Damn, Can I Just ENJOY Having a Car?

So, if anyone ever bothered to listen to the audio post that I made a week ago or so, you would've found out that I'm now officially the owner of a car again. It's nothing fancy; just an old '92 Toyota Corolla, but it can get me from point A to point B, and that's pretty much all I care about at the moment. Thus far, since I've had the car, things have been good. I've finally been able to do things that I've been wanting to do for so long, like going to the supermarket to get some food, or just finding some escape from the guys here in the house. (Nah, things aren't that bad...YET...but I still need to get away every once in awhile before I lose sight of what I really need to be doing here in Syracuse in the first place...) However, not everything has been peachy since I obtained the car from NYC two weeks ago. For one, gas prices are simply atrocious, and Syracuse has way too many potholes for an old car like mine to escaped relatively unscathed...

And someone already has broken into it. Ain't that a bitch? Some dick apparently thought it would be a good idea to smash a side window and break into my car. They thought they were going to score an iPod and a DV camera, but all they got was a cheap little charger and a 20 dollar bag. Nothing more. I was surprised that with a wack pull like that, that they would've also taken the change I have for tolls n such too, but alas, the thieves had a conscience. And they also broke the smallest window they possibly could, too. Ain't that so sweet of them?

Fucking assholes.

I have the slightest feeling that it was my neighbors from downstairs. We've been getting into heated rhetoric over parking spaces behind the house, and I think that they've been getting peeved because I'm taking a spot that is rightfully mine. If I find out that they are the ones responsible for breaking into my car, I'm going to fucking have a field day in their house...

They fail to realize that I have the key to their apartment...

But I'm not rushing to conclusions just yet. Key word is "Yet..."

. . . . . . .

So get this, I try to call the police to file a report, right, and I asked SU's Public Safety if they knew what the non-emergency number was for the Syracuse PD. This woman snidely told me, "9-1-1. That's what it's for." Now first of all, maybe someone else can explain this to me, but since when did 9-1-1 become the place to call for a non-emergency situation like a car break-in? But whatever, I digress. So I called up the number on my cell phone, and low and behold I got through...but to the 9-1-1 center in NYC!!! I live 300 miles north of the city...what the hell is that going to do for me!? Because of the fact that I have a NYC area code on my cell phone, my calls are automatically routed to NYC's 911 center. No matter where I'm at in the world. What if I was being attacked in Syracuse? Or being lynched in Texas? It doesn't make sense. I don't understand why my calls just don't go to the local 911 board. Now, I have to find a payphone somewhere to make a 911 phone call. I find the thought of that highly disturbing...

Nintendogs Fever!

For the past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of owning three beautiful puppies. I have taught them all how to do all kinds of tricks, such as sitting down, rolling over, and shaking their booties to the latest music. I take them out all the time to the park and play frisbee with them. Hell, I've even entered them into competitions and won some money off of them, and remodeled my house to look like a traditional Japanese home!

Oh, and in case you were wondering what kind of dogs they are, I have a golden retriever named Che, a Siberian Husky named Fidel, and a Shih-Tzu named Cookie.

And they love to take a poop in my neighbor's front lawn.

Of course, I'm not talking about REAL dogs, but rather, I'm talking about virtual dogs that I'm raising on Nintendo's latest cult release, Nintendogs, for their handheld Nintendo DS system. Utilizing the system's touch screen and built-in microphone, you can pet, feed, and train your dogs using a combination of voice-commands and hand movements. While this might sound like an advanced Tamagotchi or something, the fact is that this game is a bit more than that. It's sooo...interactive. It's like owning real dogs! You have to feed them just as often as you would a real dog, and you have to take them out for walks before they poop all over your apartment. You also have to bathe them, and you can buy all kinds of accessories for them, too.

Basically, if you've ever wanted a dog, but either don't have the room for one, or can't afford one, Nintendogs is a great alternative.

And boy, am I hooked.

Sure, this game is so cute, it hurts my teeth. Seeing these little puppies yelping and tail-wagging is enough to make even the manliest of men sit down and say, "Awwwwwwwww." But god damn, it's had my attention for a good while. At times, it gets repetitive "playing" this game. (You really don't "play" Nintendogs... you take care of them...) But there's something that keeps you coming back for more...

I think it's like "virtual responsibility" or something like that. (Shrug)

Anyways, if you even have a chance, check out this game for like 5 minutes and see what I mean. Or just head to Nintendo's Nintendogs website to see mini-videos of these dogs in action.

Apple CEO Calls Music Industry "Greedy"

Today, just before the Mac Expo being held in Paris, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was asked by reporters to comment on rumors regarding potential price increases on Apple's market-dominating music download service, iTunes. For months, people have been spinning the idea that Apple would eventually cave into demands from music industry executives to raise prices on music on iTunes. However, after a statement made today, Jobs has put those rumors to rest.

