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Monday - July 31, 2006
Weird
Sometimes cats do strange things when you're not looking....
Posted by jcraven at 1:51 PM | Misc
Friday - July 28, 2006
Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum
Last night we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Overall it was a pretty entertaining movie. The only real complaints I have are: some of the slapstick swordplay seems to go on too long, and the movie could have been about 30 minutes shorter. Depp's character is as interesting as always, while Orlando Bloom seems a little stiff. Keira Knightley is smoking hot as always, but doesn't really have enough time on screen. The 'mutated' villains are pretty impressive, and seemed to bother Lara more than the little girls that were sitting in front of us.
Overall, if you liked the first one, you'll probably enjoy this incarnation. If you plan on seeing the 3rd and final part of the trilogy, you'll probably be lost if you skip out on this one. I'd definitely recommend this movie over the last one I saw, Superman Returns.
Posted by jcraven at 9:40 AM | Movies & Music
Thursday - July 27, 2006
Salter Path
We're back from the beach. We went to Salter Path, which is a small town about halfway between Atlantic Beach and Emerald Isle. I uploaded our pictures here. As you can see, most of the time the women lounged on the pool and beach while the guys went fishing. For the most part, I caught Sheepshead, but Daniel also caught some croakers, and my Dad even caught a random shark and sting ray.
There isn't much in the area other than the actual beach, but If you happen to be near Atlantic Beach, I'd highly recommend Amos Mosquito's Restaurant. It is a nice combination of gourmet and local dining.
Posted by jcraven at 10:32 AM | Misc
Friday - July 21, 2006
WoW bombshell
Blizzard announced today that in the new expansion pack, Blood Elves can be paladins, and Draenei can be shamans. Now I do like the idea of getting to play a new class without switching factions, but now the two sides are nearly identical as these were the only classes that weren't available on both sides. Time will tell if this is a good move I guess.
Related 'switch' video courtesy of youtube.
Posted by jcraven at 4:16 PM | Comments (1) | Video Games
Thursday - July 20, 2006
Sideshow Bob Wins Emmy
Kelsey Grammer has won his fifth Primetime Emmy Award, and he didn't even have to appear on camera to get it.Full story.
Posted by jcraven at 1:41 PM | Television
Kevin Smith vs Joel Siegel
So apparently Joel Siegel walked out in the middle of a screening for Clerks II. The funny part is the reaction from the director/creator of the film. Check out Kevin Smith's blog for his reaction. (Warning, very colorful language)
My favorite quote is: "Cardinal rule of movie-going: shut your ****ing mouth while the movie's playing." I'm sure the studio loves the free publicity.
Posted by jcraven at 1:31 PM | Movies & Music
Tuesday - July 18, 2006
For Sale
I'll be slowly auctioning off my old PC parts on ebay. The first items on the block are the memory modules (total of 4 sticks).
1GB (2x512MB) Corsair XMS DDR (PC3200) TWINX1024-3200C2
130008638820
130008639401
Posted by jcraven at 4:42 PM | Tech
Congrats!
Lara passed the 4th part of her CIA exam! After many nights of studying it was finally worth all the hard work. I'm very proud of her. Be sure to congratulate her next time you see her.
Posted by jcraven at 1:28 PM | Misc
Monday - July 17, 2006
FCC Approves Motorola Canary
Last week, the FCC approved the new Motorola Canary, and the filed documents show the official name will be the RAZR K1. Unless there is something wrong with the first units, this will likely be my next phone. Hopefully it will be available for sale by the end of the year. It has the same micro-SD slot as my current phone, improves the camera to 2MP, and of course has RAZR depth but with substantially less width.
Posted by jcraven at 4:50 PM | Tech
Video game addiction
I've created a monster. Lara is hooked on New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS. She actually beat the final boss over the weekend without any assistance. That's pretty impressive. The game itself is fantastic if you're a fan of the original SMB. It's also nice because it has 3 separate save-game files, so we can keep our own individual progress. In between Mario sessions, she's also been playing Brain Age. She's played it much more than I have, and so far I don't have an opinion on this game either positive or negative.
Now on to my own addiction, WoW. Over the weekend, I maxed out my reputation with Stormpike Guard and as a result have a nifty new trinket, and epic mount. The epic mount is a great pickup since now I can travel almost twice as fast around the various areas. Other than that, I didn't play much. I also decided to preorder the Burning Crusade expansion pack.
Posted by jcraven at 2:01 PM | Comments (1) | Video Games
Friday - July 14, 2006
Back from Boston
I returned from my trip without any problems other than a slightly delayed return flight. Unfortunately I don't have anything interesting to show you as a result. The week was pretty much packed full of meetings, and if I wasn't at work I was either eating a lavish dinner or drinking at a bar. Since the weather was pretty poor the whole time, I also didn't get to take a single picture. Maybe next time, I'll have some more free time.
Posted by jcraven at 4:17 PM | Misc
Tuesday - July 11, 2006
Big Dig
Now this is scary. 3-ton concrete panels kill woman in Big Dig tunnel
I think I'll find an alternate route back to the airport later this week......
Posted by jcraven at 8:34 AM | Misc
Beantown
I'm currently in Boston on business, but unfortunately I won't have time to see the Sox play. Oh well, if I take any exciting pictures, I'll post them asap.
Posted by jcraven at 7:12 AM | Misc
Saturday - July 8, 2006
The Cup
Lara and I went to the Durham Bulls game last night with Scott and Anna. The Bulls got spanked 9-4, but at least we got our picture taken with Lord Stanley's Cup. All of our pictures can be found here. Cam Ward and Erik Cole threw out the ceremonial first pitches, and in case you're wondering they're riding around in a Porsche Carrera GT with an MSRP of $440,000.
Posted by jcraven at 3:08 PM | Sports
Wednesday - July 5, 2006
EBGames leaks info?
EBGames.com has a ship date for the WoW expansion pack, Burning Crusade. Currently it's listed as 10/2/06, which is quite a bit earlier than the original Christmas timeframe everybody was expecting. We'll see how accurate they are.....
On the other hand, is there any reason to preorder it? All the extra strain on the servers on launch day will probably mean long wait times to login, and possibly server stability issues. I'll probably wait a week and pick it up at Best Buy or some other local retailer.
Posted by jcraven at 2:06 PM | Video Games
Hawaii bound
We finally decided on the hotel for our Hawaii trip, the The Westin Maui Resort & Spa. When looking at lodging, you basically have two types in Hawaii. There are large resorts or small 'condo' complexes. There are definitely some nice condos out there with secluded beaches, but rooms can vary within the same complex due to different owners. We decided to play it safe and go with a high-end resort. Time will tell if we made the right choice.
If anybody has any recommendations of things to see or do in Lahaina or Maui in general, post them in the comments.