Recently I had the chance to travel to Pennsylvania to be certified on PPG paint mixing. It was great, travel for work, something that I had only done once before years ago to Texas when I was certified for Valspar's paint mixing. This made a new place for me to mark on my map as "VISITED"

The biggest thing was that as many of you know, Pennsylvania neighbors New York, and for years I had wanted to visit it. Sure enough, I made plans. Places to visit, foods to eat, sights to see and others. I finished my seminar on a Thursday afternoon. That very same night my wonderful girlfriend flew out of San José, California to New York. I flew out on Friday morning and by noon time we both met each other at JFK airport. That place is HUGE. We checked into our hotel room and immediately set to tour a bit of New York.

First stop was the Twin Towers site, which was closed off with no access. The amount of people there was incredible, both in the Metro and on the streets. We asked directions towards the Statue of Liberty and walked our way there. We learned were we would go and exit from the Metro for the next day so that we take the Lady Liberty's tour. We did some more walking; make that a lot of walking. I had my own agenda that night, the Nintendo World store. For years it had been my dream to go there someday, I was not about to let my tired feet get the best of me. M&M store was great, 3 floors of everyting M&M, everything looks delicious. NBC building.... and finally, YESSSSS!!!!!!

NINTENDO WORLD STORE

..and yes, I did buy those plushies and a few other things. This made my trip so so worth it.. also, never mind my odd pose, I was too happy to care. Let's just say that I would have bought so many more things had I had the money.

Finally went back to our room, late and so very tired. The next morning we were up early to catch the Metro and be on our way to Liberty Island to visit Lady Liberty. I have to say, I was commenting on how I thought she'd be bigger, yet when we were climbing those stairs inside of her, I was cursing my self wishing she was smaller then. Ellis Island was our next stop. I had one more thing that I had promised my self I had to do while in New York. I am a huge fan of hot-dogs, yes, you know that one piece of meat that is nothing but disgusting pieces of other meats that nobody wanted for anything else. Yup, I loves me a good hot-dog. Gray Papaya's, while it was not the deal I myself had made it out to be, it was still delicious and great, best of all, cheap.

A few more stops before the end of the day, Empire State building. It get so windy and cold when you are up that high and it's raining. We did some more sight seeing here and there. Finally we gave up, so tired and returned to our hotel, only it took us much longer to get back. There was some sort of work going on and our regular route was not working that evening. Had to make all these connections. A gentleman we asked direction of asked where we were from, we told him and he made the comment that he hoped New York did not seem like it is portrayed by the media, we told him that people had been pretty nice and we had only met a very rude person, but I could just as easily find more in San Francisco. Finally made it to our room and just dropped dead tired to bed hoping we'd be able to wake up on time to make our flight back to San José, California

So, I've never cared much for the gamerscore or kill/death ratios in games. I've always tried to be a good player, never quit early on any games like other people do if they're loosing. My head set I only use to talk to people I actually know (on a RARE occasion with strangers) I did OK, had maybe one or two negative feedbacks on me, I can only imagine that it was because of someone I beat and they were sore loosers.

So the other day while I was at work, my roommate's kid decides to play. I had allowed him to use my system, but, I forgot to password protect my gamer profile. I get a text message from my girlfriend telling me he is playing the game and using the headset, a big no no. At least in the past I was there to see that he played fair and not quit or do anything annoying. BAHH!!

Next day I just have to check my profile and this is what I see

Really? He messed me up that bad? I had like 97% good feedback. Leason learned, my account is now password protected.

So, if there is anyone out there willing to give me goodback, I'd like that very much. I'm sure Microsoft will never find out about this little deal ;)

YES!!! I have loved the Phoenix Wright games since the very first case in the first game, Apollo Justice did not let me down. Once I got to the last case I had a VERY HARD time putting my Nintendo DS down. What a great game. Thank you Capcom, and I can't wait to see how the Edgeworth game will turn out, looking forward to it.

Ok, so there. Got to admit it. I mean, I've played FPS games since the days of Doom, Hexen, Quake and many others. My first on-line games was Quake, and I had played some Halo 2 and 3 on-line. I have played Call of Duty World at War for both Wii and 360, and while I really like the pointing system of the Wii, I just happen to like COD4 more. I have yet to beat Mega Man 9, and Sonic Unleashed. As much as I want to get Sonic and the Black Knight (Which I will) I just want to play COD4. Man, I am a mess.

So, I finally finished the fight, after having the game for more than a year. Not a bad game, glad to be done with all of it. Now back to more COD4.

There is something to be said about having friends over seas. I am fortunate enough to have a friend in Japan that shares his liking of games with me. Though only for the time being, I have in my hand a import copy of Super Smash Bros. X (brawl.) It seemed like forever since my friend e-mailed me with confirmation that the game had been sent out. He played it for a while, but since I paid for the greater part of it, he had to give it up in the end. No worries, when Brawl is released here in the US, I will mail him back the game.

As to how I play it, well, the way to go about it is certainly questionable. I am afraid, that these same tools are used by pirates to get illegal copies of the game out there. It's not fair to the rest of us really, and I do hope that at the very least, these people with illegal copies aren't able to play the game on-line, even better not play the game at all.

