Insomnia

Hello....Mr. Insomnia here. How do you do?

I can't sleep. It's a combination of things. One, I'm sleeping at someone else's house. Two, they have one of those in window air conditioner things that isn't the quitest thing on the planet. Three, there is no three.

It's weird not to be able to sleep. All kinds of thoughts you'd forgotten about run through your head. You keep trying to figure out what the problem is. It's just a pain in the ass. It's a little after 6 now. I'll probably try and crash in a half hour and then nobody will be able to move me before noon.

By the way, coming soon, I have a blog entry on Sirius Satelite Radio I hope you will enjoy. I've pretty much written all of it. I just need to proof it and make sure it's interesting. I'll have it up by Monday.

Sweet Dreams
Dave

FREE WEB SPACE!...but not for long

Greetings Everyone,

Just wanted to get this out to you quick as I was just informed that time is running out for free webspace. Filefarmer.com is currently giving away 3 gigs of webspace for free. I imagine they do this in the hopes that you will give them money for more of their services later. Regardless, they sent me an email telling me that the free thing is going away. Wait. Let me rephrase that. They're getting rid of signing up for the free space. If you've already registered, then the 3 gigs is yours to keep. I think that makes sense.

Now you may not be able to figure out a use for this free space. I can tell you that I haven't figured out a use myself. However, I can tell you is that 3 gigs of free webspace is nothing to shake a stick at so it can't hurt to sign up for it now. Filefarmer only allows so many free signups a day so I would take advantage of it right now if I were you.

Just thought you might want to know.
Dave

Introducing Robert Kelly

Hello Everyone,

Sitting on the couch watching Constantine. So far, it's not so bad.

I'm feeling behind on my blogging. I've got a big entry to write about seeing Bruce Springsteen the other night. The problem is it's going to take me a while to write it. I've told the story twice and both times, it took forever to get it out. Maybe I'll do it in parts or something.

Long story short, I enjoyed the show. If your one of the few cities that Bruce is visiting, just know that it's only Bruce on the stage and 99% of the material is from Bruce's solo albums.

A good friend of mine has ented this blogging business and I'd like to tell you about him. He is my Godbrother Rob Kelly. I'm not 100% sure if there is such a thing as Godsiblings but Robert's mother Lynn is my Godmother and my mother Dale was Godmother to Robert's sister Laura. Thus, I consider Rob, Laura, their brother Scott and myself to be siblings in the eyes of the Lord. (Speaking of spirituality, I have no idea why Rob's blog image is of Buddha.)

I hadn't planned on doing this but I'd like to tell you two stories about Robert. The first is from when he was a little boy. I've got something like 10 years on Rob and when I was younger, I would lift Rob up into the air. One day I guess I'd gotten a little bigger and when I lifted Rob up, I went too high with him and I ended up hitting his head into the ceiling. It didn't hurt his head to bad, but every time I lifted Rob after that, Rob would would put his hands over his head.

Now, that's not the most interesting story in the world except that if you were to see Rob and I standing next to each other today, the idea that I ever picked him up is ludacris. Robert towers over me he could probably hit his against the ceiling all by himself.

(I just need to interrupt this blog entry because I rented The Best Of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and I'm watching it now. Triumph did the Hollywood Squares at the same time as Kathy Lee Gifford and at one point back stage, he shouted over to her, "Hey Kathy Lee. I like your singing. I haven't heard notes like that since my mother was hit by a car." This is histerical.)


Here's the other story I want to tell you about Rob. My beautiful fiance Kristine and I were visiting with the Kelly family and some friends and we and we were discussing our favorite movies. At some point, I shit you not, Rob says that to me that his favorite movie is the Drew Barrymore movie Riding In Cars With Boys because "it works on many levels".

Now now now.....ok...so...like....alright...Like, if a girl had said this, then fine. Obviously, it's a chick flick. One of those sensitive kind of things. You know the type. But a guy liking this film? Wha....What the....But this was Rob...my brother. I mean, I can't just not take his thoughts into consideration.

Ok so fine. He really likes the movie. But then, somehow, I ended up agreeing to watch the film. I don't know how. I don't know why. I just know that one day I was sitting in front of my television watching this God awful film called Riding In Cars With Boys. I had thought I'd known what pain was. I was wrong.

Let's see. How can I review this film?... Alright. Imagine sitting in one place for 2 hours, watching people you don't like and they're annoying the hell out of you. If that's your idea of fun, then run to your local video store right now and rent this movie. I'm not 100% familiar with Darwin's theory on survival of the fittest, but if Darwin was alive today, he would probably ammend his theory to say that those who lack superior strength and intellegence innevitably will become characters in the movie Riding In Cars With Boys. At least, that would be my guess.

Here's the kicker to this story. I saw Rob some time later and told him I had seen the film. I told him I couldn't understand how he thought it was his favorite film EVER. His response: "Did I say that?" He didn't remember that at one time, Riding In Cars With Boys was his favorite film. Furthermore, when I suggested that maybe he liked the film because it took place in Wallinford, CT, a few towns over from where he lives in Newington, he said that he never picked up on that at all. You know what that means? I mistakenly paid more attention to this awful awful film more than Rob did.

