I'm asking you which I should be... then again i may throw a few more of these up here since they are so fun. Also check out www.faceyourmanga.com for the fun app thats sweeping the tech community



Create your own FACEinHOLE

I'll admit faceinhole sounds like a dirty site. its not... but if you think having the power to convert average ol me into gandalf is wayyy too much power, then perhaps you should avoid the site.
That is all.

Hey all,

Finished my training near the top of my class. I suppose it was a close race considering they can't hand out first place trophies to more than two people. Normally that many people don't do as well but we were hurt by the rounded down rule, 10 percent of 29 people = 2 awards instead of 3 because one dude dropped out. lame, but alas i'm used to not really being recognized. so i will focus on the next few weeks. mainly moving.

so I'll be in Vegas Saturday... maybe friday and saturday depending on how my move goes. i'll be rolling through colorado for almost a week... i suppose i should make some plans now. then i'll head up to my next base. so before i go i'll share my pic from Santa Monica, or my last trip to LA.



hooray for random obstacle courses/gymnastics rigs on the beach. Those rings out there are rough but fun to try.

okies, i'm heading to lunch then packing some more... maybe i'll keep some sort of travel log of my adventures. who knows.

Alright folks i haven't updated in forever, and i apologize. Here's what's been keeping me busy:
1. Guess what, almost done with Initial Qualification Training, just one more test on Friday and about 5 more rides in the trainer and some evaluations of my job knowledge thus far.
2. With that comes the impending move on the horizon, ah yes, i'm heading for the plains of North Dakota, a state known for its proximity to Hawaii.
3. geeking it out on World of Warcraft. I know... shame shame, but its something to kill the time, something to unwind with at the end of the day, and there really isn't anything else you encounter in your day that can prepare you for a 12 year old calling you names... really WoW is it. I suppose I could play more Call of Duty 4 but I don't smoke weed, never say the N word, and heck I don't lay drunk as often as i would have to in order to be a good clan member.

So, With my last few weeks in California coming to an end i've had some time to think about what i want to get done. I was reminded of Dr. Pausch's speech and watched it again tonight, and aside from all of the wonderful things he taught the world, what i feel is applicable to me most in the next coming weeks is remembering my childhood dreams, what goals did i have, what did I want to accomplish, and most importantly what can I do right now.

At first I had a really hard time trying to remember what I really really wanted as a little kid. I remember that I eventually wanted to live in California and live the life of the people in the songs by bands coming out of the OC. Not the show mind you, I still haven't seen a single episode of that, I'm sticking to my guns that Skin was a better show. No, I'm talking about the bands that really made my childhood awesome like Green Day, No Doubt, and about 20 others. So now that I have lived in California I can say.... i have to be more specific when i dream about living in a state.

So what can I do now that I am here. Well I can think of one thing, I really want to meet my celebricrush from way way back Christine Lakin. Okay, maybe not meet her, but just go see what she's up to, like if she's in a play in LA i'll pay the 60 to 100 bucks to go see it, just to support her career. She's doing well from what IMDB tells me, so if I can't see her, it's not a huge deal, it's just one of those things where you put yourself in a position to be speechless in front of someone you admire. you have to do that once in a while.

Also, I have to try "Freebirds" cause Rich has been raving about it for like the last 6 months, and he does after all know California way better than me. So I have to hit Santa Barbara at least one more time. Hooray for Burritos.

Universal Studios... yeah i know my move is gonna cost a lot, but I think I deserve one big day in an amusement park just to have fun.

So I think these are all within reason, and if I can't meet them, who cares I'll have a good time trying. And if I absolutely can't i'll just put it on my to-do list on leave. I still wanna do the counter terrorism op training from amazing adventures. but thats 4000 dollars into the future.

If you have a suggestion, let me know... i'll keep trying to remember what I wanted from the world when i was young.

Quick rundown here folks. If you are like me, this week you're receiving a check from the gov't somewhere around the amount of 600 bucks. Now for the average citizen this is a chance to buy stuff you don't need that will only make you happy and distracted while all the bad financial issues in their lives pile on. So here's what i'm gonna say: Pay off your debt. It goes against the intent of the stimulus plan, but when all is said and done, you're not making the same amount you used to due to inflation, and that debt will still be there in a month.

you shouldn't have been counting on this money, so use it to help yourself out, not for a quick burst of happiness.

