*What I’m Watching or Listening to Now*
Mel Brooks Marathon – Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein

*Random Question* OR *Random Quote*
Preston Preston: “It’s all his fault… Albert Einstein, what kind of name is that for a scientist!”
From Yahoo Serious’ “Young Einstein” (1988)

*Dates* – B = Birthday; E = Event; W = Weekend; X = Closed

The Relay for Life was as expected this year and I got to catch up with some friends and fellow Cancer survivors. Sadly our team didn’t receive too many donations this year, so for the time being I removed the donation box from the site as I think of new ways to attempt this for next year. I was going to take some pictures at the event and post them here but I know some of the people prefer not to have their pictures taken, especially people who are still going through treatment and I wanted to respect their wishes. I have another event I’m going to soon and will attempt to get photos there to make up for it. Sadly, the butt load of Ibuprofen I took before the event didn’t last long so I was in massive pain for the last hour or two I was there, but I completed my six laps as promised before heading home. They attempted a new “Poker Run” style lap to see how the people would like it and I managed a pair of Queens, so I got my ass kicked on that one (didn’t stay for the results).

*College*
If everything goes well, I should be returning the end of August to finish up my degree and offer my sincere apologizes to Lisa and my other advisers for all the issues caused.

*Work*
See new “Dates” area for a few details of office closings.
Added two new domains into ‘the family’ in regards to a few projects that we have started and did some updates/maintenance to a few of the sub domains. Soon we’ll be adding at least two more repo’s to GitHub for projects in regards to HTPC automation and a simplistic image gallery (for showing off HTPC Library).

*Medical*
Obviously my fault, but I ‘over did it’ at the Relay for Life and my back is killing me, plus my left arm due to the way I have to walk with my cane (so my upper shoulder and my wrist/palm). I have a meeting next week to see if a new doctor would be willing to work with me and see what, if any of my complications can be resolved or lessened. I’m still searching for a ‘replacement’ psychiatrist (a.k.a. non professional that will just listen to me bitch and moan without judgment).

*Gadgets*
XBMC: Since running the Nightly installs (‘Eden’, pre-11.0) upgrade Dharma’s (10.1) Sqlite3 database (meaning you can’t downgrade) I have to figure out how I managed to bork the TV side of the Video database when I installed the July 7th Nightly. Granted, the database was the least of my problems with that version and the following 3 or 4 that I tried after, since they all made XBMC crash so damn frequent that if I wasn’t such a diehard fan I would have bailed on the entire app and tried something new. Since MediaPortal and a few others I’ve tried in the past didn’t work the way I wanted I gave the 07/10 Nightly a few days of pissing me off before trying a new one. Everything was back to great with the 07/12 and on… although the vid-database is still screwed I’m going to just deal with it until I finish with the remaining re-prep I’ve been doing on the structure. Once the restructure is done I’m going to do a complete overhaul on the server and create a step-by-step guide for many of the HTPC related pieces of software and post guides here (probably create a dedicated page for them).

*The Vote*
I know I don’t have many readers of this site, so it’d be stupid for me to assume I did much to help, but the vote I mentioned in the last post currently has Maria in first place (with 30.68% of the votes). I’m not even sure when the voting is over since I can’t read the Russian and Oleg hasn’t been around too much lately to translate for me. Anyway, for those readers that did vote, thank you.

*What I’m Watching or Listening to Now*
Bored out of my mind and not feeling good, so was going to watch a mini marathon of the Pirates of Caribbean movies.

*Random Question* OR *Random Quote*
This was a REAL conversation I just had
Him: Are they ever going to come out with a second season of ….? (don’t remember the show mentioned)
Me: Yeah, it comes out in September I think
Him: Shit, that’s nine months away…
Me: Um, dude, that’s three months….
Him: (counting on his fingers) April, March, May, June, July, Sept….
Me: It’s the middle of freaking’ June…
Him: Oh?!? But….
Me: (cutting him off) Seriously?

*Dates* – B = Birthday; E = Event; W = Weekend; X = Closed

*Work*
See new “Dates” area for a few details of office closings.
We’re extending the current Microsoft promotion for another two (2) weeks as an ‘apology’ for the fact I’m going to disappear for a week of it.

