2008 is the year things get done

Just like anyone else, I have made a few new years resolutions for 2008. The main things I want to accomplish are financial and fitness based. Unlike any previous new years resolution I've made and not stood by this year is hopefully going to be different. This year I'm going to get things done.

Initially I'm setting my goals low and ratcheting them up as I accomplish them. Each week I will be going to the gym 2-3 times. On the financial side I will be setting a hard goal of combining my high interest credit cards and getting out of debt completely in the coming years.

I have been going to my gym, Club Fitness - Power House, consistently since December but only recently have I been able to be there 3 times or more per week. Its given me more energy that I've had in years. I've never done much in terms of fitness since high school so hitting the gym this much is actually very empowering. I'll be keeping track of my progress mainly just to hold myself accountable but here goes nothing.

Xbox dashboard feature request: Video Sizing

Now that the Xbox 360 can playback most of the videos I want to watch from my computer I've been using it as my primary 'media center' in my living room. Every time I startup a video I'm forced to change the resolution of the video to 'Stretched' or 'Letterbox' manually. Having to change the resolution each time is tedious and poor UI design. It is also counter intuitive considering that Microsoft is expecting their customers to control the UI through their controller. The controller turns off after only a few minutes of inactivity. Since most movies and TV shows last longer than 6 minutes users are then forced wait another 20 sec after every video to turn on the controller again. I have a nice enough remote that I don't need to rely on the controller for playback but this would just be the extra layer of polish that video playback on the 360 needs.

Allowing the 360 to playback divx and other popular video formats is great but why the hell won't it auto adjust the size of the content to your TV's resolution. Its a small feature request but after constantly dealing with customers that can't even recognize that their 1080p TV is only showing content in 480p.

Top Fuel Dragster: Warm Up Shockwave

Watching top fuel dragsters race is a sensory overload. Your body shakes as they pass. Your vision literally blurs as they go by. And your ears take a serious beating by the end of the day. At least once in your life go and watch them because its unlike anything you've ever felt, seen or heard before.

Jackson has been broken... and fixed again

Jackson had a broken leg on Friday night. I'm still not sure how it happened or who did it to him but I'm certainly not done looking into it. He was running about the house (tearing stuff up as usual) around 6:30 and then a few hours later is locked up in my room with a shattered back leg. He had surgery the following morning to place a pin in his broken leg. Upon going through surgery I had the vet check for additional bruising and such that would show how the leg was broken. The vet did find bruising around his butt and knee areas that shows he was obviously hit in that area to cause the break and didn't get himself stuck in something and break it while he tried to get out. In my room nothing was laid across his body when he was found by Jessica at 9:00 to suggest he ran into something that fell on him and broke his leg by his own actions. I can say that whenever I find out what happened that Friday and find out did this to my dog I will respond legally and to the fullest extent of the law. I have talked about taking legal actions to those I know in the past who have stolen from me (a considerable amount actually) and I eventually calmed down and did nothing about it; however I'm not going to stand idly by this time while someone that I know abuses my dog. It may have just been an honest case of Jackson running underneath someone's foot and being stepped on but even so, no one is talking which is making the entire situation all the more evil.

PS3.. probably not for me

Originally I had planned to camp out for a day and a half to buy the PS3 as soon as it launches 11/17 and sell it to make some big easy money. But as of right now (midnight of 11/15) every store within a 50 mile radius already has 10-20+ people waiting outside their doors. Of all those stores Best Buy is the only one I know of that is even receiving more than 10 total units. So much for making an easy $800+ dollars. As of now the average price of a PS3 on eBay seems to be about $1,500 with bundles going for as much as $2,300+. If people are already waiting to buy one 30 hours before launch then I can only imagine what the price of a PS3 is going to be around Christmas. I'll even bet that the average price of the system alone will reach as high as $2,500 maybe even $3,000 come Christmas time. I don't think there will be another big shipment of PS3s until spring, April'ish per Xbox 360's precedent. If only I was a little quicker to hurry up and wait in line I'd be rich too. I may be waking incredibly early to try and snag a system somewhere around town but only time will tell.

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-Update- The average price is already climbing to $3,000 and ps3's aren't even available yet. I guess my prediction was a lil low. Don't be surprised if you see game consoles reach upwards of $5-7,000... maybe even $10,000 at Christmas time.

Jackson has arrived!

I've never had a dog before, but I've always wanted to have one. Last Friday Jessica and I picked out a beautiful Italian Greyhound to take home with us. We named him Jackson. I'm not sure how well he was treated while he was at Critter Corner as looked like he was cowering in fear when they were getting him out of his cage. The first few days he was very skittish and scared of almost everything. Now that he's in a good home and being spoiled rotten he seems to be doing much much better. View More

Million Dollar Idea?

Everyone has customized ring tones and everyone has vibrating phones; but, does anyone have a ring tone that actually vibrates to the beat?