Needless to say, I have not inquired about any of his favorite films since. He does talk about movies on his blog though. As for why he uses buddha for his image on he website, I have no idea. Maybe he'll talk about it in a future entry. Like myself, Rob started out strong when it came to updating his blog but it seems he's taken a little time off. Hopefully, he will be updating it soon. I wish him the best of luck and look forward to reading his future entries.

Until the next entry,
Dave

Some Adult Content - Grand Theft Auto

I've got some catching up to do on blogging but I just found this and I wanted to get this out. Some of you may have heard that the video game Grand Theft Auto got it's ass kicked this week when it was discovered that the videogame had some hidden material of a sexual nature. The video game ratings board immediately slapped an Adult rating on the video game and most major chains pulled the game.

Now, if you're like me, (and by the way, I recognize that this is sad), you might be thinking, "Shit, I gotta go get the game before you can't get it anymore." The thing is, I don't really play video games. Hell, I got the new Fantastic Four game for the xbox and it's still in the wrapper. So then I had another thought. Why don't I just google it? So, I did.

For those of you too embarrassed to google the words, "grand theft auto sex", I've saved you the trouble. Those of you over the age of 18 may click here for some video game sexual activity.

Wedding Crashers Rulz

This movie...I mean WOW!!! It is just AWESOME!!! You wanna laugh? Run out to the theatre right now and buy a ticket to see Wedding Crashers. (Then, ya know, watch the movie.)

Now, on my last entry, lilpuppy posted a comment asking if the movie was "any good or was it all male chauvinistic". As far as a question like that...you just can't ask me that. That's like asking me if that guy there over in the corner looks cute. I have no idea what a cute guy looks like and I have no idea what male chauvinism is.

My best guess is that male chauvinism is when a guy is doing something that a woman does not like but another guy would not mind. That said, my fiancee was sitting next to me and she was laughing right along with me.

Now I want to thank the film makers for going for the R rating on this one. How does this benefit the viewing audience? We get to see some great breasts and we get humor that is more of an adult nature. And by the way, that doesn't mean the jokes are necessarily raunchy. They're just the kind of jokes that the Freddie Prince Jr. demographic might not appreciate.

In case I haven't been clear, this movie is very funny. Usually, in this day and age, these kind of movies start off strong and then settle down for a while bringing back a joke every so often i.e. Old School. The laughs in this film are next to no stop. Wedding Crashers has only one lul in the laughter department. You'll know it because Owen Wilson is kind of depressed and the movie loses some of it's steam for about 10 minutes. Then the movie picks itself up and becomes histerical again.

I'm a big fan of this film and I highly recommend you see it now.

Yours Truly,
Dave

I've Got 15 Minutes

I've got 15 minutes before Kristine comes to pick me up at the library and I'm at a good stopping point in my writing so I decided to check in with you again. After dinner, we're going to see Wedding Crashers. Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Oh....Kristine's early. Gotta go.

Dave

Quickly Checking In

Hay All,

Just wanted to let you know that I hadn't forgotten about you. As I adjust my priorities, I'm finding that I'm having less time to dedicate to blogging. Just know that I think about you often and I look forward to our conversations.

Today, I'm at the library again, gearing up to do some writing. I'm currently doing some ripping of cds. Today's selection: Tony Bennet, Irving Berlin, Chuck Berry, and Michael Bolton. Normally, I do 5 cds a day but the Blondie cd I chose just kept getting spit out of my laptop. Thank God iTunes has error correction while ripping because these discs are all scratched to shit. I understand that a little scratching is inevitable but I can't imagine what people are doing with these cds when they take them home.

Went out with some friends and coworkers on Friday. We drank enough that we found it acceptable to go to Ede's in South Norwalk. Anyone who's ever passed Ede's and knows it for the dive that it is can truly appreciate how much fun we were having to have ended up there. It was a blast.

Went and saw Fantastic 4 the night before last. I was under the impression that it was going to suck because of all the bad press it's been getting but I found the movie very enjoyable. I recommend this film for those of you looking for a good ride, but not for those of you who tend to look for flaws in the story line.

Talk 2 u soon.

Dave

In A Beautiful State Of Mind

I cannot begin to tell you what a very exciting place I'm in right now. Everything is so magical and awesome. Actually...I lied. I guess I can begin to tell you what I thought I could not because, well...I'm about to.

I was becoming a bit frustrated with the fictional writing thing. Truth be told, I have not been living up to my 8 hour a day writing frenzy I set out to achieve. Instead, there was a little writing here or there with a little bit of excitement but not a lot.

The first story I set out to write had some promise. It wasn't so much a story as it was things that were happening. The idea here was to come up with something and see where it went. After a couple of days, I realized that I didn't like the story. To be clear, it wasn't that I liked the story when I started and then hated the story a few days later. I didn't know what the story was when I started. I just had one event that led to another and so forth and so on. After mapping out 5 or 6 "scenes", I decided to try and figure out where the story was going. Applying some guesswork and coming to some conclusions, I realized I was on a path to writing a story that I would not want to read.