If you are debt free, throw the money in savings... or if you're good with investing, you probably wanna get some inflation protected bonds, or invest in things that tend to go up as the dollar goes down.

If you must spend it... spend it on christmas gifts. that's right, your christmas spending is typically 800 bucks, and stuff is in stock now. So go buy two wii's and you've got most of your christmas shopping done, no stress, no hassle. Come christmas, you'll be happier, less stressed, and the proud owner of one wii... because you're smart enough to sell the other for 500 so you can buy the rest of your xmas gifts.

that's all i got.

-Jeff

What has happened to the American Cinematic Experience over the last ten years? I can't STAND going to movies anymore. If it wasn't due to the prices, the lack of quality movies, and the bad seats and sticky floors, it's now because of the people. People with phones, people who go to movies in big groups to now watch the movie but chat, the people who bring babies to rated R movies. I really could go into 5 pages worth of rant, but you know what i am done. I'm boycotting the movie theater experience. Not hard to do considering i have to drive half an hour to go see a movie. But here are my demands before i head back:

1. Charge more money per ticket. That's right, it goes against my logic in paragraph one right? Well here's the logic behind it. If my ticket costs 20 dollars, I know that kids can't pay to go see movies, and that it becomes a small investment. Which means if you're on a date, you just dropped 40 dollars, and you ought to be less inclined to sit and chat on your phone or text the whole movie. The second part of the logic is that if a theater can make more money, they can clean the floors and have better seats, and all sorts of advantages that make the movie experience unique.

2. Get Hollywood to stop making crap. well i might as well just vow to never see a movie again right? okay lets modify this. Get Hollywood to make LESS crap. i don't want to see sequels to every movie ever, I don't want to see remakes of things that made our childhoods unique. I want to see a great twist on original concepts. If the big guys out there would just take a few minutes to think before they approve half the movies they do, they would make more money, and they would be respected. Who approved the first incredible hulk? i don't care, fact is, right now they're starting from scratch because the franchise was so poorly done. Heck you're average movie goer won't go see the new one because they remember the last one. might as well call it "The Incredible Hulk: the good one".

Things I see impeding my trip to the theater: 1. bad movies, bad reviews, bad acting. 2. the availability of movies on DVD several months after being in theaters. It's sad that i have to weigh waiting 4 months against sitting in a theater surrounded by kids and cell phones... it's sadder that waiting for the DVD has been winning more and more. 3. The availability of movies from Asian countries that shall not be named. Hey, if I can get a quieter copy of your movie from out of country a week before it hits theaters here, i might think about taking it. Odds are the movie sucks anyway and i'm out the cost of a movie ticket. If it's a good movie, i'll buy a DVD copy several months later.  4. at the current prices of near 12 dollars to see a movie, i can pay for a month of entertainment from video games, i can eat 2 meals, i can do all sorts of things than see your movie. It costs me about 8 dollars to travel to the theater alone, and if we include having to buy a small popcorn and drink for another 8 bucks and a ticket for the date i'm out 40 something dollars. i'm fine with that... if i get to enjoy my theater experience... which i haven't the last few movies i have seen.

Alright, i think i got my thoughts out there. To summarize: the theater experience is pure crap nowadays for its price. Raise both and maybe i'll rethink going to see a movie, or heck keep the price the same and just regulate in the movie better (an usher wouldn't hurt now and then).

By the way, i liked Iron Man a lot. And i'd go see Prince Caspian, Dark Knight, and about 10 other movies this summer if it weren't for my boycott. I just can't take it anymore, i think i'm well past the point where i should have punched someone for talking on their phone. Not going anymore is the least i can do.

