look, I even snuck some time out of “My” day to go Birthday shopping for my roommate. Aren’t they speeeecial.


But enough talking, time to dig in!

As It Continues...

-------------------
Authors note: I wrote this as my second post, (October 16th) and it was actually much longer, and was a little more detailed. I then deleted a paragraph or 2 because I didn't want to blow my reader away and I regret that now, because I can't retrieve those. I also never posted this because in the end I figured no one would want to read about what appears to be me bragging about my CC career in Highschool. Well, Greg's Post was nearly taking the words from my mouth. And I enjoyed reading his, so, well, without further ado, here's mine.
------------------------------------------------------



Well, to continue, I will begin with what fuels running, and everything I do for that matter. Competition. I've always been very competitive and that could almost be a post in its own, I think it began with video gaming. So naturally I started cross country wondering how good everyone would be, would I be the slowest, could I be the best? My mother told me that most likely girls would be better because they develope earlier or something. I don't really remember, I just know that from the first day or 2 of practice I suprised myself and became the fastest runner during a time trial. From then on I was hooked. I wouldn't do phenominal at meets, but I was the fastest on my team until Tim Marta joined the next year (He was even a grade younger then me!) I went on to Highschool with moderate XC success. I was pumped to play soccer, but alas, Freedom HS didn't have a soccer team. I was back to doing the only other sport available besides dreaded football, cross country.

I started out as a freshmen and had goals each year, usually just to beat the next runner ahead of me on the team. Each season I completed the goal and found myself as one of the top runners in my grade, and eventually of my school (Don't worry it was <500)
It was sad day, but nothing to dwell on, sectionals was right around the corner and we could still go to state, although only 2 teams qualify for state and 20 teams participate in 1 sectional. We were at Tomahawk. Along with the 2 qualifying teams, 5 top individuals qualify to go alone.
Much of this day is a blur of memories, but I must say it is a day I will never forget. Perhaps the single most ultimate triumph I have had as a human being. I went out knowing that to get Freedom to state I could only put forth everything I had and hope the team took my lead. Other then that I don't know how to describe my demeaner, I want to say surreal, but I am sure thats just how I feel looking back. They had to restart the race 3 times. So now on the 3rd start we passed the first turn, and that means no more restart is possible, so it was on. The next memory I have is probably after the first mile, I was being passed by my rival (from? you guessed it, LC) someone who had a very fast pace, but no kick, so I always let him go off and I try to outkick him at the end. Well, I don't know why, but something clicked in my head and I kicked up my pace and stayed with him at what felt like an impossible pace. (when I pick a pace too fast, I get horrible side cramps, start second guessing myself even more, and shortness of breath) I think I realized this was quiet possibly my last race in highschool. For whatever reason, the new pace wasn't just possible, it didn't feel like the end of the world. Then something happened again that I still cant describe, after running with him for probably another mile I picked it up again, and this time pulled away from him. At this point we were in the front of the pack and now I was taking off towards who knows what, the best of the best runners who were all but out of sight. I started to realize I might be top 5 and that empowered me even more. Adrenaline was spiking. I remember being 200yards from the finish line, and passing a kid that I knew must have been in 2nd or 3rd place. I looked at him and I said "We're going to F$#%ing STATE!" and I pumped my fist in the air. He laughed and said something cheerful back. Realize that we were both dead tire and I envision this communication as a drunk probably visualizes his pickup lines working at the bar. I sprinted it in at this point and realized that I had taken 4th place, out of 102 people. Division 2 state individual qualifier. Time of 16:53. (My previous pr had been 17:17). Incredible. I had done the impossible, the 3rd place guy turned around and with wide eyes asked where the hell I had come from.


The sad part of this story is that my team did not do as good and we were not going to state as a team. So it was a sour victory. I had achieved where my team fell short yet again. The best day of my life and it was only as an individual.


