Children in the band

OH MY GOD BECKY!

The kids next door came home from school and 2 of them have brass instruments!  I'm not exactly sure what kind but I can hear them pretty clear.  It's obvious to me that they have never played them before because the tune they are playing isn't even close to resembling a song.

I empathize with them though because when I was 11 or 12 I played the tuba every day when I got home from school.  My parents would only tolerate me playing it for 1 hour a day and sometimes they made me cut it short after only 10 seconds lol.  Sometimes I had to just practice my fingering.  Yes, I said fingering.

Now I know what I put my parents through all those years ago lol.

Jury Duty

I have something to say about jury duty.  Yes I realize that it's an important thing for the courts and all but the way they go about getting people to be on the jury sucks hard.

You get a jury duty notice in the mail and you have so much time to report and if you don't show up you go to JAIL!  WHAT!  How is that even fair?  It's like they are forcing people to go there instead of work and they don't even pay you that much money to miss work.  I mean it's one thing if you work at a McDonald's, you need the time off from that but what if you make thousands of dollars a week from commission and so you are losing money by going to jury duty.

That is so messed up that you can go to jail if you don't go.  I know that this has been going on for a long time but it just goes to prove to me that this country is not yet free.

Now I know that nobody is going to volunteer for Jury Duty but come on, why don't they recruit people who are out of work?  Why not make this an incentive to bring people in for jury duty.  Offer them a chance to make some money while they are out of work especially now that people are out of work.

It just sucks that they threaten you with jail time if you don't go to jury duty.  It's like the church threatening hell if you don't go to church which is worse than jail but I have a feeling that's where they got the idea to threaten jail.

And if you don't do jury duty and go to jail you will probably lose your job for being in jail and you won't be able to get a new one because now you have a record.  It's a trap.  They send people these post cards every year and you have no choice but to attend or face having a criminal record and not being able to get a job.

Great job government.

Solutions From Beyond

This is something I just found on Facebook.  It's a new show called Solutions From Beyond.  You can apply to be on this show.  Here is what it says in the site:

Do you have a conflict with someone that only a deceased loved one can solve?  Do you need to contact someone on the other side to settle a disagreement here on earth?

Apply here to be considered for this life-changing new television show featuring a gifted and renown medium who can take you on a journey to find a solution from beyond.

Personally I am a huge skeptic in the matter of people being able to talk to the dead.  I'm the type of person that I have to experience it to be a true believer.  If the psychic can tell me what nobody else knows, something that was between me and the dead person then I will truly believe.

The funny thing is, 2 of my favorite shows on TV are Medium and Ghost Whisperer lol.

Annoying Pop-ups

I hate pop-up ads so much.  It really pisses me off when I'm at a website and all of a sudden something pops up on my screen trying to sell me something.  It's one thing to see ads on a site because you can ignore them but the pop-up's are in your face.  Sometimes they take over completely and you are forced to just close the browser completely which gets rid of what you are looking at and then you have to reload it again.

I put ads in my blog at the very beginning of September with the hopes of making some extra money that I can use basically to pay for this site.  Unfortunately the InfoLinks one was causing pop-ups and I couldn't narrow down which one was doing it until today when I put in the Halloween theme.  I noticed that every time I went to my own blog I was getting pop-ups and it was pissing me off.

I was just going to scrap ALL of the ads because of it.  I got rid of the WidgetBucks ads but still had pop-ups.  Got rid of the Chitika ads but still had pop-ups.  Got rid of the InfoLinks ads and pop-ups ceased.  So, WidgetBucks and Chitika are back on and InfoLinks is gone.

So no more worries about pop-ups and if you still get them please let me know by commenting in any post and I will do what I can to find and eliminate the problem.

By the way, I still get paid per click for all the ads on my site so clicking is a good thing and there is no obligation on your part to order anything when you do click.  Sometimes what you click goes to free information anyway.  But clicking will help me pay for this site.

Mike is so common

I guess the name Mike is too common. Someone did a search for Mikes Blog and came up with so many different blogs. I guess if you were searching for me you would have a hard time finding me because of all the other people who have a blog who are named Mike.

So here I face a dilemma.  Do I keep my blog the same - Mikes Blog, change it to Xanapus' Blog, Xanapus' Lair or Blog of Xanapus?

Why Xanapus?  Because that is my domain name and because it's not as common as Mike is.  What do you think?  Please take this poll and I will make my decision on October 1st 2009

Poll is closed and Xanapus' Lair wins YAY!

I removed the poll because it was causing slow loading times.

The results of the poll were 2 votes for keeping the name the same, 4 votes for Xanapus' Lair and 0 votes for Xanapus' Blog and Blog of Xanapus.

