First Day Of School '09

The one day a year all parents stick their heads out of their windows and yell at the top of their lungs "AMEN"!!!  Or, at least, they should.  Before heading out for the first day, Angel and Angelise pose for the camera.


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Fall TV Season '09

Are you like me?  Looking forward to some of your favorite shows returning this fall?  Well, September is here and so are some of our favorite shows.   Here is a list of some of the shows airing soon.  New shows are in bold while the shows with an asterisk (*) are ones I'll definitely be watching.  Some of the new shows I may take a look at (~).

Week of Sept 6

• 90210 (CW) Sept 8 Tuesday 8pm
• So You Think You Can Dance (FOX) Sept 9 Tuesday 8pm
• Glee (FOX) Sept 9 Wednesday 9pm
• Melrose Place (CW) Sept 8 Tuesday 9pm
• *Sons Of Anarchy (FX) Sept 8 Tuesday 10pm
• America's Next Top Model (CW) Sept 9 Wednesday 8pm
• ~The Vampire Diaries (CW) Sept 10 Thursday 8pm
• Supernatural (CW) Sept 10 Thursday 9pm

   Week of Sept 13 

• One Tree Hill (CW) Sept 14 Monday 8pm
• Gossip Girl (CW) Sept 14 Monday 9pm
• The Jay Leno Show (NBC) 10pm - starts Sept 14 every weeknight
• The Biggest Loser (NBC) Sept 15 Tuesday 8pm
• The Beautiful Life (CW) Sept 16 Wednesday 9pm
• *The Ultimate Fighter (SPIKE) Sept 16 Wednesday 10pm
• *Bones (FOX) Sept 17 Thursday 8pm
• *Fringe (FOX) Sept 17 Thursday 9pm
• Survivor (CBS) Sept 17 Thursday 8pm
• Saturday Night Live Weekend Update (NBC) Sept 17 Thursday 8pm
• Parks and Recreation (NBC) Sept 17 Thursday 830pm
• *The Office (NBC) Sept 17 Thursday 9pm
• Community (NBC) Sept 17 Thursday 930pm
• It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX) Sept 17 Thursday 10pm
• Brothers (FOX) Sept 18 Friday 8pm
• Til Death (FOX) Sept 18 Friday 830pm

Week of Sept 20

• *Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) Sept 20 Sunday 9pm
• ~Bored To Death (HBO) Sept 20 Sunday 930pm
• Heroes (NBC) Sept 21 Monday 8pm
•  *House (FOX) Sept 21 Monday 8pm
• Dancing With The Stars (ABC) Sept 21 Monday 8pm
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS) Sept 21 Monday 8pm
• Accidentally On Purpose (CBS) Sept 21 Monday 830pm
• Two and a Half Men (CBS) Sept 21 Monday 9pm
• Big Bang Theory (CBS) Sept 21 Monday 930pm
• Castle (ABC) Sept 21 Monday 10pm
• CSI Miami (CBS) Sept 21 Monday 10pm
• NCIS (CBS) Sept 22 Tuesday 8pm
• NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) Sept 22 Tuesday 9pm
• ~The Forgotten (ABC) Sept 22 Tuesday 10pm
• ~The Good Wife (CBS) Sept 22 Tuesday 10pm
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS) Sept 23 Wednesday 8pm
• Mercy (NBC) Sept 23 Wednesday 8pm
• Gary Unmarried (CBS) Sept 23 Wednesday 830pm
• ~Modern Family (ABC) Sept 23 Wednesday 9pm
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC) Sept 23 Wednesday 9pm
• Criminal Minds (CBS) Sept 23 Wednesday 9pm
• Cougartown (ABC) Sept 23 Wednesday 930pm
• CSI NY (CBS) Sept 23 Wednesday 10pm
• Eastwood (ABC) Sept 23 Wednesday 10pm
• *Flash Forward (ABC) Sept 24 Thursday 8pm
• CSI (CBS) Sept 24 Thurdsday 9pm
• Grey's Anatomy (ABC) Sept 24 Thursday 9pm
• *The Mentalist (CBS) Sept 24 Thursday 10pm
• *Smallville (CW) Sept 25 Friday 8pm
• Ghost Whisperer (CBS) Sept 25 Friday 8pm
• Law & Order (NBC) Sept 25 Friday 8pm
• *Dollhouse (FOX) Sept 25 Friday 9pm
• Medium (CBS) Sept 25 Friday 9pm
• Numb3rs (CBS) Sept 25 Friday 10pm
• Dateline Saturday (NBC) Sept 26 Saturday 8pm
• 48 Hour Mystery (CBS) Sept 26 Saturday 10pm 
  