That's what running has given me, a day that, so far, has more emotions tied to it than any other I have witnessed. After that climax running wasn't the same to me. I went to college and I wasn't impressing anyone, I wasn't varsity, and I would have to wait 4 years of grueling, horrible workouts that make you want to throwup and quit. And after that 4 years, Maybe, MAYBE I would get to amount to what I had done in highschool. Well, as you can imagine, I quit after my first year of CC in college and my life has been different ever since. Some good changes, some for the worse.


I should also note that I didn't drink or smoke at all in highschool. I had taken a vow to never touch alchohol, which I removed senior year in HS (probably after CC but I can't remember) and wondered why I had ever mad the vow to begin with. Alchohol was the greatest invention known to man. The reason I bring this up is that it probably has something to do with my transformation to a non-runner in college.


I have started up my workouts and running again. I have even considered a Marathon. So I think this blog will help me to posts my thoughts and runs sometime and give myself a reason to stick to the training schedule. Which I realize without a coach is near impossible for me.


Don't worry though, all my posts won't be like this. I'll try to relax and give you some good stories too. Maybe next time...


Listening to: Best Of You by Foo Fighters


---------------------------------------------------
I should note that this post, now that I reread it, is similar to Greg's, but still so much different because of how much CC can be both a team event, and an individual event. I shouldn't say I can relate to Greg's story.
Also, Greg specifically says that these "weren't" the best times of his life. Something I feel I should point out. I hear a lot of people say this same thing with ease. And when I look back at HS, I suppose I only see the good times. (it was a very hard move to a new school district my freshman year) But I feel that senior year highschool was the best times of my life. And its closely rivaled with College party mode, but man, as seniors we felt like we were on top of the world. And we hardly thought of what the future would bring us. We were living in the now. The adrenaline rushes, and natural Highs I experienced without drugs happen less often, if at all these days.
So I dunno, I'm definitely not that Football Jock quarterback who lives in a trailer now that relives his HS days. But when I am asked what were the best times of my life, my response is very similar to his. Is that bad?

Thursday, November 13, 2008

EDGRRRRR

Hey Greg! Oh man, this is toooo good. I went back and took a closer look at my edgar snapshot. Wuddya know, they were so sad they lost Greg that they just up and left. Put the place up for sale too.

And I know your a penny pincher Greg, so I'm pretty sure you can afford it. Or you know what, just give me a secret sign and maybe I'll be giving a special someone(ie YOU!) a little stocking stuffer come this Xmas. The deed to Wisconsin's Finest!

Oh, and did you see what I did there, with the grrr... oh jeez, I'm too much.

With a little luck...

Your comments have been pretty good lead-ins for my next post. So thanks for that.

First Ric,it truely is more about the nature and serenity of the woods. I sort of embellished(sp) that last post for humor's sake. I actually watched most of that back at the camper because we don't have a tv. Other then that i just resort to some music or a quick vid when the day starts feeling long. Which leads int Greg's question.

Sun/Mon i was up in the same tree. first day I saw something with horns (small 6-8 pt) running away. 2nd day was only a mass of brown fur far away. Sooo pretty uneventful. Tue/Wed dif tree other side of our area. Tue was nothing. yesterday i finally got some action. decent 8 pt, about 14-15" inside. comes right up to my tree and looks at me. He never really gave me a good shot, but it got my blood goin.

Turns out my Grandpa got a nice 9 pt 15 inside. so now hes out of his tent and im in. Prolly the only reason i am out in this rain. Dry.

Plus, check out my new buds!(img

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Change in scenery part 2

Well. this picture probably doesn't d the real thing justice. That or I'm a huge scaredy cat.

The more comfortable I get with climbing trees the higher I can go before my knees start shaking. This is currently the highest ive gone.

It's midday so the deer action slows until an hour before sunset. Then at sunset it's illegal and considered poaching to hunt. I thought I would take this slow time to post again. Mainly because I can see Mr.B's comment, but I have no way to comment back.

