The Jitterbug gets an upgrade.

When my previous car, the Mazdarati, died in New Albany, Mississippi, I had to quickly find a new means of transportation. Enter: Jitterbug.

In case you aren't aware, Buicks are designed for septo- and octogenarians. Proof of this can be found in the giant, super comfortable seats, a tape deck, and the massive display on the radio. Due to the extra large readout of the clock/radio dial, the resemblance to the Jitterbug mobile phone-also designed with the blue-haired in mind-was the inspiration for naming my new Buick.

It took me nearly a month to research, decide, find, and finally buy the perfect head unit for the Jitterbug. I wanted something which wouldn't look alien in GM's flagship car built for the "Greatest Generation". I decided on the JVC KW-XR810, although I didn't go with the pink display.

I've never installed a head unit or even helped with an installation before, so I was slightly worried about how well I could complete this task. Surprisingly, the whole job wasn't difficult at all. The part which was most frustrating was tucking the wires in nooks and crannies so the radio would fit properly. Other than that, everything went smoothly.

I'm completely jazzed about this purchase. I won't go on about it's features, because you can just read all that somewhere else. But I will mention one special feature which I wasn't prepared for, I don't need to buy a double male auxiliary cable! My phone connects via Bluetooth which not only allows me to take phone calls but I can listen to podcasts, too.

Before:

After:

№ 5 on my "Favorite Electronics" list.

In no certain order, my TV, computer, phone, and guitar hold the top four positions on my list of electronics which provide me the most pleasure and increase my quality of life.




Locking in the fifth and final position on the list is the most recent purchase, a NeatReceipts image scanner. It's an image scanner with so much more to offer. Packaged with the hardware is NeatReciepts' own software which allows you to scan, file and edit your images as well as incorporate your receipts into other financial software. Another added bonus is this product gives the user the option to scan a document to a PDF...which you can edit! Why didn't I have this when I still had classes in school and could just scan notes* to read later? This thing is perfect.

If anyone has even the slightest proclivity to keeping records of receipts and other documents in order, please look in to getting one of these. And to sweeten the deal, NeatReceipts sent me an email to send to someone else who would receive 50% off of their own life simplifying device. Interested?





*notes or old tests

I've never beat Super Mario Bros.

That's right. I've never beat the game which is commonly called "Mario 1". I may be the only person who both had the game and actually played it who has never beat the game. And it's looking like I never will.

I've played the original version a few times throughout the years. Failed. I've played several emulators. Failure. Mario All Stars? Death.I just can't seem to put all 8-bits of Bowswer in his place.

Imagine the sweeping feeling of revenge that overwhelmed my entire body when I found a new emulator...which allows you to play as not just Mario, but Link, Samus, Metroid, some guy in Castlevania, and that guy in Contra! As I investigate further, I find that all the characters bring their weapons over with them in Super Mario Bros. Crossover. Visions of mowing down Goombas with that Spread gun (or is it Spray?) have my heart racing. I make my character choice. Hit start. Doo doo do doo doo DOO do...and we begin. Dead within 10 seconds. I made it to World 4 and that's it.

So, essentially nothing has changed. The only thing different is that I killed off someone other than Mario in my 20 plus years of failure with the game. Knocking off Bowser in 3, Mario World, Mario RPG,-and I've even beat all those bosses in Mario 2-, doesn't seem to matter because that 2D, 8-bit, clunky moving Bowser has again escaped my wrath.

A tramp. A ragamuffin. An urchin: Seasick Steve

Finding new music that holds up over time, for me, is no easy task. When I listen to some of the CDs I bought within the past five years, I actually feel shame. Not surprisingly, I prefer the extra-auricular bleeding that occurs when listening to some of those bands over the shame I sometimes feel. So when I come across something new, I get really excited. One such band is Iron Maiden. But that will have to wait for another time.

I somehow stumbled upon this vagrant named Seasick Steve. He's just a blue collar guy from the Delta who happened to wow the Brits with his bluesy, gritty, good ol' boy strumming. Why the Brits? Somehow, like a true vagabond, he just landed there. And what of this strumming? This is where Steve gets interesting. He mainly plays a three-stringed guitar and those strings aren't in the right place or tuned properly. On other occasions, he plays a diddley bo or a cigar box guitar. No matter what he's playing, there's usually a slide involved as well as his "Mississippi drum machine", which is just a wooden box with a few holes and some binding.