-Jeff (AMC Movie watcher, and visitor of United Artists, Carmike, Edwards, and others)

So I found out today i have a few entries on Technorati. I have no idea what level of cool that makes me, but i'm sure someone, somewhere is willing to cast a few nerd points in my direction. Building on that, I've slowly started building my following list on Twitter, the social what-is-he-up-to-now website that has about a billion ways to tell the world what you're doing in something around 100 characters or less. All it takes is one higher up person to follow me, and the new readers will trickle in. like pulling the lint off of the dryer lint catcher. once you get a little piece off the grating, the rest just comes right off. But now that i've bored you by bringing up dryer lint, let's talk about stuff going on:

1. My Xbox 360 repair box came in the mail today. i'll be sending that off tomorrow afternoon provided i'm released at a reasonable time.

2. I'm mildly sick, so this week has been not so great, but its slowly fading. I think i'm allergic to my job training binders as i can't stop sneezing around them. Or maybe i'm allergic to knowledge. that must be it, my brain is trying to escape. well i've got news for you brain... we're in this for the long haul.

3. I'm discovering a lot of cool random things online. One of the big things i've taken an interest to lately is remixing or just writing new music for the old school Nintendo Entertainment System. Something nostalgic and very settling about that music. As recently as today i discovered this guy who's dubbed himself the king of nerdcore, check him out at  YTCracker. i'm sure you could look up a wikipedia page on the phenomenon that is nintendo music remixing.

4. on the homefront i'm thinking about buying a tea maker. My favorite site for teas is Adagio Teas because they have an enormous selection of teas, and pots, and cups, and brewers, and presents, it's just amazing. If you haven't tried a real green tea i suggest trying one of their sampler packs with 4 or so different teas.

5. I'll work on comic 2 as soon as I can, mainly as retaliation to that guy who won with a panda and technology. I still think i'm more original. and an earlier concept. and people love pandas and they fear sasquatches, surely they'll find humor in a panda with sasquatch tendencies. Pandasquatch. still makes me laugh every time.

6. Training: I'm making a lot of dumb mistakes like circling the wrong answer when i know the right answer. It's probably going to cost me if i don't stop it right now. Alas, i'm in the water, kicking and staying afloat. Just gotta keep it up so i can move outta the apartment, and to the middle of nowhere.

that's all i got folks... except for a heads up to something you might wanna do on your own free time.
Do you like T-shirts? of course you do, the other letter shirts aren't as comfy and welcoming. Do you like to draw, or design things that look good on T-Shirts? Yes... Well then do i have something cool for you to see. It's called Shirt.Woot.Com and every day they pick one artist's design and throw it on a t-shirt. They only sell THAT T-shirt for an entire day, or until their supplies run out. Not only will you get internet famous for being part of the woot legacy, but they also cut you a check for your awesomeness. So even if you don't have the best designs, come up with a clever catch phrase, put it in a colorful font, and submit to the guys at Woot.com

For you drunkards in the crowd, there is always wine.woot.com but i'm not going to be called an enabler... your computer mouse and keyboard are the enabler. i'm just the passive information in the nebulous cloud of the internet.

so says I. you can say it too if you want. but only for a dollar.

-Jeff
feel free to write jeff@pandasquatch.com

Here's a little look at the USAF Missileer's job. now you know. and knowing is half the battle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/24482119#24482119

So, yesterday my Grand theft auto 4 started freezing, and i suppose i'm so used to junk like that happening on the pc and the occasional xbox 360 hiccup that i didn't pay much attention to it. Heck all machines have their bad moments. But then it froze again, only about 5 minutes into what i was doing, the system wouldn't respond to anything short of powering it down.

I went to the forums to see if there was a fix for the game coming. apparently it was due two days ago but Rockstar games hasn't figured out what's going on. I'll give them a hint, severe memory issues. but i suppose they already knew that. So next best solution was to switch games, because i was playing other games before this newfangled thefting of autos game came out. About 5 minutes into those games the system would lockup as well. i could do anything i wanted in dashboard, but no matter what i did, DVD, game, etc... within 5 minutes it would freeze and i'd hate life a bit more.

Then i went to xbox support, and they said to clear the memory i had to insert 3 different game discs. Which at that point i had just inserted my third. So i gave a 4th a try. Yayyyy it worked, and i watched 2 movies with no problem. But this morning feeling so confident, and admittedly it was a retarded move to make, i decided to give GTA 4 a try again. And within 3 minutes, the system locked up in a freeze, and the infamous red ring of death occurred. Powering down had no effect, changing discs had no effect, praying to the xbox gods, no effect.