This first attempt wasn't a complete failure as it allowed me to acquire some knowledge about my writing ability. There was one thing I learned that was very important. Figuring out what was coming next in the story was very difficult for me. I learned that I have some insecurity issues with putting words down on the page because they might suck. I think this issue might have more to do with wasting time rather than worrying about how good my material is. For some stupid reason, I feel the need to get everything thing right the first time even though that kind of thinking doesn't apply to this sort of work. I hope that if I become successfull at writing, that little issue goes away.

But that's not the important part. Whereas it's hard to see where I'm going when I'm writing, it is the polar opposite for me when it comes to looking back. After I have written an event, thinking it through and putting words on the page, I can see that event with such clarity in my mind, it's like remembering a movie that I just watched. With my mind, I am able to see everything, covering all the angles and knowing full well what is going on in my character's minds. After I write down an idea, I have a vivid memory of something that never happened. That is fucking wild.

I made a brief second attempt at writing a story based on a dream that I had that I may work on in the future because I think it was a good idea. By the way, the reason I didn't tell you what my first story idea was is because I still may find a use for it in the future. As for the second story idea, I think it's a good one and I look forward to revisiting it should I continue writing after I finish my first story. I stopped writing the second story when I came to a realization.

Now the following might seem obvious to you types of people who read books in school, paid attention in reading class and didn't take two years of summer school english. To those of you who think me silly for coming to my conclusion, I say to you, "Bla! Where's your book?" But I digress.

Upon listening to the book, The Green Mile by Stephen King, I realized something. I don't know the count, but in the book, he has a number of events and the rest of the book is getting to those events. For instance, he lets you know that the French guy is going to have an awful execution. Then he takes you through small events that lead up to that execution. Then he gives you the big execution. Then he starts you down the next path that will bring you to the next big event.

Now, the biggest problem I've come across when I've tried to write fiction is not knowing where I'm going. Again, it comes down to wondering if I'm wasting time. In the past, I've had problems when I've tried to realize the end of the story early in the writing process. My fear has been that, "OK. I've got my ending so I know where I need to go but I'm writing this story now and actually, it seems like I'm going somewhere else. Shit. Now I've got to rethink the ending." You do that once or twice and suddenly, the task of writing becomes tiresome.

But this new realization...Creating big events and then moving from one to another. Well, I thought that could be interesting. So I wrote down an idea that for some reason keeps popping into my head. I don't think there's any harm in telling you what that is. Four guys go into the forest. Simple enough, don't you think? So then I had to come up with stuff for them to do. My goal was to come up with a beginning, 5 big things to happen, and then an ending. I can tell you that my biggest fear while taking this approach was making sure I didn't copy any other 4 men going into the forest stories.

You know, I'll be damned if this process wasn't that hard. I practically rattled them all off. One or two of the events, I wasn't specific with because I wasn't sure of the details, but coming up with the other events and the ending gave me the ideas I needed to fill in the blanks. When I was done with that yesterday, I had to stop because I was feeling overwhelmed. I felt like I had an amazing power but I didn't know how to use it. Plus, I've noticed in the last week or so that when I'm being creative, my brain feels all sparkly as if I wasn't using a lot of it before, but now I'm using all of it.

One thing though. Ever since yesterday when I finished my little outline, I've been a little bothered because I didn't think one of my big events jived with the other events and I didn't know what I was going to come up with to replace it. Today, I decided the next step was to write out brief overviews of my big events and when I got to the troublesome one, I begrudgingly tried to figure it out. As you might very well guess, that event is now my favorite and one of the backbones of my story. Unbelievable.

So here's why I'm excited. I have mapped out a story that I like and want to write. I know where I'm going but I have some flexibility. It's like there's a big beautiful well lit path layed out before me and all I need to do is follow it. (I wonder if it's that exact thinking that inspired the writer of The Wizard Of Oz to bring us down the yellow brick road.) The reason the world is so beautiful right now is because before I didn't know if I had what it takes to create an interesting story. Well, now I've done that. Now, everything is about getting to where I'm going. UN-BE-LIEVABLE.

Talk 2 you all l8r.
Dave

Movie Reviews

My fiancee, the beautiful Miss Kristine Czarnomski has got me thinking lately that I don't need to buy every movie when it comes out on dvd. As I am trying to adjust to this new idea, I'm giving renting movies a try. Here are some of my thoughts on my most recent rentals.

After the first 30 minutes of this film, it's possible that Alone In The Dark, starring Christian Slater and Tara Reid, might be the best film ever. However, the first 30 minutes of this film are so painful, I gave up on the film. I don't do that very often but if you try watching this awful film, you'll probably think I took way too long to shut it off. The only good that came from watching Alone was that I was given the confidence to continue in my writing because I know that Hollywood will invest millions in shit like this film.