 Week of Sept 27

• 60 Minutes (CBS) Sept 27 Sunday 7pm
• Amazing Race (CBS) Sept 27 Sunday 8pm
• The Simpsons (FOX) Sept 27 Sunday 8pm
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) Sept 27 Sunday 8pm
• The Cleveland Show (FOX) Sept 27 Sunday 830pm
• Family Guy (FOX) Sept 27 Sunday 9pm
• Desperate Housewives (ABC) Sept 27 Sunday 9pm
• *Dexter (SHO) Sept 27 Sunday9pm
• American Dad (FOX) Sept 27 Sunday 930pm
• Cold Case (CBS) Sept 27 Sunday10pm
• Brothers & Sisters (ABC) Sept 27 Sunday 10pm
• *Californication (SHO) Sept 27 Sunday 10pm
• *Lie To Me (FOX) Sept 28 Monday 9pm
• ~Trauma (NBC) Sept 28 Monday 9pm
• Hank (ABC) Sept 30 Wednesday 8pm
• The Middle (ABC) Sept 30 Wednesday 830pm
• Private Practice (ABC) Oct 1 Thursday 10pm
• Stargate Universe (SYFY) Oct 2 Friday 9pm

Week of Oct 4

• America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC) Oct 4 Sunday 7pm
• Scare Tactics (SYFY) Oct 6 Tuesday 9pm
• Mythbusters (DISC) Oct 7 Wednesday 9pm
• South Park (COM) Oct 7 Wednesday 10pm
• Ugly Betty (ABC) Oct 9 Friday 9pm
• Three Rivers (CBS) Oct 4 Sunday 9pm
• Community (NBC) Oct 8 Thursday 8pm (change)
• Sanctuary (SYFY) Oct 9 Friday 10pm

Week of Oct 11

• *Nip/Tuck (FX) Oct 14 Wednesday 10pm
• *30 Rock (NBC) Oct 15 Thursday 930pm
• Supernanny (ABC) Oct 16 Friday 8pm

Week of Oct 18

• Living With Ed (PG) Oct 21 Wednesday 9pm
• Southland (NBC) Oct 23 Friday 9pm

Week of Oct 25

NOTHING

Week of Nov 1

• *V (ABC) Nov 3 Tuesday 8pm
• Legend of the Seeker (SYND) Nov 7 Saturday 12am
• The Wanda Sykes Show (FOX) Nov

Some shows not returning until 2010 are:

• *24
• American Idol
• The Apprentice
• *Better Off Ted
• *Big Love
• *Breaking Bad
• Burn Notice
• Chuck
• *Damages
• Deadliest Catch
• *Eastbound and Down
• Flashpoint
• Futurama
• Hawthorne
• I Get That Alot
• In Plain Sight
• Kitchen Nightmares
• *Lost
• *Nurse Jackie
• Paranormal State
• Rescue Me
• Royal Pains
• Saving Grace
• Scrubs
• Tudors
• The United States Of Tara
• *Weeds
• Wife Swap

[List thanks to newsposter from tivocommunity.com]

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Hey everyone, it's been awhile. I've been meaning to get back into blogging (damn you Twitter and Facebook) but was waiting for the perfect event to bring me back and I think I've found it. With the return of autumn once again upon us, we look forward to a few annual constants: cool fall weather, kids going back to school (Amen!) and the return of our favorite tv shows. But today I want to talk about what I hope will be another annual constant.