So that means i get to try xbox support/repair out for real this time. The process to get my xbox repaired seems fairly simple and my xbox is still under warranty... i only bought it about a year ago as my graduation gift to myself from the US Air Force Academy. The best thing about buying this xbox was that it came in a military appreciation pack and it came with a lot of cool stuff. Someone at Xbox is the coolest dude ever. And so hopefully, that guy who created the military appreciation pack is good friends with someone in repair, and they'll help me out quickly and efficiently, so i can give them bigger customer loyalty. I really don't want to get a PS3 yet. i like my xbox.

Also, hopefully someone at xbox is chewing someone at rockstar out for putting out a game with such a huge flaw. I mean yeah not everyone is having the freezing problem, and for certain i am but one of only a few Red Rings as a result, but still if this issue is across all platforms, someone in QA needs to be beaten with a copy of GTA 4, because for those of us that can't play the 60 dollar game, it might as well be used as a weapon... or a paperweight.

-Jeff

Hey all, my birthday was just another day in my world, nothin too fun cause we had a test on Thursday morning. Speaking of that, after all my tests were said and done, i graduated today with a 98% academic achievement. which given the context of how everything worked out was really hard to do, but at the same time shouldn't have ben as hard as it was. Either way i'm done with that portion of my training and moving on to my specific weapon system on monday. awesome times ahead. Finally, i thought i'd leave you guys with a video of a "toy" that you know you would all buy given the opportunity. If this style of gameplay doesn't suit your needs, you could always check out the 301 version with mario kart for the SNES.





Enjoy... im working my way through level 62 in WoW and i'm about 2 hours into GTA IV, or Grand Theft Auto 4 for you non acronym lovers.


Also catch me on pownce and twitter. Pownce is used for daily updates with bigger media files like the one above, and Twitter is more of a where am i and what am i doing right now application. both free, both waiting for you to join.

add me: www.twitter.com/crossmenjeff   and www.pownce.com/crossmenjeff

and to the guy who created pandatalkstech.com wtf dude? i hope you wear a panda costume when you vidcast and don't just take ideas for fun. This is why my concept is half panda half sasquatch, a step ahead of the generic panda. enjoy your free year of godaddy service, your thousands of new visitors thanks to patrick and veronica.

Well folks, i've hit that fork in the road i've been waiting for. well i suppose its more of a fork off a fork. and the more you read the more you'll notice this is like a cheap plastic fork where prongs just break off when you try to eat and all you can do is laugh and use the mutated plastic mini pitchfork that results. Here is whats happened career wise in the last 2 weeks:

1. We received notification of what possible job openings were available around the world. Turns out not a whole lot, so we were given 3 choices, all of them in the career field not many people get too excited about, but hey a job is better than no job right.
2. a week later we find out due to some manning issues our 3 choices became 2. not only that, but the popular choice with the most openings was the one to disappear.
3. of the two choices i didn't get the one i wanted. My philosophy was plan for the "worst" (even though it won't be that bad... i hope), and hope for the "best" which was really my backup if i ended up not getting the one i wanted.

So, as I move on through the summer i'll be preparing for my move to the Northern United States. I'm definitely going to visit Canada, just cause its so friggin close. Hopefully, the rent isn't too bad and i get a lot of house for my money. after all i'm paying a grand a month for a 2 br apartment in Cali right now, it should only be about 600 in the middle of nowhere.

The best news of all of this is that i have some stability built in now. I can A. know what my job is, B. Actually know where i'm going to be doing my job, C. prepare for auxiliary activities, like getting a master's degree or bugging Chipotle enough that they actually build a store out at my next base.

Other updates in my life. My birthday is coming up, i sense someone is planning a small event, nothing too big, but i'm not really one for big events anyway. I figure as long as a copy of Cloverfield finds its way to me i'll be happy.

Also, just hit lvl 61 with the help of Frigi, getting close to 62.

Finally, i'm on pownce, and as of about 2 hours ago i'm on Twitter. So if being updated once a month wasn't good enough for you, you can visit my pownce account and see what i'm up to today, and if for whatever reason you care about what i'm doing this very instant, then by all means add me on Twitter.