My First Ever Shooting

In comparison to New York, Chicago, Detroit, and many of the other big metro environments in the US, Minneapolis is not really known for having a ton of violent crime. Statistically in the Minneapolis metro area it has been on the rise, but we're far from the levels of many other cities in my mind.

Which leads me in to last night. I met up with some of the members of my work team that were in from out of town last night to have dinner at Fire Lake Restaurant. My manager and myself had drinks for a while and were later met by the partner that was leading our project for dinner. We ate and were later joined by another member of our team for post-meal drinks. It was all very fun and relaxing.

On our way out as I was headed home and everyone else was headed to their hotel rooms, we stepped outside of the restaurant only to see a group of squad cars surrounding two buses across the road from us. Two more police cars zoomed in while we were standing there while one that was there took off at top speed.

We had no clue what was going on and I was cold so I walked back to my car and didn't think anything of it. That is until this morning when one of my team members asked if I had seen the news. The ruckus that we watched the night before was the aftermath of a shooting that left one person in critical condition. Crazy, huh?

So on second thought, maybe violent crime in Minneapolis is a little more pervasive than originally thought. *Shrug* I still would rather be here than in some other big city.

I Remember When Toys Were Cheap

It's getting close to being Christmas time. Heck, it's less than a month's time away. And with Christmas comes Christmas shopping. I usually like to have all of my Xmas shopping done before Thanksgiving hits. If I don't have everyone's gifts bought and wrapped up by the time I'm eating turkey and passing out while watching football I get a little antsy.

I have a good chunk of my shopping done this year, but not all of it. Since I don't like battling the pre-Christmas rush crowds at the malls and such when I'm just window shopping a lot of the time, I've switched over to browsing Amazon.com and other online sites to look for things that might make good gifts.

Today I was looking at some of the Lego kits that they had on Amazon when I ran across this $160 Lego Star Wars Star Destroyer kit monstrosity. Who in their right mind is going to spend $160 on a gigantic Lego toy for their kid? I remember getting big ass buckets of Legos when I was young and they were like $20 for a couple billion of them. Sure, sometimes we might have got Megablocks instead of Legos, but they were basically the same thing.

Nowadays toys are ridiculously expensive. I can't imagine having a kid clamoring for stupid expensive toys for the month or two before Christmas. I'd probably go insane (and broke)! When did we need to spoil kids so badly? I was fine playing with wooden guns out on the farm that we made out of pieces of 2x4's in the farm's shop. Kids need more imagination and less instant gratification.

HR = Incompetence

Last month was our open enrollment month for benefits at work. I had no real changes to make to my benefits except for one--I was going to enroll in our legal services benefit for next year. I've been thinking of buying a house and real estate legal services are covered in our company's legal services benefit. For only about $180 on the year, I'll have access to all the legal services I need, which is way cheaper than if I went out and had to find a lawyer to work with for setting up a mortgage and preparing housing purchase documents.

Oddly, the sheer amount of time I had to waste to get into the benefit at work was ridiculous. I was first informed by the HR department that the legal benefits were not available to opt into on the benefits interface that we used on our company intranet. I'd have to go through the actual legal services website and sign up. No problem, right?

I ended up searching through the legal benefits website for about an hour going through just about every page that was ever created on it and found no way to sign up for the services. I eventually found a cryptically worded form that sounded like it might be used for signing up, so I filled it out and submitted it. This form, indeed, was used for signing up, but upon submitting it, I was presented with a page that told me they were glad I was trying to sign up for the service, but I needed to do it through my company.

So I called our company's local HR team to get this figured out. I asked for cost, if it was pre- or post-tax, and where it was exactly I needed to sign up. They told me they had no idea and forwarded me on to the national HR team. The national HR team then informed me they did not have the information and I needed to find it out from the legal services site.

At this point, I decided to take a day off from pursuing this because I was about to murder someone in a blind rage. The next day I told the national HR team that I did go through the site of our legal services benefit provider only to be directed back to my employer. I left a message telling the person I was contacting to call me at home as I was out of the office for the day.

