SoC's Blog A Rantspace for a Soldier of Christ

Apartment 2.0: Now with 100% more Bedrooms!

I just moved into a two bedroom apartment last night, with the help of Ashley, Ryan and Amanda. I'm freakin' tired because it took until midnight to get as much of it done as we did. Ashley and I still have to get some of the small stuff, but it's small... stuff... yeah... so we can handle it.

Sleep on the other hand, has eluded me the past few nights... I shall catch it tonight!

Rings

Ashley and I went and picked up our wedding rings last night. We got a trio set from Fred Meyer Jewelers and they are sweet! Mine needs to be resized, again, since it doesn't fit, but it's free since we got the 3 year plan thing. We also get free service and rhodium plating for the three years, which is important for our white gold rings.

Ashley gets to wear the engagement ring of the trio. Now, this isn't the first ring she gotten from me. I proposed with the same ring my dad proposed to mom with, so she still has that one. But the new ring actually has a diamond on it. Like "sticking-out-where-it-catches-on-everything" on it.

Also on the wedding front, we have our photographers. We have a good idea where we're going to get the cake. Ashley has her dress. We've decided where we want to go for our honeymoon. And we're down to 4 and a half months left! BOOYAH!

I Have the Black Spot

Okay... so it's nothing quite as dramatic or visible as Jack's in Dead Man's Chest, but there is a black spot on the tip of my finger. It's there because the guinea pig bit me and the blood pooled under the skin and now sits there, like a little black spot of doom. Doom I tell you!

Ahem.

Anyway, my finger is expected to make a full recovery. Doctor's (*) have no doubts about that. Neither do any other experts I talked to (**).

* - Absolutely no doctors were harmed or had their time wasted in the writing of this blog. We are not cruel enough to submit them to spending any amount of time checking on SoC's finger.

** - No other experts were harmed either. Well... maybe one, but there's no way we could've known that he was deathly afraid of squirrels, who number in the millions around our apartment complex. Just watch out for trees next time, Mr. Expert.

YouTube it!

If you need to know something about anything, you Google it. If you need to see a video, you YouTube it. Here's what I've been looking at on YouTube lately.

[NOTE: Video Removed. Bugger.]
A Trailer for Spider-Man 3 (which Ashley and I are going to see tomorrow night!)

[NOTE: Video Removed. Double Bugger.]
Another movie Ashley and I will be seeing soon, Shrek the Third.

And another... Pirates 3: At World's End.

[NOTE: Video Removed. Triple Bugger.]
Here's one I'm interested in, but she's not: Transformers.

SG-1 Fans will love this little blooper/prank the cast played on Richard Dean Anderson.

[NOTE: Video Removed. Quad Bugger.]
I have several Family Guy clips saved to my YouTube favorites. This is just one.

This is a video that my friend, Adam, made. Yes, this would be Adam from Salem.

A Super Smash Bros Brawl trailer. A game that looks freakin' sweet!

[NOTE: Video Removed. Quint Bugger.]
One of the few MMORPGs I'm interested in: Lord of the Rings Online.

A video I made of various Smash Bros. Melee clips put to Linkin Park's "Hit the Floor."

Another of my videos. This one is the 100 Man Melee put to Drowning Pool's "Bodies."

My proof that a girl like Ashley would marry a guy like me!

And There Was Much Rejoicing…

My best friend, Ryan, is back from Iraq. He's been back since Saturday! YAY!!

Back Home

Well... Ashley and I made it home last night. Or this morning, I guess. It was a freakin' sweet trip!

When we got down there, we sat and talked for a while, then jumped in Charlamagne (Adam's Car) and went to Taco Bell for some food. When we got back, we talked some more, then Adam and I went back to his apartment and Ashley stayed with Tim & Carolyn in theirs. Adam and I played some Magic and talked for a while, then hit the sack.

The next morning, Ashley and I went shopping together, alone, at the Lancaster Mall. We made a stop at Safeway and turned in my can collection, raking in a whopping $57.05. At the mall, Ashley bought some stuff, I bought a few CDs (Grits - Redemption, Grits - The Art of Transformation, Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago, VeggieTales - Larry-Boy: The Soundtrack) and a VeggieTales DVD that was on sale (Dave and the Giant Pickle; yay for the lips song!). Then we went back to the apartments to hang out for a while. We split into guys and girls, with the guys over at Adam's apartment. We played Magic while watching Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, Initial D (not the anime, but the live action one) and an episode of Sliders.