I have mixed feelings about Aliens Vs. Predator. I think if you take away the history that led up to this film, it becomes a pretty good movie. It's not a great movie. For those of you like my friend Xchair who saw the new War Of The Worlds and "didnt like it at all! Not one bit.!", I can tell you that AVP is no Citizen Cane. Still, if you haven't seen any Alien or Predator films and you're looking for a fun ride, this film is for you.

Now here's the thing about the history perspective. The last Predator and the last 2 Alien movies sucked. So if you watch Aliens (the second in the Alien series) and then you throw on AVP, well just forget it. AVP will suck hands down. However, if you've just watched Alien 4...Then by all means...throw the popcorn in the microwave and break out your favorite soda pop. You're in for a good show.

Remember what I said about hardly ever giving up on a film? If I made it more than 15 minutes into Be Cool, I'd be shocked. I don't know what the hell happened here, but this film sucks. The first film, Get Shorty, was fantastic. I don't know where they went wrong but MAN, this film was just sad.

Quick Post

Just wanted to do a quick check in from my local library. It turns out the Stamford Public Library (or The Ferguson Library as it's called) does allow for the common man to have access to high speed internet access. Unlike the Norwalk Public Library which just lets you onto the internet, you are required to have a library card number to get onto Stamford's wifi. I don't know if there's some sort of number checking database that the Stamford Library uses for logging in but I can tell you that the number from my Norwalk Library card worked just fine.

Now I'm going to go downstairs to the adjoining Starbucks, pick up the new Alanis acoustic cd that is an exclusive at Starbucks, and look for inspiration in a cup o' joe. See you tomorrow.

Dave

A Busy Monday

Hay Folks,

Sorry to say that I have a busy day ahead of me and most likely, I will not get around to blogging today. My appologies for this inconvenience. I will talk 2 u 2morrow.

Dave

A Rainy Friday

It's 2:25pm in the afternoon and it is pouring here in Stamford. Here's hoping it clears up tomorrow so I can get in some tennis.


Went to Best Buy and CompUSA today and went crazy. I've got a lot more drive space for the computer as well as a firewire hub and a usb2 hub and some speakers as well as the dvd for Indecision 2004. It's a 3 dvd set of The Daily Show's coverage of the 2004 election. We're watchin it now and it's very funny.


By the way, speaking of Best Buy, my prediction for the Black Eyed Peas song "Pump It" looks like it might be coming true. I don't watch many commercials thanks to my DVR but I caught one for Best Buy the other day and the Black Eyed Peas were part of the commercial and they were performing Pump It. Get that tune on the radio and my prediction is complete.

Speaking of kicking ass, the "Me For Now" blog by lilpuppy is still going strong. I can't imagine what this woman will say next but I bet it will make for an excellent read. Keep on writing there Miss Puppy. You're a fine blogger.

Thanks for reading my blog. I'll talk 2 u soon.
Your Friend Dave

One Last Thought For The Evening

I just had to put this up when I saw it on my friend Tim's website. This is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. This picture is just the epitome of cool. See you all tomorrow.

I'm Watching You Watching Me

Hello Everyone,

Been having a bit of a slow day today. I accomplished just about nothing. Earlier, I was all set to tell you about me and my webstats but there were some issues. Now that they've been resolved, we can chat about stat stuff.

I have joined FreeStats. In the last week or so, I haven't been getting very many emails or comments regarding my blog so I decided to shell out a few bucks (9 a month to be exact) to find out if people were checking me out. It pleases me to learn that my blog does have a decent bit of traffic.

In addition to those of you who come to my blog because I've told you about it, a number of people arrive at these words because they clicked the "Next Blog" button that sits in the upper right hand corner of all blogger blogs...or at least, I think it does. It's my understanding that the button randomly takes you to another blogger blog.

Alright..I need to break out of this for a second. Kristine ordered the movie Kinsey and Liam Neeson plays a guy who never had sex until he was married and they just showed him and his wife having sex for the first time. Regardless of whether or not you see this film, I can tell you that this seen is really really painful. Where was I?...

So anyway, yeah. In regards to my blog, some people are stopping by for a quick second or two and others stay for quite a while and have a good read. Whoever you are, I hope you enjoy your time reading these pages and I hope you come back.


Speaking of visitors, one of my blog readers yesterday traveled to this site from another blog. When I went to that blog yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised at this person's first entry. When I checked in on her today...well, lilpuppy has made a regular reader out of me.

OH NO!!!!....ARGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! Alright so remember how frustrated I was with that other sex scene in Kinsey? Yeah, well apparently he liked guys too. When watching this film, you will know when the men kissing is about to start because the guy who isn't Liam Neeson is walking around naked. BLA!

Alright...Am I done? I think I'm done. I'm going to go and have some ice cream and erase my memory. Go check out lilpuppy's website. I'll talk 2 u l8r.

