Optimus Maximus

I wish I had the kind of money to blow on something like this but I really don't don't need it.

It might be cool for people who do a lot of graphic programming or video editing, since you could assign a different picture to each key.
I can see how handy it would be for something like that.
Or if you were a serious hardcore online gamer, you could assign visual clues to each of your commands. That would be VERY cool.

But I just use the web to surf for naughty pictures and blog about crap like this, so I can't see spending that kind of money for a tool I can't utilize to it's full potential.

It sure is freaking cool, though!

I Wanna Be An Atomic Punk

It's no news to anybody that I love me the Guitar Hero.

I may only have a PS2 (for now) but that doesn't keep me from rocking out like the rest of you cats with your fancy PS3's and XBox 360's.

I haven't picked up the latest one yet, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith but I probably will shortly.

After reading this though, I can wait a little longer.

Really??? You're not kidding with me and toying with my emotions, are you?

A Guitar Hero: Van Halen?!?! F#*K YEAH!!!

One of my favorite video games coupled together with THE BEST DAMN ROCK BAND IN HISTORY? (That's a fact Jack!)

I think my head just exploded from the sheer awesomeness of that divine bit of news.

The Wall Street Journal did an article on it, so it's seems to be a legitimate rumor for now.

What could possibly keep this from happening and making my whole life worth living?

Well....

1) Do they pick songs from all eras of the band or only the David Lee Roth tracks?

2) Did they include animated copies of all the band members or just Eddie? If they include them all, does that mean we'll get Michael Anthony on bass or Eddie's son Wolfgang? Will Sammy make an appearance?

3) What if the band boots DLR out again right when the game goes into production? Will it still be a "go" or will it be scuttled?

In all seriousness, I'm not holding my breath for this one to appear.

It would be incredible for a fan like myself to have this happen but the dynamics of the band are such that it's not a probability.

I'm more likely to see Piano Hero: Elton John before this ever happens.

(But I'll be happy to be proven wrong, okay Activision?)

Her Luck Ran Out

A woman in Indiana accidently ran a sword through her foot during a "good luck" ritual.

The ceremony was to give thanks for a recent run of good luck, but apparently that luck had just run out when they decided to celebrate.



.... and I'm not making that up.
Other sources here, here, and here.

I Thought It Would've Been Funny

I guess some people don't like a good joke.

Anybody remember those ads from the '80's where two cars would pull alongside each other and one person in one car would ask another person in the other car if "they had any Grey Poupon"?

Well, somebody else thought this was still kind of funny and tried to do it recently in Utah.... except they got a gun pulled on them for asking the question.

I guess I won't be trying to use that old schtick on anybody any time soon. Yeesh!



Brought to you by way of AdFreak

Tiny Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those recipes that everybody seems to have 'the best' recipe for.

Maybe that's just me, but it's like I'm always hearing the words "Oh! You should try my mom's lasagna", or "my wife makes the best lasagna", or "you haven't lived until you've tried my lasagna"... yadda yadda yadda.

That's cool. I love it.

And I can say with all honesty that I haven't met a recipe I didn't like (barring the frozen grocery store varieties).

But I'm not going to WOW you with a spectacular version of 'my lasagna'.

It's pretty basic, all things considered. I mean really. How can you mess it up if you know your way around the kitchen?

What brought this whole topic up was that I made some tonight to cook for tomorrow's dinner.

(Yeah, planning ahead. Go figure.)

It's got to be the smallest pan of lasagna I've ever seen!

Here it is with a U.S. dollar bill for size comparison:

(I don't how Uncle Sam looks upon people who post pictures of U.S. currency online, so don't mind the blacked-out serial number.)

Despite it's diminutive size, it weighs about 5 or 6 pounds!

Like I said, it's pretty basic.

A little tomato pasta sauce on the bottom of the pan covered with lasagna sheets.

Then some ricotta cheese.

A few more sheets.

Some browned hamburger and mild Italian sausage with sliced black olives and more sauce.

Repeat steps until you reach the top of pan, then cover with sauce and sliced mozzarella cheese.

I'll let you know how it turned out after tomorrow night.

------------------------

For an interesting way to cook lasagna, you could try using your dishwasher.

Midget Boxing

How about some midget boxing, hmmm?


The little(er) guy is a scrappy mo-fo!
I also like that the ref can just lift the fighter out of the way instead of having to direct him where to go.

Dark Knight, Grilled Tomatoes, and Yard Work

So not a whole heck of a lot has been happening lately... that is, until this weekend.

On Friday night I went and got advance tickets for "The Dark Knight" and my buddy Dug & I went bright and early (like 10:00 a.m.) to see it on Saturday morning.

A lot has been said about this movie and how great it is, so I won't go into that.

If you haven't seen it yet... you should. 'nuff said.

At 2-1/2 hours long though, you'd better bring a "bladder buddy" so you don't miss anything.

The rest of Saturday was kind of uneventful although Hotness started washing the house to make it look all nice and bright.

On Sunday, we got up and went to Home Depot to get some things needed to finish a couple of projects we were doing.

I was rebuilding a planter box in front of the porch and Hotness finished washing the siding on the house.

I had gotten some retaining wall bricks to make the planter, but seriously underestimated how many I needed. We picked up just 14 (yeah, that ought to do it) and brought them home only to figure out I needed to get 30 more!

Back to Home Depot in my car to pick them up. (If you know me, you know what kind of car I have so you can imagine how 'fun' it was to try and fit 30 of these things into my car!)

Made it home and then discovered I didn't have enough dirt for the planter. *sigh*

I'll get it tonight on my way home.

I moved on to a different project and washed the outside windows. It's amazing how good everything looks when you can see!

Getting close to dinner time now, so I lit up the BBQ and grilled some tomatoes and also some zucchini (which I basted with some lemon herb marinade).

The tomato idea came from this recipe but I embellished a bit and instead of just salt and pepper, I used Mrs. Dash and a little Cajun spice seasoning. I also dropped a little bit of feta cheese in the cut side of them. Yum-yum!

Add to this some garlic bread (toasted on the grill, no less) and it was a filling and low-fat meal!

Here's what the tomatoes looked like after they cooked:

I also picked up a toaster oven this weekend.

Taking a cue from Qtilla, I'm trying to use less energy at the house and thought that a smaller (toaster) oven would make more sense to use for just the two of us, rather than heating up a big, ol' regular-sized oven every time.

I'm still trying to get used to it, so I can't say whether I like it a lot or if it's more of a pain in the butt than I need. I'll keep you posted.

(It's got a rotisserie feature, so I'm looking forward to trying that out soon)

Bought some stuff online, but that's going to be the subject of another post.

Hope everybody had a good time this weekend and was able to enjoy this nice weather we're having.