Day 4 - Big Boy Toys

This was a day of child-like indulgence! We started the morning off walking by Rockefeller Center and hitting the Godive Chocolate store. Ok... let me say it again so it sinks in... the GODIVA Chocolate Store. Oh my gosh! That place should be illegal! It's crack with a warm sugary center! I paid 4 dollars for what amounted to a Reese's Peanut Butter cup. The crazy part... I'd do it again! I washed down the peanut butter cup with a shake labeled "Milk Chocolate Decadence." It was so expensive and good that I labeled it "Picture Worthy." Sorry the image is a little fuzzy, but I had trouble holding the camera at this point...



After the Godiva store, we stopped off at the Apple store for a minute and then went into FAO Schwartz. Ok... the Apple store looked pretty... that's about all I can say. It was WAY over crowded. (yah, it's NYC, I get it.. don't care...) It was pretty cool... basically a big square room with all the Apple stuff you could imagine. Everything in the store was expensive. (part of being Apple) There was even a bar where Mac people could go ask questions of Mac experts. Apparently, this is widely used, because there was a long line to talk to the Mac Gurus. Honestly tho... it just made me happy to be a PC guy. The Mac culture is just too thick for me.


FAO Schwartz had every stuffed animal ever created by mankind... If you're into stuffed animals and are tired of building your own bear... go here. Harrison loved the huge keyboard (the one from the Tom Hanks movie "Big") and we got to get pics with life-sized replicas of R2-D2, Chewie, and Vader.







Toys R Us was the next big stop... I promise... this is NOT the Toys R Us you're used to. Does yours have a ferris wheel in it? Does yours have a life-sized animatronic T-Rex in it? ....... I didn't think so.






After Toys R Us we stopped back at the apartment to recuperate for a while, and then walked across the Brooklyn bridge. This was an awesome sight! Everyone should take a walk across this bridge at least once in their life.


I was "All Along The Watchtower"..... get it? (don't care... I thought it was funny... that's all that matters... Amy and Robert groaned at that one too... LOL)




That was it for this day... We had a blast, but we were TIRED. Robert and I only got about 4 hours of sleep this night though... at 12:30 in the AM we hit the IMAX and saw the late night showing of "The Dark Knight." We'd already seen it once on a regular screen... but we're from Texas. BIGGER IS BETTER! For those of you who've seen it, remember the pencil trick? The pencil was the size of a buick! It was great! For those of you who haven't seen this groundbreaking most wonderful Batman film of all time... slap yourself right now and then go see it. It's that good. YOU WANT TO SEE THIS ONE IN THEATRES! DO NOT WAIT FOR THE DVD, JUST GO.


I'll be posting more as I can. I was gone for a week... I've been back at work for over a week... and I feel like I'm still a month behind... but I have a lot more pics to work with now, so I'll be posting more ASAP. (Yes mom, I promise....)

P.S.

I forgot to mention... one of the best parts of STOMP! was that... after the show... we stopped and got a drink. While we were there, we met one of the girls in the show! Then, we walked about a block down the road and met two of the guys in the show! It was amazing to see them just hanging out on the street after the show. NYC is just a cool place.

STOMP!

The perfect follow up to Spiderman was the Off Broadway Show... STOMP! These guys rocked harder than anyone I've ever seen! Literally, this was the best live show I've seen in my life. This wasn't the watered down traveling version on the huge stage. As awesome as that is... this was at a small theater that is devoted to this show. It's been there for years... this place doesn't do other shows. The walls were lined with subway signs, dishes, pipes, street lights, trash cans, car doors, you name it. If you've seen anythign related to STOMP, then you know what I'm talking about. The theatre couldn't have held more than 1 to 2 hundred people and that's including the balcony. It was a small place. We were packed in like sardines, but it just didn't matter. The second the show started (with nothing but one guy and a shop broom) you were mesmerized. It was full of humor without anyone ever saying a word. That, combined with the pure adrenaline filled, awe inspiring, heart pounding, rhythms made it the show of the century. The sounds reverberating off of the walls echoed in our bones and by the time we left we were physically exhausted! The only downside was that there weren't any pictures allowed. So... I've got a pic of the sign that will be added as soon as I can get it off of my camera. I forgot to put the memory card in, so I'll have it up as soon as I can get a cable to get it straight from the camera.

It Just Gets Better!

Ok... Ok... the Lady Liberty thing was pretty cool. But to get off of the boat and meet Spiderman! OMG! Oh... wait... (nearly lost my cool there...) As I was saying... Harrison was excited when we got off of the boat and saw Spiderman. So... for him... I selflessly insisted that we get a picture with him. How could I, being a good christian man, deny a 4 year old of his dream!?!?!

Day 3 - Lady Liberty

We took the Ferry to Liberty Island. I have uncovered one of the great mysteries surrounding this beautiful monument... she really is naked under that Toga! I have photographic proof! See...

(They have glass in the ceiling so you can see the infrastructrue.)


Here's a few more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Day 2 - BIG Apple!