Bright House Cable Box Upgrade

On August 25th I posted that Bright House Cable is going to upgrade 1 of our cable boxes in the house to a new system which is way different than it was before.  Here is that post:

Bright House Cable Upgrade

They told me on the day that the living room box was upgraded that the other box would be upgraded in 3 weeks.  Well that was August 25th so it's been over a month.  That's ok, I was patient.

I didn't do a video like I said because that's kind of silly but I will say this.  The old way was nice and all but it was so slow especially in the guide and the on demand menu.

One of the things I like about the cable guide is that you can go through the guide and find all the shows you want to watch and click on them to remind you to change the channel.  If you change your mind you don't have to do anything but if you want to watch it when the reminder pops up then you click the select button.

This new program for the cable box is even better.  Not only does it have a cooler look but also when you set a reminder it doesn't just remind you 1 minute before but when it's time for your show it just automatically changes the channel for you.  You do have the option to cancel it and stay on that channel you are watching now by clicking the red circle button with the C or just don't do anything and it changes the channel.

That's perfect for me because I have shows to record almost daily and if we're not at home and the tv is on the wrong channel then I record the wrong thing.  I just have to remember to set all my reminders everyday so it knows what to change the channel to. This is a problem because my DVD Recorder has to be set to record channel 3 all the time because of the cable box.

Anyway, I'm glad for the upgrade.

My New Blog Name

It's September 30th which means tomorrow (Oct 1st) is the day that my name change poll will end.  So far with only 5 votes Xanapus' Lair will win but we will see at midnight tonight if that's what will happen.  Personally I like Mike's Blog but as I said in the poll it's too common of a blogs name.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the end result will be tonight when I change my name (or not depending if I get 1 vote for keep the same or no more votes meaning change it).

I'm also going to be changing over to the Halloween theme.  I've been working all month long to get the Halloween theme set up and ready to go tonight.  I made these halloween light sets like x-mas lights but with halloween images.  I only have 22 light sets but I think that's quite enough lol.  You will only see 1 set at a time but it changes light sets as the person reloads the page or looks at something else.

Actually you can see which light sets I have here Halloween Twinkle Bulbs.  I got all the images from icons and clip art and created light sets out of them and animated them so it looks like the lights are going from left to right like chaser light sets.  What can I say, I like bells and whistles lol.

Now that I'm done with Halloween I'm going to start working on Thanksgiving lol.

Kate plus 8 minus 1

Gosselin Apologizes, Tries to Halt Divorce, But a New Kate Plus 8 Moves On - Source Popeater.com



Douche Nozzle (Allegedly) Jon Gosselin halts the divorce from Kate for 90 days so he can get control back in this relationship.  He woke up one day and looked in the mirror and (Allegedly) thought "I am such a dick, what the hell am I doing?  I need to try to patch things up with my wife and stop cheating on her and flaunting it in her face".  Ok so he didn't say that but I'm sure it was in the back of his mind.

TLC has already taken control of the situation by renaming the show to Kate Plus 8 and minimizing his appearance on the show.  They will probably turn off the cameras when he is in the room and give him the evil eye.

Ok you all probably don't care what I think because I'm gay and I don't have any children so why should I have an opinion?  Well, just because I'm gay doesn't mean that I don't care about this.  In fact it really pisses me off that these straight people have the ability and RIGHT to have children and they are constantly abusing this privilege.  This guy had the audacity to have 8 children with someone then leave her to fend for herself and raise 8 children by herself.  What kind of a person does that?

All I can say is the amount of child support this nozzle is going to have to pay every month is going to kill him.  He's going to have to work 2 jobs and live in a tiny trailer to be able to take care of those 8 kids.  Yeah, good luck with that.  I hope it was worth it DOUCHE!

Actually I'm sure this was his motivation for halting the divorce.  He wants to patch things up so he doesn't have to live in a tiny trailer while paying her money every month for each child.

Mom ordered to stop baby-sitting friends’ kids

Mom ordered to stop baby-sitting friends’ kids - Source msnbc.msn.com

I woke up early this morning and went into the living room and Fox News was on the tv.  There was this story of this woman named Lisa Snyder who lives in Michigan and she faces 90 days in jail if she babysits children.

You might be thinking, Mike, what the heck is this all about?  Well I have an answer for you.  People have gone insane.

Ok this is what happens.  Her neighbors have to go to work so some of them drop their kids off at her house so they can sit inside her house for up to 45 minutes to wait for the bus to come then she shuttles them all out to the bus.  That's it.  45 minutes.

What the heck is wrong with that?  Well apparently one of her neighbors thinks it's a bad idea so they called the Michigan Department of Human Services and turned her in because she doesn't have a daycare license to do this.

What a freakin' douche!  Who does that?  What business is it of that neighbor if this woman allows kids to sit in her living room for 45 minutes?

She asked the Michigan Department of Human Services if she could let them stand in her garage and they said no.  They told her to tell the parents to buy their kids an umbrella and make them wait at the bus stop.

