Habitualchaos

Since moving home about a year ago, Ive tried to find different avenues to get out of the house as much as I can. Just to do something that doesnt always remind me Im living at home. I dont regret moving back, since Im knocking out a nice chunk of debt... but I still dont have to like it.

One of the things I did, was buying my baby back in January... of course referring to my pretty Powerbook G4. Right around that time, my best bud John was home, and he and I started going to Borders to sit/chat/work on our laptops/etc. One of the things I read about Borders was that some locations were part of a network of "wireless hotspots" through TMobile. I signed up for an account, cause at the time, I was working from home a couple days a week... and figured I could get out of the house by going there on the days I worked from home.

Didnt really work out that way, as shortly after I signed up... we lost a couple accounts at work, and a couple of my coworkers were laid off; freeing up some workstations at work, which meant 5 days a week at the office now.

I kept the wireless access account at Borders, just so if I wanted to get out of the house and go there... I could still access the internet. I could afford it since Im living at home, so I figured what the fuck?!

As such, as Im typing this... Im sitting in Borders doing a little freelance work. The only problem with being here though... is Im afraid to go the bathroom. Well Im not afraid to go to the bathroom... I really just cant when Im here.

As you can assume, theres usually a group of other people here occupying the other tables. Me being the paranoid person I am... 1) I dont wanna leave my $2600 laptop sitting here on the table for however long Im gone... 2) even a security cable cant guarantee Im gonna come back and my baby would still be here... 3) with as many people that walk through here, Im gonna lose my table if I get up.

So my time spent at Borders, usually only lasts several hours... cause as soon as that urge hits me, I have to pack up my shit and go to the bathroom... just to leave, since I have actually tried the taking my shit with me, then coming back only to find all the tables are taken cause I got up.

And the real reason for this post... guess what time it is folks?

A couple days ago, I got an idea. Now I know what youre thinking... I should just be happy with that, but I think this was a good idea.

My two buds Marc and Devon work for Bike Nashbar, one of the biggest mail order places for almost everything bike. The warehouse is based in Canfield, not too far from me... thats where they work, along with all the warehouse workers. Every Thursday, during the warmer weather seasons, they have a cookout for everyone at the warehouse.

Marc makes burgers, and Dev makes hot dogs... charge $1 a person and they get any combination of the two (burgers and hot dogs), salad and chips. Not too long ago, I started joining them at their cookouts. Id have to skip if any of the big bosses showed up (which isnt all that often)... but I go most of the time. Its a lotta fun for me... getting out of the office and eating outside, all that.

I took today off from work... no reason, just wanted a day off. The warmer weather got me thinking lots about riding my bike more... so much, that I decided to buy a new wheelset and some road tires. I like mountain biking much much more... but on days its a little too muddy to back in the woods, I wanted a set of road tires so I dont wear the tread off my offroad tires riding on the road.

Getting the road tires reminded me of the 10.6 miles paved bike path that runs through our area, and just happens to run close to Nashbar. Heres where my good idea came in. One of the reason I took today instead of Friday, was to join Marc and Dev at the cookout without worrying about overstepping my lunch break. And since the bike path startes not too far from my parents place and runs right past Nashbar... I decided to take the path and ride my bike 8.5 miles to Nashbar for the cookout, and then come back.

I didnt quite get to start where I wanted to on the bike path... because there isnt any kind of parking lot at the start of it. So I started at about the 2.5 mile mark and did exactly what I planned... rode it to the 8.5 miles mark, right where it goes by Nashbar. Was excrutiating... and I loved every minute of it (later of course).

After the cookout, I kept going on the path to the 10 mile marker... and then started back to my car. The ride back wasnt as rough as the ride there, since going towards Nashbar its a very slight uphill slope... but it was still a very good ride. Its definitely the right way to get me back into doing it more consistently... I hope.

Course after a total of riding 15 miles today... Im fully expecting to be sore tomorrow, but its worth it.

I was gonna write something about getting the estimate for my camera repairs, and the cost being exactly what I feared. I was gonna write stuff I cant even remember right now, but seemed worthy of mentioning.

