I arrived home last night after a short (is 4.5 days short?) and not nearly long enough vacation in California. I had a blast out there with my good friend Seb. Met some other cool people and finally met a long-time Internet friend in real life.

I have pictures up on my Facebook profile and will be compiling some video to upload to YouTube.

Prior to the trip I purchased a new Canon HD video camera; their Vixia HF20 model. It's pretty nice and I'm happy with it so far.

Also, my Internet is crawling at a snail's speed and as my ISP can find no fault on their outside wiring, I am lead to believe my 5~ year old Motorola Surfboard has bit the dust. I ordered their new(ish?) SB6120 DOCSIS 3.0 compliant model and it should hopefully be here Wednesday.

Thanks to my ISP (Broadstripe) being a complete failure, I haven't had internet access at home since sometime on Wednesday.

What's worse is I have a cripped phone browser, so I can kind of do things, but not much.

Broadstripe will be out to "fix" the problem tomorrow, a full 4 days after we reported it. Believe me, I'm thrilled.

Also, I saw District 9 today. While the premise was far-fetched, it was good for what it was.

In just over two weeks, I will finally be making my way to the west coast. While I'm not going to be visiting everything over there I want to see on this trip, I'll hopefully get to experience a little bit of it.

In typical nerdy fashion, I set up a countdown so I can watch in real time just how much time is left until I leave.

So without further ado, I give you: The Time Until I Leave For California Countdown.

I received word yesterday that an old friend of mine and mutual friend and acquaintance of countless others, John Orem (known to many as "Slinky", the bassist of former MD band Hybred), passed away on Sunday. I waited to post anything until I had further info, and now that his Obituary and viewing info has been made public, I'll be posting it here:

Obituary and viewing information can be found here:
http://www.mccullyfuneral.com/sitemaker/sites/McCull2/obit.cgi?user=121973Orem

A second obituary is here:
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/obituaries/2009/07/2646/John-C-Orem.html

The viewing will be this Saturday, August 1st.

A Break In Chaos will be dedicating our set to him when we play Scream The Prayer the following day.

Click here and enjoy.

I have Scream The Prayer tickets. If you or anyone you know wants to go to the show in the flyer below, consider buying a ticket from me. They are $20 presale (and it's more expensive at the door).

If you have previously expressed interest (months ago) in a ticket and want one now, I have them NOW and I will deliver. All you have to do is give me the money when I get there.

To anyone who has expressed an interest in a ticket but didn't actually plan on buying one: FUCK YOU, you're the reason I hate doing this shit.

Long story short is my band has to sell a lot of tickets and we can't afford to pay out of pocket for the ones that don't sell, so help us out.

If you want more info, get in touch with me.

PS: I need cash in hand BEFORE the end of July. So no, I can't hold a ticket for you. We turn our money in before the show, and I've already said I'll deliver. Don't wait til the last minute and complain about paying a door price if you go without a ticket because I won't give a damn.

Microsoft has updated their End User License Agreement for Windows XP.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/eula/pro.mspx

In case they change it, here's a screenshot:


(Via Chris Rowe at Twitter)

Congratulations to my Mom (Joan Elizabeth) on marrying her boyfriend, Rob today at 4:56pm (456789).

Congratulations to my Dad and Step Mom (Elizabeth Joan) their 9th wedding Anniversary. Also today.

Yeah, I can't make this stuff up.

Today in just under an hour, it's going to be 12:34:56 07/08/09, making the collective timestamp 123456789. This will only happen once a century and as such, I felt it necessary to setup a live countdown which you can view here:

http://nion.be/789

If you have Twitter, please click the "TWEET THIS!" link!

Billy Mays (Oxiclean informercials, "Pitchmen" TV show, et al) died today.

I can't believe how many people have died lately, this is nuts.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529328,00.html