In fact she said that if a neighbor drops their kids off at her house then go out for dinner at night she could go to jail.

What the hell is going on in this country that a woman can't babysit a child without a day care license?  This is communism and it's unconstitutional.  This isn't the land of the free anymore, it's communist America.

I'm calling out the Michigan Department of Human Services.  You are on notice!

Zombie Pumpkins

I found this website that has these cool pumpkin patterns...

.Zombie Pumpkins! - pumpkin carving patterns - Unique Creations

This website has so many new pumpkin patterns like this one to the left.  I've downloaded a lot of patterns in the past but none that are of this caliber.

They do charge for their patterns though.  It's not free but it is reasonably priced.  You can buy 2 patterns only for $2, 25 patterns for $5, 200 patterns for $10 or you can pay $20 for all 200 patterns and 10 bonus patterns and some of that money goes to charity.

It would be good if people bought the $20 for 200 patterns and 10 bonus patterns to help the children.  Every year this website chooses a different charity to donate to and this year it's The My Stuff Bags Foundation.  Read the description here.

I'm gonna have to pick out some good ones to do this year.  I still have tons in my pattern library that I haven't done but every year I find new ones that are neat and leave all the old ones alone.  I'm afraid if I buy 200 patterns then I will only do 2 and not the rest lol.  Oh well lol.  I wanna get those bonus patterns anyway so I can help those poor abused, abandoned and neglected children.

Dish Network Mail

I got this in the mail today.  It's from Dish Network and it's 2 sided, very shiny and thick paper.  It's basically 1 sheet folded in half and they dropped it in the mail to advertise for their satellite service.  But the thing that is hilarious is that it's all wrong.  Here take a look and then tell me what you see wrong with it.

Click the images to see it full size.

Obviously I removed my home address and typed something silly in there so it didn't look plain.

Don't you think it's strange?  Ok I've already disclosed my name, It's Mike McDonald.  Go ahead, look at the little Facebook icon in the right side of this blog, it shows my name with my Facebook profile picture.  That I'm not hiding.  But my point is, look at my last name.  McDonald.  Does that scream Arabic to you?

I can understand if they sent me one in Spanish because I'm constantly getting shit in the mail in Spanish but Arabic?

Who is telling Dish Network that this is a service that people with my surname are asking for in Bakersfield, CA?  You can see the return address is in Englewood Colorado.  Why is it that Englewood Colorado is sending junk mail to California?

I don't normally scan my junk mail lol.  This is not what I do but it was so shocking that I had to scan it and blog about it because who would think that a McDonald would ever get something like this?

I know it's not a human error because the computers print the names and addresses on these things then fold them and squirt some rubber cement in 2 spots and they all get sent to a bin to be mailed.  Their computers are obviously mistaking McDonald for an Arabic country when it should have thought that my name belonged to a Scottish country.

I know, maybe there is a woman out there who is Arabic who got married to a Scott named McDonald and she ordered Dish in Arabic so from that the computer decided that all McDonald's out there want Dish in Arabic lol.  That's the only thing I can think of.

Or maybe I'm thinking about this too much.  Ok, it's going in the recycle bin lol.

Roman Polanski Arrested

32 years ago famous director Roman Polanski was accused of raping a 13 year old girl.  He admitted and plead guilty to raping and sodomizing her.  He was found guilty and the day he was supposed to be sentenced he fled the country and went to France.  He's been out of the US for 32 years.

He was invited to be honored at an awards show in Switzerland and there he was arrested.  Will he be extradited back to the US for his sentence?

Debra Winger is quoted as saying:

"We hope today this latest order will be dropped [as] it is based on a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities," she said. "We stand by and wait for [Roman Polanski's] release and his next masterwork."

What minor technicalities is she talking about?  The fact that he fled the country before he was sentenced?  And she is also saying she stands by him.  Oh really Debra Winger?  You stand by a grown man who would rape and sodomize a 13 year old child?  That's lovely.  Thank you Debra Winger for letting the whole world know what a piece of work you are.  I'm sorry but anyone who stands by this pedophile is also a pedophile.

He had 32 years of freedom, it's now time for him to do his time.

Debra Winger also said (there was video of her on Nancy Grace) that the art world is going to suffer greatly if he is put in jail (not a direct quote).

Really Debra Winger?  Really?  The whole entire art world is going to suffer from the arrest of a pedophile?  Really?  Wow!  Piece of work.

Louise Fletcher on Heroes

Louise Fletcher - Source Heroes Wiki

Louise Fletcher has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid.  She was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 as the infamous Nurse Ratched.  She was also in Star Trek Deep Space 9 as Kai Winn Adami which was AWESOME!  There are 175 movies/tv show titles so too many to list but I can single those 2 out.