Last year, my good friend Jeanette participated in the 2008 Cure To Walk Diabetes. While Jeanette received support from family and friends, she also received support from some of my friends and followers of this blog and in doing so, she was able to meet her goal she set for herself and the charity.

This year, Jeanette will be taking part in the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event being held on October 18 in the Bronx. I know there is only a little over a month to go and with economic times being what they are, I'm hoping I can turn to my friends for this worthy cause. Any amount will go along way in helping to fight breast cancer.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit Jeanette's American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising page.

Thank you.

Sing-Along Sunday

Last night was a night filled with musical numbers and brow-raising singing. No, I'm not talking about the Oscars but another Rock Band session with friends. Eusebio (Jr), a childhood friend, and his family came over for dinner and some humbling shenanigans. While Jr and I were part of a group of friends that hung out alot in the mid to late 80s, we sorta went our separate ways (which happens too often unfortunately). Thankfully, after almost 2 decades, we recently hooked up for a boys night and had a great time reminiscing over old tales over dinner and, a few months later, over billiards.

Finally, I was able to have him and his lovely family over for dinner. Of course, filling their bellies was all part of my master plan to shove a mic in front of their faces. :)

Jr, Deborah, Amanda and Matthew, casual gamers at best, were great sports and had a fun time rocking out on Rock Band 2 then singing on Lips. Deborah really got into singing, which she did quite well and even got into a singing duel with Amanda. We capped the night off with some trivia fun on Buzz!

Next time, I'll break out the DDR pad since Amanda said she loves playing that. Looking forward to having them over again.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Comic-Con 2009

Well, here I am almost 2 months since my last post with something to blog about.  Heck, I wish I could blog more often but what do you call it when a non-writer gets writers block?  Anyway, went to the Jacob Javitz Center where the New York Comic-Con was making it's annual appearance.  I had purchased a ticket for Angel and myself for Sunday back in December and had been highly anticipating it as I've never been to one.  I would've liked to have purchased a whole weekend pass but I couldn't take off 2 days since I had already done so the previous week for my trip to Pennsylvania.  (more on that later)

From 10am to 5pm, Angel and I walked the floor taking pictures, trying demos to upcoming games and checking out all the great outfits many showed up in.  I even got a chance to meet up with Dave and his daughter Nicole.  It was a great time and am looking forward to attending again next year.  Who knows, maybe I'll make the trip to Chicago (never been) and check them out over there.  Enjoy the pictures but you've been warned: there are 102 of them.  :)

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December 12, 2008 LCVG Meet

Met up with some members of LCVG, the online gaming community I participate in, over the weekend.  Dave's (Wetwork) family were traveling so he invited a few of us to spend the weekend at his place in Old Bridge, New Jersey.  Only three of us made it but a fun time was had regardless.  Todd (Union Carbine), who I've hung out with before at some movie meets and even played handball with, spent the entire weekend.  Anthony (Quicksand), who we all met for the first time and apparently lives about 10 minutes away, arrived sometime after Dave and Todd and would leave to go sleep and return the next day.  

I went home Friday after work and readied a bag to sleep over along with some videogames, Guitar Hero guitars, my controller and Xbox 360 memory unit card.   I went prepared to stay over but originally I was planning on returning home since I had to be at work at 8am the next day.  Good thing I took my pillow and tooth brush.  After watching the blu-ray version of The Dark Knight on Dave's impressive home theater, we played some games (Scene It, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, etc) all while chatting about various movie and videogame topics.  Before I knew it, it was 4am so I set my cell phone alarm for 6am and went to sleep. Took me 15 minutes from the moment my alarm went off until I was in my car and ready for the drive back to NYC and straight to work.  But not before gassing up.  Was amazed that gas was down to $1.55 per gallon in Old Bridge (still $1.95 in the Bronx) so took advantage.  With my tank on empty, was able to fill her up for only $26.  At one point in the summer, it took $78 to fill her up.  Nice.