First, My Condolences

I feel like I have a lot on my mind and as always I never know how far I'm going to get, but I wanted to start out today by offering my sympathies to the families and friends of those lost in today's tragedy. When will the terrorists of the world realize that their actions do nothing to further their cause? How many people will have to die? I was about to ask when this sort of thing will end. The sad reality is that most of us have become accustomed to this sort of thing and have resolved that acts of terrorism will never end. Unless directly effected, the common person views the perpetrators of such crimes as little more than a nuisance. We go on in spite of them and while I don't pretend to know everything, like the rest of the world, I know that these idiots were wrong.

What I am thankful for in all of this is that my future family members are ok. Members of Kristine's family are in England for the week. Kristine and I had even thought of joining them on their vacation. I am happy to report that they were nowhere near the attacks and are doing just fine.

Ran Into An Old Friend

This week, I started doing a walking routine. I get up and walk for about an hour. Originally, I was doing this as part of my writing experiment so I could start out the day listening to an audiobook for an hour to get me ready for my writing. I think though that I will continue doing this every day as it's a wonderful way to start off the day. I walk for about a half hour, turn around and on my way back, pick up a coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I also stop at a small convenient store for the Stamford Advocate & Norwalk Hour newspapers as well as a quick pick for the lottery drawing cause ya just never know.

On my way back home on Monday, I passed a small Allstate Insurance office and on the door it said that it was the offices of one Amy Bien. Having gone to school with an Amy Bien, I wondered if it was the same. Turns out it was and yesterday afternoon, I stopped by for a nice visit. It's nice to revisit those who we've lost touch with.

Now I don't know how many of my blog readers are local to the area, but allow me to point you towards a lovely person who is more than willing to help you with all of your insurance needs. You can visit Amy on the world wide web at http://agent.allstate.com/AmyBien/Welcome/.

THIS JUST IN: GNR Alert

Ladies & Gentlemen. It's possible this is just a rumor but in case it's not, ultimate-guitar.com is reporting that Geffen Records has set a release date for the new album from the greatest band of all time (minus everyone but the lead singer). That's right. It seemS very plausible that Chinese Democracy, the forthcoming album from Guns N Roses will be released this year on November 29th. YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, it's possible this album will suck royally. One can always hope though. I mean, in theory, someone from the band has been working on this album since around 1994. I gotta think there's at least one good tune in there somewhere.

I guess I should mention that Velvet Revolver (which is basically GNR without Axl) have a new song out on the Fantastic Four soundtrack. I don't have it yet. I think that band is cool and I like a bunch of there music and all but it's just not the same thing. If you go and see Velvet Revolver in concert, the lead singer stays on stage for the entire show, doesn't say anything that would piss someone off and when was the last time you heard of a riot breaking out at a VR show? At last count GNR in all of it's various incarnations had at least 4 and 2 of them were in CANADA!!! That is next to impossible and neither of the Canadian riots had anything to do with hockey. That's just CRAZY!!!

Gambling & Writing

Good Morning Everyone,

Hope Everyone had a great 4th of July. The picture above if the view from our hotel room at Mohegun Sun, the Indian casino. We went up there on Friday and stayed the night. When you tell people you went to a casino, almost without fail, they will ask the question, "How did you do?" This, as every gambler knows, is an awful question. If the gambler is a winner, he will most certainly find a way of letting you know. He probably won't give exact numbers but a winner usually finds subtle ways of letting you know he or she was victorious. A loser more time than not will move on to the next topic. That is, unless the gambler wishes to rationalize the losing. "It's only money." " I had a great time." "I only do it for fun." "We met some people we really like and enjoyed their company so it wasn't really a bust.", etc, etc...

Not that those sayings are complete lies. I hope not. I've said them more than once. Still, when you win, it's so much better. Without realizing it, you walk taller. You're smiling. There is an extraordinary This Is What Life's All About kind of feeling. For a little while, there's no such things as problems as they are more like little hurdles that life puts in the way to make things more interesting. It's very much like walking on a cloud.

Sadly, I did not leave the Casino Saturday morning walking on a cloud. It wasn't completely awful. I could of left breaking even, but making a latch ditch effort to recapture some of the glory earlier in the morning, I walk away from the weekend short of a hundred bucks. What brings it down another notch is that at one point I was doing very well at the blackjack table so one might argue that I lost more than I think I did. Well, that's just how things go sometime and I'm not going to look at it that way.

Nonetheless, I do have a little rationalizing to do. The picture at the top of this entry is currently my desktop background on my 23" Apple Cinedisplay. I find the picture both beautiful and inspiring and worth the hundred bucks...and I guess the hotel room plus meals. Maybe next time, I'll be able to walk away from the table when I'm up.

Yesterday, I finally finished listening to Stephen King's book On Writing. It's been a long process as I can remember listening to it years ago when I was engaged to another woman. It's one of those on and off again things I sometimes do where I listen, lose interest, lose my place, start over, lose interest, try to figure where I left off and what I remember, so forth and so on.