If you've not already heard or heard of Seasick Steve, you pretty much get the picture of what you're going to hear by how I've described him. I can guarantee that when you listen to him, you'll soon notice that I wasn't even close. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with him, I'm telling you something you already know.

Below are two of his CDs, "I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left" and "Man from another time."

East Atlanta Beer Festival 2010

I figured I'd write about this past Saturday's festivities before 1) I forgot to do so, or 2) too much time had passed for the story to be relavant.

Having been to only two beer festivals, I'm not much of an expert at these sort of events. But, before both of them I had this naïve preconceived notion that folks of all sorts would be sitting around energetically yet orderly discussing their current tasting in a relaxed, non-highbrow sort of fashion. This has yet to be the case.

(Now before I begin to be a drag, I will say that I had a ton of fun while at the Festival. I need to inform you of this for the sake of all of us. No one likes to read about pure negativity. Now let us continue.)

Rather than thinking that all the people with popped collars,-yes, for some reason this is still happening-boat shoes, and polo-styled shirts just don't fit in at an event such as this, I sorted out that I was the outcast. As a student of all things beer, I attend tastings and beer festivals in order to learn about and try new beers...as well as have a good time in the process. I found myself being annoyed at all the phony people there who knew nothing about good, craft beer. But how did I know that they didn't know as much or more than I? And who put me in charge of assigning the direction of 2010's East Atlanta Beer Festival? Once I worked out that everyone there only wanted to enjoy the weekend with 100+ craft beers and 1000 of their closest friends, I relaxed and began to enjoy the rest of the day. And for some strange reason, after that pivotal moment, the beer started to taste better.



And to top it off, Brittany and I were greeted by the Beer Fest Bear.

Alright folks, this is enough. Literally.

Literally [lit-er-uh-lee]:

–adverb

1. in the literal or strict sense: What does the word mean literally?
2. in a literal manner; word for word: to translate literally.
3. actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy: The city was literally destroyed.
4. in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually.

A few years ago, I noticed that people were using this word with increasing frequency. Then, the frequency began to increase over time to a point now that if the usage were an actual sound wave, humans would not have the ability to hear it. (That's somewhere over 20,000 Hz.) It's said everywhere and seldom is it used properly. I say seldom. To be literal, I've never heard it used properly. What makes this worse is how often I hear "literally" followed directly by "probably". The fact that it already annoys me to no end only makes me more aware of every time it's used. Due to my perturbment, I think I've stumbled upon the genesis of this verbal epidemic.

As I've mentioned earlier, I'm always on the cutting edge of things. And listening to podcasts is one such thing.

"Pod-what?", you ask.

"Podcast. Google it.", I reply.

Look, I don't have time to get into a full description. Anyhow, I've been catching up on a podcast called Keith and the Girl . The show started in 2005 and within their first 50-ish shows, they set forth a chain of events which lead to my eventual, near suicidal aggravation. While incredibly entertaining, Chemda, (pronounced: Hem-duh, with a little throat-clearing sound before the first syllable), "the Girl" can be heard as the catalyst for people saying something is actual and true when they literally mean something closer to hyperbole.

Whether or not you've noticed this before or if it even bothers you, I would bet that you will be more aware of this from now on. Since you'll be on the look-out, I'll give you something else to notice: when you hear people say "literally", listen for the word have an upward inflection with each syllable progression as well as a small pause after saying the word. It almost sounds like "literally" is said as a question and as the punctuation.

So please folks, this is enough. Just stop with the word. You don't use this word properly and in the off chance that you do, your story isn't made more interesting by the usage of "literally".

As an early adopter...

...I'm always on the lookout for the latest, most cutting edge in everything. This is one such example.

Blog= web+log

For those who enjoy mathematics, I've just explained in equation form how "blog" came to be a word.

Although it is too soon to tell, my guess is that this "blog" thing will catch on someday. Only time will tell.