After that, Tim & Carolyn and Ashley & I went out on the double date we'd been planning since last time we were down there. We went to Red Robin and a bowling alley afterwards. Lots of fun was had and we all had fun doing not-so-good at bowling. We went back to their apartment and played Soul Calibur for a while. Then I went back to Adam's apartment, where him and I played a few more games of Magic then went to bed.

Sunday morning, we went to church. It was a good message. Afterwards, we had lunch at Carl's Jr and went to the Book Bin. There, I bought the Mechwarrior RPG Rule book and Ashley got a couple books she found. We split off again into guys and girls. The guys went back to Adam's apartment and played Three Dragon Ante - a freakin' sweet card game. The girls shopped.

When the girls got back, Ashley had a little bundle of joy with her. No, not a baby. It was a guinea pig. The cutest little pig I've ever seen. So we now have a guinea pig at my apartment again and her name is Bella.

Anyway, Ashley and I played WiiSports Bowling, since we've never played the Wii before. I had a blast, but she said she didn't like it too much. Oh well. To each their own. After that, we headed home!

Tomorrow: House, M.D. - Season 1

Off to Salem!

Ashley and I are leaving for Salem in 2 hours and 25 minutes. Yay!

Oh and the "102'd" from yesterday means that it was the 102nd post on my blog, making this the 103rd. Just an FYI.

Bags of pop cans, ho!

102′d!

I have a new e-mail notification sound. Of course, I converted it to a WAV file, but that's my new e-mail notification on my lappy. My work compy still has Peter Griffin saying "Holy Crap!" when a new e-mail comes in. It used to be Colonel Jack O'Niell saying, "Space Monkey," but I changed it a while but. So now I get "Holy Crap!"'d when I get e-mail at work and "Sever your leg, please. It's the greatest day,"'d at home.

Why does all that matter? Easy! It doesn't!

All you 24/Jack Bauer fans should get a good laugh out of this (heads up: not all the "facts" about Jack on this site are appropriate for all ages - you've been warned). On the same note, I was searching for 24 fan groups on Facebook, and there was one call "But mommy, Jack Bauer bites people... why can't I?"

On the Wedding front, we are making progress on the floral field, due in large part to Ashley discovering that a co-worker of ours likes to do floral arrangements for weddings for fun. Booyah! We've also been talking about our honeymoon, but no details for you on that!

That is all, as I must leave now. Popsicles, away!

“…And this is the longest day of my life.”

Most of you probably know where that line is from. It's the last line from the intro to 24 Season 1, spoken by Jack Bauer.

I'm a big fan of 24. I love that it's real-time. I love that none of the characters are perfect, even though it sometimes seems like Jack is. I just love this show. It's not my favorite overall, but it is my favorite of it's genre.

This review is for Season 1, or Day 1 as it were.

At midnight, the beginning of the show, Jack's at home hanging with his daughter, Kim, and his wife, Teri, who he has only recently gotten back together with. Him and his wife go in to say goodnight to Kim, only to find she's missing. Right then, Jack gets called in to CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) because of a credible threat against a presidential candidate's life. He heads into work, leaving his wife to search for their daughter. That's just the opening few minutes. The rest of the day just gets better and better with unexpected twists, betrayals, hidden agendas and an ending that will frustrate most people.

One of the reasons I like this show so much is that it deals with issues that most shows shy away from. Maybe not so much in this season, but in later ones. It shows a man willing to do anything, and I do mean anything, necessary to stop a terrorist plot.

Overall the first "Day" of 24 gets a 4.5 of 5. Look forward to reviews of the other 4 "Days" on DVD over the next few weeks. I'm currently 4 hours into the fifth season.

Double Shot Part 2: Lux

Lux is a game for anyone who likes the board game Risk. Lux is a multi-platform, fully customizable, turn-based strategy game based on the classic board game. You can make your own maps, control how the card set values increase, set up a continent bonus increase per round, and even create your own AIs to play against. If all this weren't enough, you can also download maps and AIs from the the interweb for even more fun (though to do this requires a full version of the game).

You can download the demo at www.sillysoft.net. The full version is only $25 and is very much worth it. I highly recommend this game. It gets a 4.5 out of 5.