After working Saturday, went home to freshen up and get a change of clothing.  After spending a little time with the family, made my way back to Old Bridge to meet up with Dave, Todd and Anthony for some dinner at Damon's and then back to Dave's for The Ultimate Finale on Spike TV.  Afterwards, I threw on Rock Band and played a bit while Todd and Dave watched.   They didn't take to the rhythm game so instead settled on choosing the tracks for me to play.  I should've brought over my drums and mic so we all could've played co-op.  :)

Ended the night attempting to watch The Proposition but ultimately called it a night around 2:30am as I needed to be in NY at 6am.  Spent the rest of Sunday shopping but mostly remember the day being in a fog as I was running on fumes from only getting 2 and 2 and a half hours of sleeps the previous 2 nights.  Throw in an 8 hour work day and I don't know how I did it.  I tell you though, Red Bull works for me.  

It was good meeting up with Dave and Todd once again and look forward to doing it all over again real soon.  As for Anthony, it was good meeting him and talking to him the brief time he was conscious.  :D

Montefiore Children's Hospital (MCH) Child's Play Charity

I've been invited to participate in a charity to help kids get toys/videos/videogames for the holidays.  I'm posting this here with hopes of finding one or two others to join me.  I know economic times are hard but any little amount will help in purchasing something fun for a kid this holiday season.  Currently there are 3 different ways to participate:

1. Call Of Duty: World At War - Do you have Call Of Duty: World At War for the Xbox 360 and $20?  Then join me this Wednesday night at approximately 9pm for a CoD:WaW charity game night.  Your $20 donation will go towards the purchase of one or two Nintendo DS's and games for kids at MCH.  The event will be approximately 60 to 90 minutes.  Look for me online, gamertag TheEvilEmpire.  $20 CoD:WaW game night donation can be made via Paypal to captds9e@nyc.rr.com and is due Wednesday.  In the message box, you can mention that you're a friend of Angel or TheEvilEmpire for you XBL gamers out there.
2. Paypal donation - Don't have CoD:WaW?  Maybe you do but don't want to play or have the time.  $20 a bit much at the moment?  Whatever the case, you can still make a donation of any amount via Paypal.  Any amount would be greatly appreciated and can be made to captds9e@nyc.rr.com and is due by this weekend.  Again, any amount.  $10, $5, even $1 will be added to the game night donation total and will go towards MCH Child's Play Charity.  
3. Amazon wishlist - Gaming not your thing?  Maybe you want to be more involved in the toy/games chosen for the kids.  If that's the case, you can make a purchase on Amazon that will get delivered directly to the hospital via the wishlist set up by MCH.  

MCH was chosen since most taking part in the CoD gaming event are from NYC so Montefiore was chosen.  If you want to donate a gift by making a purchase to a hospital closer to your region, there is a list of hospitals on the left side of the page.  

Thank you.

Back in the day

For awhile now, I've been promising to put up some photos I had found of my friends and I from the late 80s.  Well, I finally got around to it and decided to not only put them up here on the blog but also on my Facebook page.  Enjoy.  :)

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Here I go again

Wow, can't believe a whole month has passed since my last post.  Matter of fact, can't believe December is here already.  By the way, doesn't it seem the older we get, the faster time goes by.  Sheeesh!  Let's see, what has happened since I last posted?  