I was able to finish the book this time as I am doing this writing experiment this week and I wanted all the help I can get. I highly recomend this book to those wanting to learn how to write as well as fans of Stephen King's work. It is both autobiograpical and instructional. I don't believe I'd have as much faith in my ability to go through with this week long experiment had it not been for this book.

Here are a couple things I learned from the book. Adverbs are bad and I mean that literally. (See? I didn't need the last part of that sentence.) You can write about anything as long as you tell the truth. I know nothing about space travel, but if I write honestly from the thoughts that come from my head regarding the topic, odds are I will still have a compelling story. The last thing I'll talk about is self doubt.

The most interesting thing I heard when listening to the audiobook is when Stephen King gets to the end of the book and tells you about his own self doubt. You've just read or listened to this great book that he's written that is a great inspiration and then he talks about how he experiences a lot of self doubt while writing the book and how continuing to write it was painful. What I loved about this part of the book is that it allowed me to know that when I think twice about puting my thoughts on the page that my self doubt puts me in good company with the likes of great authors. As I'm an aspiring writer, I may be a bit biased, but I loved this book and I put it on my highly recomend list.

Speaking of my writing. Today we enter day 2. I didn't put in a full 8 hours yesterday but I feel I got a healthy start. Yesterday, I felt like I was high because I got the impression I woke up a part of my brain that I haven't used in ages. It turns out that dreaming on purpose, for my anyway, is intoxicating. I think I knew this once and I'm wondering why I forgot it. I was amazed at how my imaginative mind was able to overcome obstacles that my rational mind could not. Also, while I find it hard to imagine what comes next, I'm stunned at how vividly I can recall and reinterpret that which I've just written. It is plausible I suppose that I will not be a good fiction writer, but I can tell you I'm certainly enjoying the ride. (Note: I debated whether or not to include the adverb certainly in the last sentence and decided to go with it as that's how I would have said it.)

I'm not going to tell you the story I'm working on now for a couple of reasons. For one, Mr. King points out that it's not good to get early feedback on your work while you're still figuring it out. Also, I'm not fond of where my story is going. After building a couple of interesting scenes and jotting down some ideas that came into my head, my first analysis of where my story would end up was not very pleasing.

I'm going to stick with it though. I know that my writing often surprises me and that it can easily take me into a completely different direction. Second, I feel a little invested and even if the story doesn't end well, I want the experience of writing the story so that I will have the tools to write another one. This experience isn't 100% about writing a great work. It's about knowing that I can get the work done.

On that note, it's time for me to get back to work.

Blogger Photos Are Working Again YAY!!!

Alright, so I know this blog is starting to teeter on the idea of a smut site but I had to post this picture. When I'm on the cross trainer, I watch tv. Usually, I watch MTV of ESPN but I ended up on VH1 today and they're running a Surreal Life marathon to get people ready for the next season that starts this Sunday. Now, I listen to my iPod while I'm working out and even though I couldn't hear this show, I couldn't take my eyes off it. For one, it just looks like a train wreck of has beens and wannabes. Second, HOLY COW!!! That Adrianne Curry is HOT!!! I guess the deal is that she's kinda famous because she won America's Next Top Model Now I didn't see that show and I don't know who she was up against but let me tell you something. Whoever was responsible for the voting on that show....Well, they made the right choice.

What a Day

Ugggg...I guess I won't have photos today. Wassup w/Blogger?

So the day started out good. Got up aroun 6:30. Went for a walk. Picked up a small black coffee and Dunkin Donuts and listened to around an hour's worth of the audiobook, The Time Travelers Wife. When I got home, I figured I would just have a bowl of cereal before I blogged and then started my novel endevour of writing a book. In a wonderful gesture, my fiance, the beautiful Miss Kristine Czarnomski, offered to make me scrambled eggs just the way I like them, with tomatos, peppers, onions and cheese. What a wonderful beginning to a day! But then...

So I think it was a couple of months ago that I got a call from Kristine. I was living at my place in Norwalk and as is still the case now, I didn't own a car. I think it was 6ish in the evening when Krisine called to tell me that her car was parked in the shoulder on I95 near Stratford, CT. You see, that day, Kristine's Mother as well as Aunt and Uncle had come up from Long Island and then the four of them drove up to Mohegan Sun to gamble for the day. On the way home, they got a flat.

Now, I don't know if all cars do this now but in order to change the tire, you need a hubcap key. Kristine couldn't find the key. Neither could her Mother, Aunt or Uncle. Nor could the several nice people who stopped to try and help. A day or two later, we would discover that the key had been in the car the whole time. Knowing the conclusion to this story, I think later today, I'll go look in her car just to make sure the key is there and I know what it looks like.

My roommate Matt (formerly Tito) had a truck. Unlike the typical male who has that special automobile gene, I cannot tell you with certainty what kind of truck he has. I think it's a Pathfinder. Matt is a kind soul (as well as a faithful reader of this blog) and when I asked him if I could borrow his truck so I could drive to Stratford, bring everyone to Stamford and then come home, his only hesitation was wondering where he left his keys.