On a side note, although the current widget near the top left for the Relay for Life still says 0% raised, it appears it was broke as the donations we’ve got registered under the other tracker (supposedly it’s fixed now). I know many people have their reservations for donating to charities that do events since some of the money donated goes to running said event instead of it all going to research and I’m normally one of those people. I have no problems giving money to a charity but up until a couple years ago I would outright refuse to give during ‘event time’ for that same reason. In fact, with the exceptions of the Red Cross doing a blood drive or the Relay, I still donate directly to the charity (outside the event). I know the economy sucks, believe me, living on disability for the last couple years hasn’t been fun, but if you have the means to spare a little, click the “Donate Now” above and give a little hope and a smile to those fighting Cancer or know someone who is.

*Gadgets*
No idea why it took so long to upgrade the iPad from 4.3.2 to 4.3.3 but WOW it’s so much better, in fact about 90% of the issues I had with the Home Button being a sporadic little bitch went away. Now I just have to finish reconfiguring all my damn apps (didn’t restore a backup to start from a clean slate) and wait for iOS 5 to be official released.

*Updates/Upgrades*
Now, the “Vote for a Friend” part listed in the title… If you head on over to the Russian State TV and Radio Music Centre it will let you vote for Maria Tretyakova (listed as “Третьякова Мария, Россия” 7th from bottom). I apologize, as far as I know, the site does not provide an English version of the poll, that’s why I listed Maria’s position in the list. If you click her name, you can find a YouTube video at the bottom of her playing Piano…

*What I’m Watching or Listening to Now*
Playing “catch-up” on a bunch of Rev3 Shows…

*Random Question* OR *Random Quote*
As some of you know, I’ve been battling depression (among other things) for years… How sad/fucked up is it when you visit a new psychiatrist and spend an hour with them, don’t even delve into a third of the issues you need to deal with when they stop you and say “Um, my practice can’t handle the volume of issues you seem to have and you need to seek help elsewhere.” Yet more useless forms of ‘medical assistance’…. yet more reasons I want to leave the US and find somewhere that can help me… not that I could ever afford it.

*Dates* – B = Birthday; E = Event; W = Weekend; X = Closed

*College*

*Work*
See new “Dates” area for a few details of office closings.

*Medical*
Now I’m dealing with all the ‘normal’ medical issues and dealing with Social Security as well… Why can’t I just get better?

*Gadgets*
Don’t remember what I was going to write… Haven’t gotten anything new, but was supposed to write a review on something… don’t remember what that was either…

*Updates/Upgrades*
Anyone with my cell phone number feel free to call me, I have some electronics as well as DVD’s and Games (Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) for sale if you’re interested.

*What I’m Watching or Listening to Now*
Body of Proof – S01E01 – Pilot
I’m only 10 minutes or so into the pilot episode and so far, it seems like it’s the Bastard child of “House” and “Bones”, which may not be a bad thing, but unless the show gets a little better I’m not sure this is going to be one I’ll continue following.

*Random Question* OR *Random Quote*
No matter how many times it happens in the past, it will continue into the future… eating while watching Bones, CSI, Criminal Minds, or any other show of that nature is a BAD idea.

*Dates* – B = Birthday; E = Event; W = Weekend; X = Closed

*College*
Still ‘on hold’ I guess… ?!?!

*Work*
See new “Dates” area for a few details of office closings.
Possible new promotion will be starting next month, more details once things get finalized (based on negotiations).

*Medical*
They figured out the issues with my jaw are due to “TMJ” (too lazy to grab a Wikipedia link right now) but essentially the hinge on the right side of my jaw is kind of ‘borked’ which beyond pisses me off since most of the time I can barely open my mouth enough to eat anything wider than a Pop-Tart… thankfully (or not; according to others) even with this limit doesn’t stop me from talking… most of the time.

*Gadgets*
No new ‘gadgets’ per se, but I guess video games kind of fit here too and I’m not going to bore people listing games, but I will make this simple comment… when a game is released on both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3… it’s BULLSHIT the local Wal-Mart doesn’t carry the PS3 version half the time (or more). Our local Wal-Mart’s game selection is a fucking joke… the selection has been getting smaller and smaller for PS3, yet they maintain roughly the same quantity of PS2 games… go figure.

*Travel*
Nava invited me to spend a few days with her and her family for Passover and Adina thought that with Joseph turning 4 this June it’d be good for him to spend some time with someone that knew his father so well… It was an honor they thought I could bring justice to keeping JJ’s legacy alive for his son. Sadly, with everything that’s been going on the last few months, I don’t think I can afford to make the trip (I was supposed to arrive there on the 17th).