So what does she do? She calls my office and leaves a voice mail. At this point, I decided that it must be a prerequisite for working in HR that your IQ must be lower than 80. I called the lady who incompetently couldn't call me at the right number and asked her to get this figured out. She informed me that she wasn't paying attention when directing me in what to do and let me know that the benefit was available on our HR intranet website. And because I had been told the wrong information, she told me she would in turn take time out of her day to show me how to sign up for the benefit. How nice of her, eh? Seriously, she screwed up and shouldn't think twice about helping, but instead she tried to make me feel guilty for wasting her time that she could have probably been better spending playing Spider Solitaire on her computer or chewing gum and seeing how big of a bubble she could blow.

Thankfully, I finally got everything ironed out. Now I just need to wait for my benefits package confirmation to see if everything went through correctly. If not, the entire HR department should expect to catch hell like they've never caught it before.

Black Friday

Almost all of my friends avoid shopping in any capacity on the day after Thanksgiving, and for good reason -- it's a mad house trying to shop anywhere on that fabled Friday of each year. And then there are the people like myself that make each year's black Friday something to look forward to. Just like the last 6 or 7 years, I was up bright and early in line outside of Best Buy waiting to get some of that doorbusting goodness.

Most years there is one big item that someone in my family needs to get for some reason or another on black Friday, with this year being no different. My little brother, Ryan, needed to get a laptop for college so. He may have needed something, but I really didn't. That sure didn't stop me from getting up at 2:15 am and driving to the Rochester Best Buy with my other brother Randy, my mom, and my cousin.

When we arrived at Best Buy around 3:10 am (it's a 45 minute drive from my parents' house to Rochester) there was already hundreds of people standing in line. The night before, luckily, my other brother Ryan (who needed the laptop) came with one of his friends to came out at around 9:00 pm. Even being there 8 hours before the store opened, he was about 75th in line. People were lining up around 1:00 pm on Thursday. Crazy!

So I waited two hours to get in, spending part of the time talking with my brother Ryan and his friend at the front of the line about the people who were driving by the night before to heckle them, claiming they had no life. Think about it, though. The people driving around at 2:00 am heckling people in line to shop must equally need lives if they have nothing else to do. The rest of the time was spend listening to my trusty MP3 player and being thankful that it was above freezing this year, as opposed to last year when it was ridonkulously freezing out.

Since I was there so early, I needed to justify to myself the lack of sleep, the time spent in line, and the drive into Rochester. So... I bought a TV. Right now my place only has one communal television so we sometimes end up wanting to use it at the same time and someone has to go to their room to do whatever they wanted to do. Not any more! I purchased a 32" LCD widescreen HDTV doorbuster special. Oh yeah! Check out its hotness:

It's really pretty. I think it'll make a great TV. I've already spent time watching football on it while one of my roommates played Xbox 360 on the other television. I'm still amazed at how clear the new LCDs are, even when displaying a standard analog cable signal.

Oh, and I also picked up Table Tennis for 360. So far, it's worth every penny of the $18.99 I spent on it. Go grab yourself a copy and come play me on Xbox Live. I'm not that good... yet!

All in all, it was a very successful black Friday shopping experience yet again. If you've never done it, you should try it out next year. Or not. You might not be as deranged as I am. But hey, shoppings fun, isn't it?

More Movie Action!

I caught a couple of movies lately that should be added to the thread.

Waiting (8/10): I know that not many people will enjoy this movie since it is basically a very low budget, potty humor, stupid type of comedy, but Ryan Reynolds is just too hilarious. Combine that with the "penis showing game" and some pretty decently funny dialog and you have the ingredients for a cult classic comedy. Being that I've probably watching this movie 5 or 6 times now and haven't gotten sick of it says something. Watch it for the dumb humor. Watch it for Reynolds. Watch it if you've ever worked at a restaurant. Then you'll really enjoy it.