So I, the hero, arrive in Stratford, I'm guessing around 9ish, and go to the bar just off the exit ramp where the car had stopped because of the flat. In a funny kind of coincidence, the bar was next to Town Fair Tire where Kristine had bought her last set of tire and she believed they had forgotten to give her the hubcap key. As I alluded to earlier, on this topic, she was mistaken.

So I round up the gang and need to fit 5 people, myself included, into the seating area of what I think was a Pathfinder. Like myself, Matt is a big guy and he keeps the driver seat back all the way. Since the back seat was now very full, I tried very hard to get the driver seat to move forward a little bit. Kristine had moved the front passenger seat forward without problem so I figured it would be easy to do the same with the driver seat.

The way it works in Matt's truck and I assume in all vehicles of the same make and model is that the passenger seat can be moved forward manually by lifting a lever in front of the seat and then moving the seat forward or backward. The driver's seat however can only be adjusted ELECTRONICALLY. Of course, I know this NOW.

Needless to say, doing my darndest to make all that were already in the back seat more comfortable, I tried my darndest to lift some kind of lever in front of the driver's seat to move it forward. I was able to lift something and while it didn't move the seat forward, I was able to break the working mechanics of the electric seat system. By the way, I didn't find out about the whole electric thing until I told Matt about breaking something in the seat a day or two later.

Now, I rediculously assumed that what I had removed could simply be put back in about 2 seconds with the right equipment that a mechanic would have for such an occasion and maybe worst case scenario, I would have to shell out 100 bucks or so for their 20 seconds of work. HAH!!!

Nine Hundred Twenty Five Freakin Dollars Folks!!! Turns out, according to the mechanic, that because of what I did, the entire unit needed to be replaced. La Di Fucking Da. So there you go. Ain't that sweet. What a shitter.

Alright, I need to get started on the fictional writing thing I'm doing but here's just a few quick things that I have in my head from checking out the new Entertainment Weekly.

The Blog movement just keeps on growing. Entertainment Weekly now has a blog at http://popwatch.ew.com

If you live near an AMC Theatre, run out and see Cinderella Man. Hell, you should run out and see it wherever you are, but AMC is offering the incentive completely on their own and without the movie studio's help, of a full refund if you are unsatisfied with the movie. Folks. I shit you now. The film is awesome. Go see it.

Also, I didn't realize this but you need a password if you want to go on Entertainment Weekly's website. I guess if you're a subscriber, you always have access to it, but if you're not, they put a password in each weeks magazine so the person who buys the publication at a newsstand can use the site for that week. This weeks password is magazine. Enjoy...and don't tell them where ya got it. Oh....The website is www.ew.com.

Until Next Time
Dave

I Am Music Genius

So check this out. I am constantly telling people when a song is successful that I knew before it happened that it would be because I have an ear for that sort of thing. Unfortunately, I've never been able to prove it. So, now I'm going to take a shot here on my blog and predict what song will be a huge hit in the future provided the record lable is smart enough to release the song as a single.

I hereby predict that if the Interscope has half a brain and releases Pump It by the Black Eyed Peas, it will be a huge success. Pump It is the first song off the Black Eyed Peas new album called Monkey Business. You've probably heard the first single off the album called Don't Phunk With My Heart although most radio stations play a version where they change the word Phunk to Mess. I can only assume they do this because they are phunking lame.

Pump It is pretty much a rip off of Misirlou by Dick Dale & His Del-Tones with more beat and some words put over the music and the song kicks ass. By the way, you know Misirlou from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. I, myself did not know that was the name of the song until I looked it up just now on Amazon.

Pictured here is Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas from her Maxim photo shoot. In theory, the apropriate picture for this blog entry would have been the cover of the album the song came from. I think you'll agree though that with this picture, it didn't matter what I wrote here. You still would have read it...or at least thought about reading it.

A Sunny Sunday Afternoon

Today's Top Story


My good friends Tim and Karen have gone off to the wonderful world of China in order to adopt a little baby girl. You can read all about it here.

I felt a little moved by this adoption thing today and I wasn't expecting it. I think when a woman is pregnant and you get to visit with her through the various stages of pregnancy, it seems more real. This whole time they've been talking about adoption, I guess I felt like, "Hey. They're going off to a communist country and they're bringing a kid back."

However, having taken a look at the pictures Tim has taken plus the video he emailed to me of Karen giving the young one her first bath, it was like...POW!!! My friends have a new child that they will be raising in this crazy world. Holy Cow!!!

Now I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm the kind of guy who visits the Mother and Father in the hospital after she's had the baby and I believe I did just that for both of the young Lynch boys. Now I feel a little lost. They're not coming back for 11 days. I can't wait to see them.

It's not like I haven't been in touch though. Tim has his powerbook and thanx to the people at Apple Computers, we were able to audio chat for free using iChat on our computers. If I can find my iSight (haven't seen it since I moved), maybe we'll get the chance to video chat.