Video Games

 

Finished Dead Space, twice.  I really really enjoy a good survival horror game.  And Dead Space was more than good.  Part Doom 3, part Alien, with some resemblance to Event Horizon... Dead Space worked effectively well for me since I'm one that really invests my attention and emotion to the experience.  Very tense and parts creepy, I was on the edge of my proverbial seat many times.  Heck, once on my first time through the game, I spun around and damn near unloaded a whole clip on a can that was rolling on the floor.  Freaked me out, yet had me laughing all the same.  :)

I finished Gears Of War 2 on my second day of owning it.  Great game with an even better multiplayer mode (Horde).  Wish I could say the same for Call Of Duty: World At War.  Multiplayer has some issues which need to get patched while co-op was good but not great.  Don't like being one of four in a squad that gets assistance from a dozen other AI-controlled Allied soldiers.  And what's with being sent back to the lobby after every mission.  Weird.  Tried and loved the Mirror's Edge demo.  Didn't pick it up though as I've vowed to not pick up anymore games until Christmas.  So Mirror's Edge goes on the holiday wishlist along with Left 4 Dead.  The L4D demo, which is no longer available for download, lets 1 offline (or 2-4 online) players run through 2 levels of pure zombie mayhem.  Another definite for me.  Plus I still need to pick up Guitar Hero World Tour.

Reunions

Thanks to Facebook, I was fortunate enough to come across some of my buddies I grew up with.  Ray, Junior and I have been constantly keeping in touch and we've even had a "guys night out" about 2 weeks ago where we met up with my brother Jorge for some dinner and to reminisce on old times.  Another buddy I grew up with, David, came from Florida to visit his family for the Thanksgiving holiday and we too spend some time bringing up the past with Jorge.  Funny, funny tales we have.  

TV Shows

One of my guilty pleasures, Dirty Sexy Money, was cancelled by ABC.  Bummer.  Meanwhile, True Blood and Sons Of Anarchy completed their first seasons on high notes.  Two great shows that I hope get picked up for another season.  I'm watching so many shows and loving most of them but Dexter has got to be the one with the most build up of tension.  This season will most definitely end with an explosive conclusion between Dex and Miguel.   November saw the return of Jack Bauer but, alas, I have yet to watch 24: Redemption as I'm busy catching up on old shows.  Hopefully, this weekend. 

High Definition Gear

We were fortunate enough to have received a free 32" Sony LCD HDTV thanks to Maria achieving top sales honors at her job, her second such accomplishment since the summer.  First one earned her a Nintendo Wii.  Upon receiving the Sony, I went out and picked up a hi-def DVR from our local cable company (Cablevision).  Although HD channels only output 1080i and the TV is only 720p, it can upconvert to 1080p.  Looks pretty damn good considering it only has a 2000:1 constrast ratio.  :)

My home theater is getting ready for a make-over.  Ever since dropping DirecTV (No TiVo, no sale), I jumped back over to Cablevision's IO service.  Pretty good quality but ho-hum hi-def DVR.  One month was enough of that shit before I jumped on the TiVo HD DVR this past weekend.  So far, loving it.  Nothing like going back to an old friend.  I'll soon be picking up a second unit and installing a 1TB hard  drive to up the capacity from 20 hours to 145 hours of high definition goodness thanks to WeaKnees.com!  That one will find permanent in my home theater while Maria gets the 20 hour unit.  Thanks to the TiVo Wireless G USB Network Adapter, I'll be able to stream high definition programming on a TiVo other than the one it was recorded on. Picked one up today from Amazon for only $40 but will still need another one.  Will get it with the second TiVo.  

In addition, I was able to take advantage of a Black Friday deal where I picked up the Sony BDP-S350 blu-ray player from PC Richards for only $180.  Not a Sony fan personally, I was doing homework on both this and the Panasonic DMP-BD35K which has been hovering around $250.  But, with that black friday deal, I just couldn't pass up.  Hooked it up to the bedroom 32" LCD, i was stunned at how gorgeous Wall-E looked at 1080p resolution.  I decided to have the s350 take the place of my Playstation 3 in my living room home theater while the PS3 got demoted to the bedroom LCD.   With very little games that interest me on it and basically just a blu-ray player at this point, I relegated the George Foreman grille-looking behemoth to the bedroom.  :)

I now have my eyes on the Pioneer VSX-1018AH-K receiver, which I should've already purchased had Best Buy gone and price-matched J&R's online price of $429. When they refused, I decided to go to J&R that weekend but I ended up using some of the money on the TiVo HD when a $100 off deal suddenly materialized.  I'll should have the Pio 1018 in my clutches by Christmas.  That now leaves upgrading my rear projection. Hopefully, Santa will see how good I've been this year and put the Samsung HL61a750 under my tree. Or, at least the receipt since that bitch is big.  

