Themeless Randoms

Just had a very close call with the Xbox 360. Everyone knows about the dreaded red ring of death, and I just got it… as I knew it was pretty much game over for my console I headed over to xbox.com to try and figure out how to get a new machine. It suggested turning it off and on again, and watching the color of the power supply to see if that indicated anything. Once I turned it on again, no more ring! I just dodged a huge gaming bullet there!

[Update - June 16, 2008, 11:42am]: Well I figured it was too good to be true as I tried to turn on the 360 this morning and play a little GTA. Niko just walked out of his safe house, and wham it froze up. Off and on again a few times and no dodging the red ring of death this time. SHIT! So I called Microsoft and they started the exchange process, but they are having server ‘issues’ right now, so they said to call back in 3-4 hours and they will be able to complete everything. Looks like 3 weeks or so before I’m back on track…

Well the week that was supposed to be nothing but rain turned in a decent day today. I had an errand to run out in the countryside, so I decided to take the Road King for a rip on a few secondary highways. LOVED IT! Riding this thing really makes me want to get my own… Comparing this big bitch to the fat bob that I test drove last week, I have to say that I like the road king better. Heavy as hell, and feels VERY solid on the road. Maybe its time to change my outlook on the fairings, and get myself a street glide so I can enjoy tunes as I barrel down the road? Man this is a tough decision…

What do you think? As a 29 year old, would I be buying that bike I really should be buying when I’m 50? Or should I say screw the stigma and get the biggest baddest bitch I can find?

As I mentioned earlier, I started up GeoHunt Canada and things have progressed a little bit since launch. So far the Edmonton geocache has been found 4 times, and moved once. I actually thought it was going to take months for someone to get up the energy to go out and find Terry the Traveling Triceratops, but surprisingly it looks like it may catch on.

Anyway, its time to get more little Terrys hidden across Canada. So far I have found someone near Toronto that will plant one, and also one in Halifax. Those ones should be in the mail tomorrow, and they will hopefully be live on the site within the next few weeks.

If you are interested in helping hide a little triceratops somewhere in your city, head over to GeoHunt Canada and give me a shout in the geocaching forum.

I found this amusing video of myself driving my “hog”, a 50cc scooter from my apartment in Azabudai (right at the base of Tokyo Tower), to my office in Minami-Aoyama. I don’t know why I all of a sudden thought of this video this morning, but I may as well share it as I’m sure its kind of interesting for those who have never been to Tokyo, or had the liberty to be able to drive pretty much however you want when you are on a scooter.

For those not familiar with Japan traffic laws, a small engine scooter cannot make a right turn, so to do this, you have to do a little maneuvering first to get yourself into position. You’ll see what I mean when you watch the video. Also, sorry about the swearing… I think I heard myself swearing at cabs and vans twice during the short ride to work.

Here is a map of the route for those of you that like to visualize things like I do:

Nick, over at subaqueous recently wrote about his Hannya that he picked up during our hitchhiking adventure to Kyoto and Osaka. I started thinking about how awesome that trip was, and also remembered that I had a few pictures of my own from the place where he bought his mask. The one above is the street that had the little store on it, and the one below is of the poor girl trying to reach the mask. Of course he had to pick the one that in the hardest to reach place in the shop. At the time I figured he was just asking her to get it to see her struggle, but then when he actually bought it I was quite shocked that it wasn’t just a mischievous game he was playing. Anyway, I kind of wish that I had picked up one of my own, but my little statues will have to do. Pictures of those to follow…

I know I’m a little late to the party, but I still want to congratulate the Detroit Red Wings on their Stanley Cup win. At the start of the series I was kind of pulling for the Penguins as I wanted to see the youth emerge, but it quickly became obvious that Detroit was the better team by a long shot, and that they were going to pound the little birds. Still it was an exciting series, and I hope that the Penguins can keep most of their team together and take another run at it next year! Also congrats to Zetterberg for winning the Conn Smyth as playoff MVP!

My favourite commercial on TV right now is the one where the guys are fertilizing their lawn, talking about how 3 in 1 is definitely the best way to go. Then they start talking about their dream riding mower with a flat screen TV and a BBQ, only to see one of them ride by, bbqing away, while watching sports center. BEAUTY!

Anyway, I don’t have a yard big enough to garner a riding mower, so the next best thing that I came up with was outdoor BBQivision. Its kind of a cross between a drive in theater on the deck, along with some tasty BBQ. Today my selection was 5 grilled smokies, and an episode from The Wire season 3. Its a little hard to see the screen since its so bright outside, but its still cool.

Not as cool as the riding mower with a flat screen and a BBQ though…

Oooooohhhhhhhhhhh man this is going to be awesome! I’m a huge Metallica fan, and have played One on Guitar Hero III about a million times, and have also played the snot out of the classic DLC on Rock Band. If there is an entire game dedicated to my favorite band, I will definitely be inline for this release… then again, it probably won’t be as wildly popular as GTA4 was last month.

Anyway, here is the song list that I’d love to see included in Guitar Hero Metallica:

• The Four Horsemen
• Seek and Destroy
• For Whom The Bell Tolls
• Fade To Black
• Creeping Death
• Master of Puppets
• Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
• Orion
• Damage Inc.
• One
• Harvester of Sorrow
• Enter Sandman
• The Unforgiven
• The Struggle Within
• Bleeding Me
• The Outlaw Torn
• Fixxxer
• Astronomy
• Whiskey In The Jar
• St. Anger
• The Unnamed Feeling

Well thats quite a list and I’d be ecstatic if all of those were included. Some of those are 100% obvious choices, but a few may need some convincing to squeak in there. Hopefully I’ll get my wish for Guitar Hero Metallica… supposedly due sometime before March 2009.