I have learned a few things from talking with Tim and Karen. For one, and I always suspected as much, the Chinese Menu in China does not consist of you typical American Chinese Take-Out fare. Apparently, General Tso and his chicken are not as popular in China as they are in the good ol' US. I wish I saved our coversation but from what I remember, Tim had room service food options like soup with shark fin, something with turtle, and my favorite, the marinated edible fungus.

What I like about that last one is that it has the word, edible. I mean, I'm guessing no matter how crazy the menu is, a restaurant in China isn't going to serve you anything that isn't edible. Yet, the Chinaman who wrote out the hotel's menu...well, he just knew. An eccentric American who came to my country might take a chance on the shark or the turtle, but there's no way in hell the craziest American will eat the fungus meal unless I let him know that it's ok to eat it. I better tell him it's the fungus of the edible sort.

Here's something else interesting about China. Tim wasn't able to access the Karen And Tim blog most likely because they talk about China in the blog and I guess communist China blocks their people from seeing anything on the internet about China. As a result, I had to go on the Karen and Tim blog and redirect people to a web space they could get to from China to post blog entries. If this China blocking thing is in fact the truth, I guess this is my fairwell blog to my Chinese audience in China. Thanx for reading. I will miss you. I wish I knew who you were.

That's all for now. I have some stuff I should be doing. I'll check with ya l8r.
Dave

Podcasts and maybe some other stuff.

I wasn't sure what I would write about today and then my out west friend, Mr. Chair wrote me an email asking me what the Podcast things were about and when I was done answering his email, I realized I had some good bloggin material.

First off, let me save you a little time should you want to forgo my guessing and just go to the people who know. AFTER I wrote Mr. Chair, it occurred there was probably one or two people out on the internet superhighway that had a clue about these podcasts. idiotvox was the first one I found and they seem to have an amazing grasp on the whole thing. What follows is my take on the whole thing.

A podcast is like a radio newscast except unlike a real news broadcast, podcasts are not bound to the typical broadcast rules like fact checking, interesting topics, or talented broadcasters. Now, ok...that makes it sound kinda bad. That's actually the worst case scenario. What I mean to say is that anything is possible on a podcast. It's as is if the common man was stealing the airwaves.

What's cool is that a lot of people are getting in on this. In addition to people you've never heard of having podcasts, there are also people like Al Franken, Rush Limbaugh and news organizations like ABC news and ESPN who have gotten in on the podcasting.

Now podcasting has been around for a while. My friend Tim told me about it over a year ago and how awesome he thought it was. What's changed is that if you download iTunes 4.9, podcasts are now integrated into their music store as well as the software and they've even updated the iPod firmware to make podcasts part of the menu structure. If this is the first time you're hearing about the podcast, I can tell you that thanx to Apple (aren't they just awesome), you'll be hearing so much more about podcasts in the future. You can even create your own podcast and have it accessed through Apple's Music Store.

Few more things about the podcast. I don't know how the term got coined but podcasts are not limited to your iPod. As I understand it, they are just mp3 files that you can play just about anywhere, inluding your iPod and your computer. iTunes offers full previews of a podcast. I didn't keep it going but it appeared I could have listened to the entire podcast just by previewing it.

When getting a podcast, you have a choice of either downloading the on show or subscribing. If you subscribe, any time there is a new show on that podcast, it will automatically download onto your computer and into iTunes, and depending on how you have your preferences set it, it will be automatically transfered to your iPod.

Whew! I'm always amazed at how much more you learn about something when you try and teach it. My head is spinning. Lets talk about the podcasts I've heard.

Podfinder: This one's great because it's a monthly preview of a bunch of different podcasts available on iTunes. It's hosted by MTV's Adam Curry.

Cinecast: Here's two regular kinda guys with a movie review show. So far, I'm digging it.

5 Minutes with Wichita: This redneck hick kinda guy interviews people. I get the biggest kick out of this one.

KCRW's The Treatment: OK. This one gets a little bit of a story on why these things are cool. This is a celebrity interview show that's podcast from a radio station. So, I started listening to the one with Tim Robbins who is a very good actor and very left wing political. Now, I'm not really an extreme anything but I get the feeling I could hang with this guy.

So immediately, they start talking about a play Tim wrote and directed called Embedded. Sounded interesting. It has to do with the war and whatnot. They start talking about how Tim shot the play so it could be released on dvd. They don't have a distributor yet so the only way to see it is if you have Netflix or if you buy the dvd off the webpage. It took some creative googling but I found the page embeddedlive.com.

So while I was there, I clicked on the we recommend link to take a look at all the websites Tim was into. The second link from the top was FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting). That caught my eye as I'm a man about fairness so I clicked on it. The lead story was pretty cool as it was about Rumsfeld talking about how the media never reports on the great things about Iraq. The same day, The Pentagon put out a travel advisory basically saying to stay the hell away from Iraq. In case it's not the top story when you get there, you can read it here.

So that's why podcasts can be really cool. You get some information that you might not have otherwise received.

Well, it would appear that I'm not going to get to the other stuff. My love and I are leaving for Mohegan Sun soon and I must pack as we are staying the night. Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon.

Dave