Hunting has gotten much more entertaining(distracting) since increases in our technolgy and my ability to afford such gadgets. I have a verizon voyager, and a plan with unlimited internet. So i can check gmail, facebook, this blog, weather/sports, etc. I also welcomed an ipod nano into the fam. So far I've watched season 2 of 30rock, step bros, and mess w/ zohan. 30 rock was great(i believe i didnt finish though. only 15 eps) the other 2 movies were "meh" good free lazy sun. flicks.
checkout vh1 rb2!

Change of scenery

First off, I just found where they hid the subject line. So now my mobile blogs should start looking better. Sorry V, I saw your comment.

As for up here, I just got a change of scenery, which is great . I was getting bored of staring at the same light brown woods. Now a white and dark brown woods should be fun. Things have been very uneventful. Seeing pretty much nothing.

Still, as the old adage goes, A bad day of hunting is still better then a good day at work. so, with that brief update I am off into the woods again. if you want to join me, just stare at the image for 5 hours. odds are youll see as many bucks as me.

See you all soon!

Sunday, November 9, 2008

44.927N, -89.963W

I happened by Edgar and decided to stop by to chat with the locals. "Boy do we miss Greg", proclaimed Jim Vanlipski, Town Crier. It definitely summarized the sentiment of most of the 17 townsfolk of Edgar.

I was convinced to take some time and visit the Edgar Saloon, which doubles as the Edgar General Store during the day. Bob Roberts, Blackmith, was spot on when he told me there is nothing like Edgar's finest saspirilla.

The small town was abuzz with news that an 'outsider' had arrived with news of Greg. They were very content in sitting around the fire trading stories about thier long lost kinsfolk. Durg Hutch, town drunk, shared a particularly heartwarming story about how Greg took 1 summer teaching him how to read.

It was getting late and I started my farewells. Jim asked if I needed anyyokes of oxen or parts for my wagon but I told him that wouldn't be necessary. Everyone followed me out and huddled around the car. "Tell Greg we miss him!" They all cheered. Im glad I stopped

Thursday, November 6, 2008

BLaZE's Weblog 2.0


So, Let me tell you something. This was actually my 2nd blog. It's true. The fact of the matter is I am nerdier then you. Back when no one knew what a 'blog was, I had my own. And we didn't call them blogs, we called the Weblogs. 2003 was the year. I was a freshmen in college. (If you still don't believe that I was nerdier then you, I had a Rio Diamond MP3 player circa 1999. If you can tell me you knew what an MP3 was in '99 we can share this nerd badge).

So, back to the story, I had my own domain (Blaze.tehownz.com) and I was able to host numerous things on my weblog. I had galleries, tons of images, and I posted somewhat regularly at first. Well, you're in for a treat because I actually found this website archived on my old computer and ripped it onto my flash drive. I recently found the time to start backdating them into this blog. So this is a very exciting thing for me. I dunno if you get the same glimmer in your eye when you think of your college dorm days, but reading your own words come directly from yourself 5 years ago, its kind of a blast from the past.

This post is just a warning/apology. I didn't want my blog to own all your RSS feeds with every single post I backdate. So I will only do 1 month per day. So about how many posts I had today, for about 2-3 more days, then my old webloging life came to an end. But don't worry, you guys will find many a buried treasure if you sift through these gems. Oh, and heres a link.


PS: I'd like to point out that these are completely uncensored and I havn't even read through all of them on my own yet. So screen shot that stuff while it's still public knowledge!

RFP GOW2


So, I think it was Tuesday, and I looked at the games I newly own. GH4 and Fable 2. But wasn't there a huge list of games coming out that was supposed to bankrupt me? I thought to myself, all I see ahead is mirror's edge, left 4 dead, and I'm sorry to say CoD5 is looking like it might not win me over. When I found out infinity ward wasn't creating it I started to 2nd guess myself. I only played CoD4 for a month before giving it up and moving on, whats to say the same won't go for the next game.