Plane ride went great. I broke down at the airport though... I couldn't stand it any longer... they had a VENDING MACHINE full of iPods, accessories, PSP's... it was too much for me! I was assaulted by technological sweetness! So... I bought an iPod. $267.00 after tax and I totally couldn't afford it. But now I'm swimming in 50gb of music I bummed off of Robert. It's the coolest thing EVER. I certainly don't stand out. Everyone in NYC has headphones on. It's like having your own theme music wherever you go... something I always speculated I was really supposed to have. It's truly wonderful when one of life's dreams come true when you least expect it. :-) Anyway, we made it in time to go on the "Circle Line Tour." It's basically a boat ride around the entire island. The guy telling you all the history was a little freaky. He was way too political and he kept plugging his book that apparently never sold any copies. But really... he was awesome in his weirdness and highly informative. Here's a few pics:



I've got one more pic here... (Just for you Julz) It's an advertisement for the Discovery Channel's "Shark Week." To put in perspective how huge this thing is... take a look at the windows with airconditioning units sticking out of it... someone lives there... I wonder how many bills they put down for that ad!

Good 2 Go

Got up at 4 this morning. Downed some coffee and got to the airport by 5:15. Security check-in took 5 mins. According to airport personnel, if we got here at 6, it would've taken an hour. So, here we sit, waiting on our 8:15am flight. The flight should take 2 to 2.5 hrs. I'm stoked! Ready to be in NYC.

Day 1- Are We There Yet?

Nope... Flight has been delayed. Bad weather in NYC. We're staying at a "Microtel Inn." We'll be at the airport again tomorrow morning at 5am for an 8:30 flight. We've spent all day on "standby" at the airport. Oh well... all we had planned for today was window shopping anyway. The places we were going to go never close. The flight out tomorrow morning is a sure thing... we're not on "Standby." So... although the Atlanta, GA airport is pretty cool... I could go without seeing it's many wonders for another day. The best part, is that all of my luggage (with the exception of my carry-on, which is this laptop) is at the Newark airport in NYC. Luckily for me, I'm sporting a Spiderman T-Shirt. (Represent!) I could wear it for a week straight and that would be ok. It's just that cool.

-Cody

Anticipation

Friday is the last day of work before my big trip to NYC. Can't sleep... ready to go... not sure I'll want to ever come back... 100% sure I'll relish the experience... Thank you God... I really need a vacation!

*Sigh*

Got in to work this morning... realized I forgot my cell phone and my laptop. After removing my head from my anal cavity, I was greeted by a guy who spends his time at the donut shop next door. He brought to my attention the broken window in the side of our van. Apparently, someone tried to break into the van this weekend... or perhaps a Roman Candle went through the window... who knows? Regardless, there's glass everywhere. Nothing appears to be stolen. The only thing in there was a toolbox and it's still there. In short... Happy Monday! :-/

Wanted!

There's just something about Angelina Jolie laying over the hood of a car with a shot gun while the car is going 90 MPH that gets a guy excited!

This weekend, mom and I went to see her new movie "Wanted." It's also got Morgan Freeman in it. To say the least, it was something different. If you get the chance to check it out, it's a must see. This is one that I will have in my Blue-Ray collection.

Here's a few more images for your viewing pleasure...

Mom & Aerosmith

My mom's headed this direction today. It may be midnight before she gets in, but it'll be great to see her. She's bringing me a new box springs and mattress that she isn't using. It's practically brand new... my bed sags in the middle and kills my back, so I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. It doesn't hurt that I have the coolest mom in the world either. That also slightly adds to the excitement. ;-)

Other than swapping out the bed, we don't really have any plans. I'm not sure what we'll do, but a whole lot of absolutely nothing may be a lot of fun anyway. One thing I am stoked about is that the new "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" game comes out on Sunday. I've got my copy reserved and I'll be at Game Stop on Sunday to pick it up. Maybe we can get a little game action in. Mom is certainly not a gamer, but she loves Aerosmith. (Honestly, what self respecting music lover doesn't love Aerosmith at least a little bit?) Whatever we do, I'm sure we'll have a blast.

Bill Gates Isn't Immune To MS Bugs After All!

Check out this link: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/141821.asp

There's an internal e-mail here from Bill Gates complaining about issues he's having while trying to do a simple download. The e-mail was written in 2003 and,IMHO, the MS web site hasn't gotten any better. I still have problems with their web site similar to the one's Bill complains about in this e-mail. Not only is the front end like this, but I've also had multiple problems with the partner end of their site. It seems that there's no bias. If you're using Microsoft's site, no matter who you are, be prepared to be annoyed. I understand that Bill Gates has very little to do with MS anymore other than a strong influence, but it's crazy to see that there are so many MS issues that haven't been addressed even when he complains about them.

On one hand, it looks like MS is doing their best. I mean, it's only the entire planet that's using their software. I'm sure they have hundreds, if not thousands, of issues that come to their attention every day. Since it's debut, XP has only gotten better and more stable. I'm hoping to see the same from Vista, even though it is a resource consuming black hole. If MS lacks anything, it seems to be organization. Their web site is a perfect example. It's near impossible to find anything without jumping through hoops. It's usually easier to use Google and find a 3rd party web site with the same information. Finding information this way not only easier, but usually more accurate as well. Hence... "Google is your friend."