Hope this made up for the month-long absence.  Looking forward to reading some replies.  

Cheers.  :D

Turtle Beach X3 Wireless Headset - Afterthought

So after a week of putting the X3 wireless headset through it's paces, here is my impression:  While I don't play much multiplayer, I do enjoy playing co-op online so having independent volume control for in-game audio AND online chat was definitely a plus when choosing this headset.  I used the headset this week with Dead Space (no chat), just yesterday with Scene It? Box Office Smash (online chat) and movies/tv (more on that later).  While it doesn't do wireless 5.1, (that's the $200 X4), it has a "stereo expander" option via a switch on the headset to expand the sound.  More info on that feature and others, check here.  

The headset has nice weight to it.  Not too heavy to the point where you get tired of wearing it nor too light that you would forget you have them on after awhile.  Deep ear cup cushion was very welcome but i'm someone that only wears in-ear headphone buds when listening to my ipod so having my ears pressed against my head takes getting used to for me.  The mic is adjusts to move closer or farther from your mouth or have it pointed straight up away from your face if you're not going to use it.  I was impressed with the sound when playing Dead Space as the little creepy sounds from the game were transmitted quite impressively.  I can just imagine how the X4 would sound with 5.1.  It does, however, leave you totally oblivious to your surroundings.  I was playing Dead Space last Monday with a mostly empty apartment.  Everyone but my daughter Angelise was gone for the day.  She stayed home sick and was sleeping while I fired up a round with the headset so as not to disrupt her sleep.  While crawling along a corrider, tense as all hell, here comes Angelise, bolting from her room.  Didn't hear her coming and scared the bejesus out of me.  

Another impressive feature is microphone monitoring.  Ever have headphones on while listening to music and talk to someone very loudly, only because you can't hear your own voice giving you the assumption that the person you're talking to doesn't either?  Well, the boom mic on this headset allows a small amount of your voice volume in so you actually hear yourself in the headset when you chat.  A nice feature considering the people you're chatting with don't have to hear the audio from your game.  Pretty cool.  

The headset isn't without it's drawbacks.  When connected, I get a faint hissing sound which I can only imagine is feedback.  It's all dependent on where I place myself in my home theater room.  It's not obtrusive as it's mostly audible when there isn't any audio coming through the headset, but it's there.  While chatting during my Scene It? session last night, the chat wasn't as good as the xbox 360 wireless controller.  I was told I sounded ok but the other party sounded too muffled.  I didn't think about it at the time but I should've told my opponent (who has the same headset) to pull his boom mic away from his mouth to see if that would clear up the audio.  I'll test it out more this week as I plan on getting in some Vegas action with my brother Jorge and friend Junior.  They'll let me know.  

Finally, since I have all audio from my hd-dvd player, ps3/blu-ray and dvr pumping into my receiver AND the IR transmitter is connected to my receivers headphone jack, I can now enjoy late night movie and tv marathons without disturbing the family.  

One last thing, the headset isn't wireless in the truest sense of the word.  Unlike the Xbox 360 wireless headset, which connects wirelessly with the console, the X3 needs to connect to the 360's controller in order to chat, similar to the original headset that comes with the 360.  But that's only if you want to chat.  The cable that plugs into the controller can be detached from the headset in addition to the controller for it to be truly wireless.  No chat, no cable needed.

If someone wants me to post pics, let me know.