Casino Royale (9/10): Before seeing this movie, I considered Pierce Brosnan the epitome of James Bond. He was sly, sexy, smart, witty, and able to be violent when he needed to be. Seeing the trailers for Casino Royale had me fearing for the Bond property as I didn't think Daniel Craig could be a good James Bond. He'd been great in every movie I'd seen him in, but I couldn't picture him as Bond. Then I saw Casino Royale. I now wholeheartedly endorse his portrayal of Bond. Hearkening back to the Sean Connery days of Bond, we see Craig portraying a Bond that is ruthless, brutal, and even a little sloppy. Heck, he even shows some emotional attachment (which plays a definite role in the plot). To top off Craig's performance, the story was involving with only a little bit of a lull in the latter third of the movie. That and there were some great action set pieces. Do yourself a favor and toss out your preconceptions about Bond and just go see this.

Happy Turkey Day

Go eat too much and pass out from a food overdose while watching football. That's my plan!

Radio Rebellion Tour 2006

Does it strike anyone else as horribly ironic that for a tour labeled the Radio Rebellion Tour, which would seem to imply a showcase of bands that are "underground", would have some pretty high profile sponsors in Nike, Hot Topic, and Hurley (among many others)? I know being confronted by the Nike logo throughout the venue was a little bit weird. Regardless of this fact and the lame name of the tour, the crowd was actually presented with a very solid package… well, except for the opener.

Bless the Fall started off the show in quite the underwhelming fashion. There was not a damn thing unique or redeeming about this band. They’re the epitome of fashionable mallcore metalcore garbage. There are five guys, all in girl pants and trendy band shirts, sporting their pasty white looks and 120 lbs of size to the crowd while squirting out boring, unoriginal breakdowns interspersed with lame melodic vocals and clichéd back up screams. Oh, and don't forget they use a keyboard for like two songs and try to pull off a couple of interesting riffs but fail miserably in sounding talented at all. Is it wrong for me to point out that I feel sad for this band?

What makes Bless the Fall even more sad looking is being followed by the metalcore juggernaut of Misery Signals. Truth be told, the thick, meaty, wall of sound found on Mirrors didn’t translate to the live environment perfectly, but damn if they still sound crushing. Playing a healthy combination of fan favorites from Of Malice and the Magnum Heart and the new album, the crowd wasn’t given too much time to rest, but there were a few times where the band wandered into the more introspective portions of their songs, which was good to see. Other bands would be tempted to cut out anything lacking intensity in order to keep the crowd churning, but Misery Signals played to their full range.

In breaking from the metalcore vibe the show had going, Fear Before the March of Flames hit the stage breaking right into some of their new material. I will say this for the band, even though I am not their biggest fan, I found their set to be quite good. In fact, in comparison to the last time I saw them, which was about two years ago, the band has come a long, long way. Instead of thrashing away on stage just making noise, they have managed to pull together actual songs and play them live to great effect. You have to give a band credit when they come around and improve as much as FBTMOF has.

With the three opening bands out of the way, you could feel the audience salivating for Between the Buried and Me, and for good reason, as you don’t often have a band of their caliber coming through town. Once the lights dimmed within the venue and the band members took their places, there was a small pause and then 45 minutes of sheer amazing-ness ensued. Seriously, this band is phenomenal live. The precision with which they play their instruments is something to behold, both visually and audibly. BTBAM know how to play. There is no doubt about it. Especially memorable were their performances of “Selkies” and “Backwards Marathon”, both including amazing guitar solos. The only slight setback experienced during the set was their cover of Queen’s “Bicycle Race”. Now I’m using setback in the sense that it only broke the flow of the set, but their performance of the song was still ridiculously good. Kids, this is a band to see if you ever get the chance.

Closing the show was Norma Jean. As much as I would have wanted to see another hour of BTBAM, Norma Jean put on a relatively good show. The good majority of their set was spent playing new material off of Redeemer, but they took the time to throw in a couple of songs off of the unbelievably underrated O God, the Aftermath and ended the show with “Memphis Will Go Down in Flames” off of Bless the Martyr, Kiss the Child. In deference to other bands in this genre, the boys in Norma Jean didn’t come out in scene clothes but instead performed in what I like to term “Dirty Woodsmen” gear. Wearing old work clothes, mostly jeans and flannel, while having fake dirt and refuse on them, the band looked just like they sound — rough, abrasive, and violent.