So I wonder where all the titles went that I was looking forward to. When asking Gregor I was reminded of Gears of War 2, or GoW2. Ahhhhhhh Gears, When I had a short fling with the xbox 360 in December of '06 I played the original gears title through during Xmas vacation, partly with my brother. It was decent, good graphics, and I just can't explain the smell and feel of a brand new next generation console in front of you. You'd think I would fall in love with any game. But it wasn't so. I was still in Halo or Counterstrike mode. I couldn't stand the slower sit back, teamwork, take cover mentality that it took to be successful at this game.

But you know, I've matured a lot, and I noticed my good friend
Assalaint thinks very highly of the Gears franchise. So I gtalk to him everyday and I send him... "this is my RFP Gears of War 2. You have till the EOD to present your case on why i should get GoW2." Assailant settled some ground rules, then provided a document that blew me away the next day (1 day late.). You really miss a lot of the glory with the link I am about to give you, because the word document he sent me was color themed, formatted, clean professional design, and had pictures. But at least you can get the jist of it. Here.

I should add that after reading it I think I am closer to buying GoW2 then COD5. Let's be honost though, with xmas around the corner why shouldn't I own both?

Listening to: Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Lawnmower man


I miss mowing the lawn. It sounds weird hearing myself say it, but I really miss that menial house chore. And I'm not talking about a small yard with a bunch of trees and plants you have to steer around. I'm talking about a Huuuuge lawn, thats square and boring. Where you can just put on some good tunes, jump on the riding lawn mower (or push), and just shut off your brain. All you have to do is leave a small light on in the back of your brain that says to follow the line of uncut grass. Drive Drive Drive, Turn right. Drive Drive Drive. . . When I really sit and analyze this I think I most miss cutting the grass when my brain is going in overdrive. The days/weeks/months where you feel a weight on your shoulders, have a project coming up, or a big event of some sort. Days where you just seem like your constantly over-analyzing or processing things even when your at home. When I get overloaded like this I just seem drawn to mowing a lawn. I would probably say that driving has the same release, but if you space out in the car humans could die. With the lawnmower you might just shred your Mom's petunias, or give Whiskers a haircut. On a hot day, just sit down, and go into a trance, just zombie out, so gratifying.

People say the same thing about running, but I must be too competitive, because when I run I think of running faster, racing, getting a PR, stupid things that don't allow me to relax. When you come down to it, the same reasons I fantasize about mowing the lawn are probably the same things that lead me to drink. You don't really care about those stressful things anymore after a beer or two. You just feel like life's good. I wonder what would happen if I had a couple beers and mowed a huge lawn. Would it be the ultimate escape? Would I spontaneously combust? Or would my Dad just get pissed because the lines weren't straight, I missed spots, and I "went too fast". Oh what's that dad? I didn't clean up all the dogshit? Well, guess it's either fertilizer now or caked in between the treads of the wheels. What? I have to clean that out with a stick?

Who am I kidding, I fucking hate mowing the lawn.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Your sex is on fire!



Here's an evening blog coming 'atcha. I got out of work early today to "do the damn thang". By that I mean I voted, and guess what number was shining at me from the scanner machine... 1337. It's like it was written in the scriptures of fate that I would be a geek till the end.

And wouldn't you know, when you search common torrent websites with words like Ipod, and nano, they return all sorts of media preformatted for small device screens. I currently have movies and tv shows to watch while I'm out in the woods. The love guru, Don't mess with the zohan,30 rock season 2, the rocker, kung-fu panda.

Please realize the selection was limited, and I figure as long as I'm not watching blockbusters, I should be keeping my eye on the woods.

I got my first game 100% completed today. Fable has 50/50 achievements, something I haven't done before, otherwise it wouldn't have been newsworthy. I felt I needed to get all that video gaming out of me because in the next month, while the new games are pouring onto the streets like rain I will be in the middle of the woods. Spose my next purchase should be a PSP, lol. God, my dad would kill me.