Another issue that seems to plague MS are problems that have been around since Windows 95. Some things just won't go away... for example... copy and paste something from a folder. While it's copying, copy and paste something else from the same folder... instead of finishing one and then doing the other or finding some way to do it at the same time, Windows will copy a little bit of one, then a little bit of the other, and then go back to copying the original again. This is annoying as hell! It slows down the entire process. Hence, you just have to learn to wait for it to finish and don't forget about the other thing you forgot to copy in the first place. It's not like MS isn't aware of these issues. I know I'm not the first one to gripe. But it seems they're more worried about making it look pretty than making it functional. Vista is a great example of this logic. It looks beautiful! However, on MANY brand new machines, it runs worse than any other OS. It's slow, buggy, and a complete pain. (The one exception to this being Windows ME... even MS admits that was a total flop.) SP1 has greatly helped this in Vista. The main thing is to make sure you have the hardware to run it. Even so, I usually disable the sidebar and remove as many of the startup items as I can get away with.

In the end, here I sit on my laptop running Windows XP. MS is where it's at, plain and simple. Linux, Lindows, Apple, etc. all have great advantages and are awesome in their own way, but Microsoft is the standard... period. They are the OS of the planet. The trend does not seem to be changing either. I'm ok with that. There's a lot of great things about MS and windows... but isn't it time to fix a few things instead of just making them look prettier and require more resources?

Raises Don't Suck

I got to give someone a raise for the first time today. I liked it. It was easily the best part of my whole day. I wish I could give them out all the time. Bar none, they're one of the best motivators out there. We did the whole evaluation thing. The cool part is he had no idea he was going to be evaluated. I could tell he was nervous and I think I enjoyed that part of it a little too much. Regardless, it was pretty quick. The evaluation was pretty generic... 3 things you suck at and 3 things you're good at... Here's a raise, now get better at the things you suck at. I really like the guy and he deserved it. He's a good worker and does what I ask him to. That's a lot more than I can say about employees I've had in the past. So... if you ever get the chance to give a raise to someone who deserves it... relish the opportunity.

Insane Guitar Hero Player - 9 Yrs Old!

This kid plays Dragonforce on Expert in Guitar Hero. It's just insane... leave it to YouTube to bring us this in all of its awesomeness...

Jeff Dunham

I took my grandparents to see Jeff Dunham in Tyler at the Oil Palace last Saturday night. We had a blast! If you've never seen him, you're missing out. At the very least, check him out on YouTube.

http://www.jeffdunham.com

Cool Weather Map

Google and Weather Underground partnered up and made a cool weather radar... Check it out!

Now you can zoom in on your house and see if you're in the green or the red.

Creepy McDonald's Commercial!

Johnny Cooper

We spent my 25th birthday going to a Johnny Cooper concert. It was awesome! They put on a great show! Here are a few pics:

$314.58

Well, the car is fixed, but it hurt my pocket book more than I expected. They flushed the radiator and replaced the "Bleeder Valve Housing" (housing on the thermostat). I'm just happy it's fixed. I celebrated by spending more money on a car wash. (it needed it)

Home At Last!

Finally made it home. Mom and Larry showed up and saved the day. Larry put "StopLeak" in the radiator fluid and my car was magically fixed. As much as I can't stand stupid people, I have to cut them some slack... When it comes to cars, I'm the stupid person. Either way, I made it home with no trouble at all after that; just got here 3 hours later than expected. Now I get to get up and go to work in the morning... Joy! =P

Drivin Home Blues

It's a shame that love isn't enough to power and maintain a vehicle. I absolutely love my new convertible, but here I sit on the side of the road waiting for help. I overheated. It looks like a seal. I doubt it's a big deal to get fixed, but it's certainly enough to put a stop to my drive home. Mom and Larry are at least an hour away and the cop car that's supposed to come help me is apparently in no hurry.

Later: I stand corrected... The cop showed up as I wrote that last sentence. He gave me a lift to a gas station and I got some water for the car. I made it to a Texaco station in Decatur and am waiting on Mom & Larry. It was kind of cool to ride in a cop car... never done that before. He couldn't have been much older than me... Maybe even younger. He was a total prick; It was hilarious. He was nice to me, but I'm glad we didn't meet under different circumstances. Oh well, I didn't have anything better to do today, right? I needed a little adventure.

Fish Fry

I'm out at "Merrill Gardens" in Wichita Falls. Mom just started her new job here as the Executive Director. It's an assisted living facility. (Apartments for old people.) They're having their 9th annual fish fry; All the fried fish, hamburgers, and hot dogs you can eat. They've even got a live band. "The Lone Star Trubadors" I have it on good authority that they are the "Nursing Home Kings!" I don't know if they're signing autographs, but I'm the mosh pit isn't too bad, or we'll have broken hips all around!

New Blog Up And Running

Here it is... yay...