With that said, I did have some problems with Norma Jean’s set. The biggest was the second drum kit and drummer that they had with them. I was wholeheartedly expecting some rad dual drumming techniques, but instead the second drum kit and drummer were there mostly for show. The auxiliary drum kit's cymbals weren't even mic-ed up and the mixing had the secondary drumming so low in the mix you couldn’t even hear them. It was all for show. The other problem with their set was the simple fact that, much like their albums, there is very little differentiation between any of their songs. Sure, each song was loud and aggressive, but by the end of the set it felt like the same 5 riffs had been repeated a billion times over, just at slightly different tempos.

At the end of the day, this is definitely a show to go to, if for no other reason than to see the intense live experience embodied by Between the Buried and Me. The rest of the bands, except Bless the Fall, were all also wonderful performers and deserve your well earned cash and attention. Get out there and catch this tour while you can!

Click here for pictures from the show.

Stupid Rich Kids

Thank you CNNMoney.com for giving me another reason to hate rich kids. Showing me all of the really expensive, neato, tricked out, totally rad, and totally gratuitous toys that are out there for this holiday season makes me want to find every rich kid I know or knew when I was a tyke and kick each and every one of them square in the face. Then I could steal their toys and laugh at them for crying from a heel to the face. Stupid kids.

Seriously, though, who the hell needs a life sized Batman made completely out of Legos for $27,000? Or how about a genuine seven foot tall Robby Robot? It'll only set you back a cool $49,999.99!

I think for Christmas I'll settle for some new socks, boxers, or just being with my family and friends. As bad ass as the life size Batman would be, I think I can pass this time around.

But if I happen to ever meet a kid that got the life size Lego Batman... he better be prepared for a heel to the face, lots of laughing, and being short one life size Lego Batman.

That's Why I Own a 360

In reading most of the coverage from big media outlets, the Playstation 3 hasn't been talked about in too bad of a light. Most of the focus has been on the violence surrounding getting one, the extreme prices paid on Ebay to own one, and the competition with the Wii. There hasn't been too many articles actually talking about the PS3 but then, in the oddest place of all, the NY Times gives us their coverage of the PS3 and it is very far from flattering.

Everything I read about the PS3 makes it sound like a really rushed, broken, half-assed version of an Xbox 360 with an untested, hard to program for core processing system. One developer has even commented that for all the horsepower that the PS3 has, it just won't be able to do what a 360 can because of the architecture differences.

I'm sure I'm beating a dead horse here, especially since I already own and love my Xbox 360, but the PS3 was horribly underwhelming as it was being hyped and now that it is out, the price doesn't even come close to justifying the shoddy piece of junk that it is. Who'd have thought I'd be cheering for Microsoft at this point?

A Few More Movies

So here's three more movies to add to the review thread.

Over the Hedge (6.5/10): For animated CGI fare, this movie wasn't that bad. The previews made it out to be a little more funny than it actually was, but I'm sure the target audience of kids didn't notice as there was plenty to keep them interested. The story is your run of the mill "evil character redeems himself after the people he tries to screw become his friends" plot, but there are enough clever one liners and colorful animation to keep you from nodding off. The voice work was pretty tame as I was expecting a lot more from the colorful cast (William Shatner, Steve Carell, Eugene Levy). Watch with your girlfriend or kids and you'll be fine.

Monster House (6.5/10): Another animated CGI movie, but this one had a slightly more adult tone to it. The animation also wasn't the standard CGI type, but instead had a definite claymation feel to it, which was refreshing. There were some definitely funny one-liners and some great tension building moments, but what brings this movie down is the ending. I found myself hoping for more creativity towards the end, especially since the house monster was so concerned with only being seen by kids that the tossing out of that convention at the end really turned me off. Otherwise, this was an acceptably done film that was entertaining enough.

Cold Creek Manor (3.5/10): Talk about a slow ass moving movie. I have no problem with slow paced, pot-boiling mysteries, but this movie went absolutely nowhere for the first 80 minutes. The "mystery" about Stephen Dorff's character also isn't that much of a mystery and even the most obtuse viewer will be able to pick out the end ages before it is revealed. There isn't really a good reason for anyone to watch this film as all of the performances are pretty average as well. Well, I suppose if you were having trouble falling asleep this would be a good movie to flip on, but that should be about it.