"If they (music industry) want to raise prices, it just means that they are getting a little greedy."

Apple has long been positioning itself to compete with the still-active illegal music downloading scene, and has marketed iTunes as the cheap, fast, legal, and easy-to-use alternative to downloading music off of Kazaa or eDonkey. If Apple ever raised prices or introduced a tier-ing structure for music sales (where the latest performers' work would be more expensive than older work), then the legal downloading scene would immediately cave-in on itself, and the music industry would be to blame, once again, for its own downfall.

Kudos to Apple for sticking to its guns and bitch-slapping the music industry into simply, "shutting the fuck up."

Here's a small article from MSN Money regarding Jobs' comments.

Happy Birthday!!!

Just wanted to give a Happy Birthday shout-out to Michelle!

You old wench. :-)

Ghost Stories

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

With a week left of summer vacation, Nelson, this sophomore that pledged Morgan, Pedro, and Edwin's fraternity last semester, came to my apartment and stayed over until he was able to move into his own place on campus. During that time, Nelson and I just kicked back and had fun, taking advantage of the remaining free time we had left before classes began. Now of course, considering that we are living in an old house this semester, I couldn't have gone the entire week and NOT tell Nelson a ghost story about the house. So, one morning, I told him about how one day, I was walking through the house, when I suddenly saw someone sitting down in front of a dresser and looking right at me from an empty room towards the back of the house. I told him about how I did a double take, went back into the room, and saw absolutely nothing in there. Not even the dresser. Now, the story itself is true: I actually DID see this person in this room, and I saw that individual on more than one occasion during my time in the apartment over the summer. While I know a lot of people would be completely freaked out about seeing something like that, I really don't spend much time dwelling on it, so it's not a big deal to me. Hey, if a ghost is there, I can't do anything about it, so why waste my time being afraid of it? After all, it's not doing anything to me, and I'm not doing anything to it, so why worry?

Of course, not everyone shares my lackadaisical attitude towards the ghost in my house, and I knew, somehow, that Nelson wasn't going to be too happy about the possibility of supernatural spirits being present in the house he was staying in. So, when I told him that morning, just for kicks, he reacted just as thought he would: with absolute denial...

"Nah, son. You lying son. You just trying to scare me."

I didn't have to say anything more after that. Once you have someone react with a denial as strong as that one, you got 'em, hook, line and sinker. You could tell that in the back of his mind, he was dwelling and thinking about the possibility of the ghost in the house and began "remembering" sudden door slams in the middle of the night. He could also suddenly recall also seeing the figure inside the bedroom, looking at him everytime he walked by. The story had stuck, big time.

When Edwin first moved into the apartment, Nelson made sure that he got the news of our supernatural friend. He told him the story, and then of course, Edwin replied with a "man, I don't believe in ghosts." But then, after a while, he too began asking for more information, even though it was about something that he didn't "believe in." Before long, Nelson would scare the bejesus out of him by staking a hideout spot in the room and busting out everytime Edwin walked by.

"Get out of my house!!!"

"Ohhh shit, AHHHHHHH!!!!"

Fun times here at the house. :-)

Got the Car!

I went back to the city this past weekend, saw my momma, and picked up my wonderful, new (well, at least new to me, but definitely not "new") CAR! :-) No longer am I forced to depend on other people for a ride!

Man, I really need to find some time to update the blog...I've been extremely busy formatting and designing the newest issue of my campus publication, "La Voz."

Updates soon!

FEMA Can't Seem to Get Anything Right

As the the flood waters from Hurricane Katrina recede, the number of voices that have criticized the FEMA for its rescue efforts in the hurricane's wake have approached untold millions. People all over the world are weighing in on the government agency's ridiculously slow response to Katrina's devastation, and the entire fiasco represents yet another blemish on the Bush Administration's less than stellar record. Between turning much-needed aid workers away from the region, to waiting days before mass evacuations began, FEMA definitely has a lot of 'splainin to do.

And the criticism and complaints continue to mount. Today, it was revealed that FEMA's emergency response websites are not Mac or Linux compatible meaning that emergency workers who are not running Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 cannot use the aid website that FEMA has established. While this might not mean much on the surface at first, the fact is that many aid workers use either Linux distributions or donated computers that are running an OS that is older than XP. In order to gain access to the site, aid workers have to tap into already stretched funds in order to buy OS licenses from Microsoft.

Sigh. Just another crappy reminder of how bureaucratic our government really is.

Invasion of the Freshmen...

V-Blogging On the Go!!