That ended, when this afternoon I actually saw the full, unedited video of that poor kid from PA. who was beheaded by Al Queda. I dont know what prompted me watch it in the first place... lets just chalk it up to curiosity, cause thats all I can think of.

I actually thought the stuff we sometimes see in video games/TV/movies would desensitize the actual acts... and I dont know if I truly believe that or not, but it was an impression I had. I was wrng, because those images are gonna stay with me for a long time.

Im not a overly religious person, Ive said that before. With every fiber in my being, however, I pray for his soul and his family.

Been a little bit since Ive even wanted to write anything, considering my last post. Im actually relieved that video hit me the way it did... for exactly something I mentioned in that post. That being, thinking what we all see in movies/video games/movies might have desensitized me to what that video showed. I dont wanna knock our various forms on entertainment... because I enjoy all three, but theres a lot of wicked stuff out there sometimes.

Today I figured Id just touch on a minor subject, nothing that requires a lotta thought at the moment.

Even without knowing the specifics of whats wrong... the damage, or "amount to be paid" for the repair of my beloved Coolpix 4500 was just as I feared. I sent it to a Nikon authorized repair place... in the hopes I could get away from the amounts Id undoubtedly have to pay through Nikon.

From my experience with my old Coolpix 950 Nikon rates their repairs in two categories, minor or major... and their prices for those are already set, around $120 for minor and $210 for major. When I got the estimate back from the place I sent it to, in Columbus... the amount was just as I feared, $250. Thats of course including labor, tax and shipping to send it back to me... but its still pretty much the same as what Id get sending to Nikon. With Nikons prices being what they are... for me to pay to get my camera back, pay to send it to Nikon, pay to have them repair it with sales tax and then pay to have thek send it back... I might as well just keep it where its at and have them repair it.

So, before the weekend I sent out a check for $252.19 to get my camera back... just one more thing to gnaw down my savings. It took them 3 weeks just to get me the estimate... so Im hoping itll take them less to get it done and back to me.

I really miss my camera... not having it here for 3 weeks makes me wish I hadnt sold my old 950 to a coworker.

Its been a goddamn week, I should post something. Its been a goddamn week, I should post something. Its been a goddamn week, I should post something. Its been a goddamn week, I should post something.

Shit... now I forgot what I was gonna say?!

Something Ive been watching on eBay for the past few days has reminded me of something I want to attain in my lifetime... a dream if you will. Its a little odd I must warn you... but first, what do you expect from me anyway; and second, I dont give a crap.

The auction itself is over... but Ive been watching it, like I said, for the past couple days with some real intent on maybe bidding on it. What Im talking about was a 9" tall solid pewter bust of Godzilla, seen here. Something in my head was just telling me I wanted this thing... even though I never actually bidded on it. Id been throwing around the idea about bidding on it since I saw the auction... prolly trying to justify the money somehow, realizing instead that it was just too much.

I do envy the winner of that auction though. Bastard.

This auction though, has reminded me of something I wanna do before I die... a dream if you will. I want to own an actual Godzilla suit someday. Not a replica or recreation... I want to own an actual, used-in-a-movie suit of The King of Monsters.

Ive been a Godzilla fan since I was a kid. I was never fanatical about it... yknow going so far as to purchase enough memorabelia to have what someone could consider a shrine; but I always planted my butt on the floor when I saw one channel surfing. Its slowly died down as I got older... but I still plant my butt on the couch (or my futon) whenever I catch what you could not mistake (with the screaming Japanese people talking out of sync) as a classic Godzilla movie. Id even thought about, as I always review DVD releases that come out every Tuesday, of buying a couple DVDs of the terrorizor of Tokyo.

Im not sure how close I'll actually get to this "dream" if you will... as I am many many years away from being able to afford such a thing. Not only that, I can only imagine how The Toho Company guards those suits.

None of this derails my dream of one day walking into my studio, in my own house, with my wife yelling at me about it because she "hates that thing"... and seeing a 7' (or however tall it is) empty Godzilla suit sitting in the corner, glaring at me.