I have only had the chance to only clear some of the event modes. Started the story mode, but had to leave the game. Much too busy to do the brawl side of it yet. Still, Pikachu is my character of choice. My wave-bird is still my favorite controller, but the Wiimote and Wiimote+nun-chuck combo are still easy to use.

I can't wait t try some on-line matches.

Yet again the bargain hunting has paid off nicely. Browsing craigslist the other day I see someone selling an Xbox 360 for $150. Power brick, video cable, HDD and console. Problem? RRoD. Well, why not, I could attempt the xclamp and other things. Worst case, I just sell the HDD for about $50 and another $50 for the power brick. Loose a bit of money. Go to the guy's house and see that it boots, but the 3 red lights are flashing
Got home, opened the system... hmm, x-clamp had already been done. They guy used some torx type screws, and I switch them in for flat head, phillips machine ones. Tighten things up. Test. RRoD. Okay, next. Do the towel trick. System boot up and works. The system has been running for about 60 hours straight, no power cycles and the same game. Still running fine. I could easily turn around and sell this with a $30 controller for at least $250, but I did get this to fix and sell for the same price to my nephews. Still thinking of adding more cooling, I can see where the console really needs it, and it gets HOT.

Earlier in the week, my brother took the garbage out. When he gets to the bin, what does he see? A box full of Sega Genesis games, at least 20, which he gave to me. Today I went the the thrift store, and they actually had a Genesis for $5. I looked inside the messy box of cables, power adapters and more, and actually found the proper PSU for the Genesis, $2. I think I have a Genesis controller, if not, I should be able to find one easily.

Now I just get to work, and my co-worker hands me a little box that has been in the lost and found for some time now. Inside, Mario Kart DS, Tetris DS, and Shrek the Third for DS. Nice, free games. While I did already have Mario Kart DS, I can give this one to one of my brothers.

Score. Today, after filling up on gas I stopped at the thrift shop right across the street. I had previously found Golden Eye for Nintendo 64 for $4 (you read that right, four American dollars) Today, what do you know, hidden inside of a box, I found some Super Nintendo games. NBA Jam, Super R Type, Super Punch Out, Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 2 Turbo (making this my second copy) and Donkey Kong Country 2 (this one completes all 3 games for SNES in my collection), each at the low-low price of only $2 (two American dollars..... I know, awesome)

Man, some of this games are found for much more than the $12 I paid for them. What a wonderful score.

I work in a paint shop where we paint will all kinds of paint, from Polyurethane, Powder Coating to Kynar and so many more. My job is to mix and match samples brought to me. You may have seen the station at your local hardware store where they mix the paint to a color you may see on a sample. That is what I do, but I work with Kynar, I am allowed very little difference between the sample and my own paint.

The basics of what I do are simple. I take either a paint chip or a building extrusion (sometimes too big, I then need someone to hold up the opposite end.) I place the sample on a my Spectrophotometer and have the Hunter Lab software read it. I can either decide what colors I can use to match said color, or I can just simply ask the computer to give me the best possible combinations. I pick from a list, input just how much I need to make and start a pouring on an empty can. Mix the paint, go out to the shop, shoot a small sample on a chip, let it dry a bit, then bake it to care the paint. This paint needs to be baked at 470º for at least 10 minutes to properly cure. Once cool, I take the chip and read it on the computer, note the difference in levels, and add paint if needed to adjust. Repeat the process until I have a very minimal difference. All my tints and bases are from Valspar.

Okidokie now, I've given you my job description (I'll explain the hotel job some other time.) So, what made Thursday so bad? I was making 7 gallons of an off-white paint, and while mixing between 2 five gallon cans, one of the can's handle decides to give way. I end up with a wire in one hand, and with my other hand I am trying to catch the can to no avail. HUGE MESS. At least 2 gallons spilled to the floor, (I swear it almost felt like this) and in my haste I start scooping up the paint with my hands back in to the can. As I am picking the paint, since it is basically just white with the slightest hint of yellow, I notice that there are some darker colors mixing in. When my manager came and saw the mess, I could only point at the wire that came loose from the can and could not utter a word, I was sweating bullets and had paint all over me, my face and glasses, and this stuff stings, heck it breaks dow nitrile gloves in mere seconds. The good thing is that clean up was easy with some sand.

I only had about 6 gallons left, and with the high white level this paint requires it was hard getting back to acceptable. I ended up mixing about 8 to 8½ gallons, but had to stay over-time to finish my job since they needed the paint the next day early in the morning. All day I felt like crap.

So there you go, I could have written more on the whole thing, but that's be too BORING.

Finally beat this game sometime last week, and man were my arms tired. Those of you that have played against the last boss will know what I am talking about. This is one of those games that really justified the purchase, and while the game had it's frustrating moments, it was still worth it. The ending was pretty cool. Still, as far as Sonic 3D games go, my favorite is still Sonic Adventures, which I still have for Dream Cast, one of the best last boss fight ever with sweet music to boot.

I was able to get a used copy of 'Beyond Good & Evil' for Gamecube. That game is really good, can't believe I almost missed it, but that's the nice thing about it, got it cheap and now is a good time to hunt down some of the games I missed, which are A LOT.