That't it for today, no existential discussion about why we are what we are, or why we blog. Just an update on my day.


Listening to: Sex On Fire by Kings of Leon

Monday, November 3, 2008

Korn music video meets halloween door county carved wood. very awkward. i might start a twitter-esque blog for myself to post phone-camera images that i feel are too good to keep from the internet. And because i dont think my general audience wants random pictures uploaded every 15 minutes. ;-) . or maybe they do? comment with your opinions.
ps. i apologise for the "le sigh". victoria was right its directly stolen from a greg post a month ago. ill edit it when i get to a PC.

Ahahaha. Don't ask why this picture was in my phone. I saw it and knew it went with todays article perfectly. It was taken last Thursday when i was practicing at mfalls park. from about 20 yards.

Preparations


So, I'll be taking this next week (nov 8th -15th) to begin my trek into the great northwoods. I'll actually be bowhunting, and not treking. I come back for 1 week before going up north again the last week of November for gun hunting. I started thinking about it, and I don't want to let down all my loyal fans. (I would make a joke about "yes, all 1 of you", but Greg stole that funny.) So I decided to set up a mobile blog. The idea being that I could snap some pictures, send a quick email, and be constantly connected with the blagosphere. Pending that I get any reception at all in the middle of nowhere. (see above, or umm. over ---> ? )

So that should be cool. And maybe I'll do a test blog from my cell phone sometime today. With a mystery image! You never know when i'll post it, so check back regularly!

As for other preparations, I need to get my (new, hehe) Ipod Nano hooked up to the PC and filled with goods for the long days sitting in a treestand. I would much rather be in a treestand watching reruns of Baywatch when a huge buck sneaks behind me then in a treestand sleeping. Speaking of movies on a nano, I wonder if they have a site or torrent where I can download the movies pre-formatted. That way instead of spending 8 hours to download a 800mb movie, I can dl a 80mb in no time at all. (can you even watch movies on a nano? I haven't really looked into it)

And as for the boring stuff, I'll have to start washing my clothes in scent-proof-lok-killer whatever it is these days. Most of my readers probably don't know much in the way of the hunter. Let me spread some light, deer have pretty decent eyesight, and remarkable, remarkable sense of smell. So if you are invisible scent wise, you have a huge step up. This is where all the hunting apparel and equipement tries to outdo each other. Everything is supposed to keep you super warm (goretex, microfleece,windshear) and super ummm, un-smelly (Scent-Lok, ScentEliminator, etc). They love putting names on these things that make you think some scientists hired from nasa are clinking test tubes together to create the perfect unsmellifier technology to throw onto your jacket. And of course they come out with a new invention in smellifieing warmth every year so you have a reason to put down another $200 on a jacket you wear 2-3 weeks a year. And I'm serious, if you even think for a second you are wearing this out for anything but hunting you are insane. Most people put their hunting clothes in a suction tight tub because they don't want the everyday smells of the house getting on it. My dad goes as far as to put leaves/acorns/forrest stuff in his tupperware. (I read a tutorial in a hunting mag about how some people take woods stuff, acorns, leaves, pinecones from their hunting land and put it in their washing machine for 2-3 cycles so that anything that goes through theres comes out like forrest). Yikes!

I myself don't put so much time and effort into these things. I just do the minimum and hope I get a buck. If I was turning my washer into a forrest I think I need my brain checked.

So, I digressed there for a bit, the point was I have to start washing my street and hunting clothes in this scenteliminator stuff I bought at cabelas. Then I have to start washing with the same stuff in the shower, use my "plain, unscented" deoderant, and sleep in a stasis pod. Ok, that stasis pod part was made up.

Worst part is the fact thatyour ultimate enemy in the smell battle is sweat. We don't really have a shower up north, so I will be forced to stop any sort of physical activity, running, weight lifting, for these 2 weeks that I am up north.



Listening to: Polyamorous by Breaking Benjamin