In heroes she plays Emma's doctor (who is a new "hero" who is deaf) and this is the perfect role for her because both of her parents were deaf so she already knows sign language.

According to IMDB she is only in 1 episode but I'm hoping it will be a reoccurring role because she is such a great actress.  I would even love it if she had a power.  That would be so beyond awesome to see Louise Fletcher use some kind of power.  But what power would be appropriate for her?

Let's see, her character is a doctor so maybe she has the power to heal with her hands and that's why she became a doctor but she uses her MD as a cover.  Nah that would be too easy.

Well I can't think of anything else but your comments are welcome.  Tell me what power you think she should have.

It's GO Time

It’s GO Time: PSPgo Available October 1st - Source Playstation Blog

Playstation decided that the Sony PSP 1 wasn't good enough so they came out with the PSP 2 which I bought for myself in 2008. Then they came out with PSP 3 which the only differences was that it had a mic embedded so you don't have to buy a mic which I bought for 30 frickin dollars and they moved the speakers and made the screen less shiny and more visible while playing outside in the sun. Trust me if you have a video game system, even an old Game Boy, you can't see it when you are outside in the daylight so that was a welcome addition.

Now they have come out with the PSPGo which is smaller and the screen slides up and down to hide or show the game controllers. It makes it cool so you can use it as your Mp3 player and not be pushing buttons all the time because they are hidden.

One issue that people are going to have with this is that if they already have UMD's that they bought for their PSP 1, 2 or 3, they are screwed. UMD Conversion a no-go for PSP Go.

Another issue people are having is that they are charging $50 more for this and which if you pay $50 more you might as well buy a PS3.

It doesn't have a camera which is another issue. My issue is that it doesn't have a GPS either. They made the camera and GPS for Asia but they never sent it over to the U.S., not sure if Europe ever got it but we didn't. If I want the GPS I gotta buy it from the PSP Asia store and it's all in a different language and I'm sure all the maps are in Japanese too.

Another issue for me is the lack of a keyboard. It's next to impossible to use this to chat with people via the PSP Browser. You can use ebuddy for this thing but if you want to IM with people 1 sentence takes forever to type and by the time you have it all typed out the person you are talking to have already sent you 5 messages. It's not an ideal IMing device.

Well this is great for those people who don't have a PSP because they can just start their collection with the PSPGo. But for those of us who already own a PSP, too bad so sad.

Rogaine

A couple of days ago I made a post about Rogaine Foam and last night I was at the grocery store Albertson's to buy shampoo and body wash and I saw their Rogaine.  They charge a little bit more for the foam than Walmart does but then I noticed they also have the regular Rogaine that they came out with 20 years ago and next to that it's generic counterpart.

Regular Rogaine is $60 but the generic version is $30 about half that price.  That was the sale price though.  I guess it's normal price is $40.  Oh this is for the 3 month supply so it's not for 1 month.  But it's on sale right now for $30 or something so as soon as I get my check I'm buying a box to see if it even works at all.

The generic brands name is Equaline™.  I've bought that generic name for a lot of things at Albertson's and yeah some of them are crappy.  I will never buy Equaline™ razors again because they hurt.  But then so does Gillette.  I only buy good news razors.  But there are other products like cough medicine that is just as good as the regular expensive brand because they have the same ingredients so it still works the same but you pay less.

Someone made a comment in my Rogaine Foam post saying I need to take some pill called Propecia and for the name brand it's $145 for the drug but I did see that the generic version is about the same price as the Rogaine Foam but I think for 1 month supply.  It's still a bit expensive and I don't want to take a pill.  I want to actually put a treatment on my scalp.

I know with the Rogaine Foam you have to put it on your head 2 times daily.  I don't know about regular Rogaine.  Whatever it is I will do it so I too can look like Rod Blagovich.  I've always wanted helmet head.

Dane/Gayheart Sex Tape

Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart and another woman made a sex tape.  BFD!

Ok, you know I love it when the stars make sex tapes.  I watched the Anderson/Lee, Screech and Paris Hilton vid's.  I'm trying to think of who else.  I'm sure it will cum to me.

First of all, who makes a sex tape when they are in the public eye unless they are hoping it gets out?  You don't do that if you don't want it to leak.  The Paris Hilton tape got leaked because the guy she was having sex with in the video was a film maker so she walked right into that one.  The Pam Anderson tape leaked because someone "stole" it.  Screech made his video with the purpose of selling it so he could keep his house lol.

I saw 3 1/2 minutes of this tape and it's too grainy to see Eric Danes "McSteamy".  You could clearly see Rebecca Gayheart and the other womans tits while they were in the bath tub talking about the other womans 7 year old brother.  But the tape that I saw didn't have any sex in it.  It was quite boring and since it was too grainy it was hardly worth watching to see "McSteamy".

They are suing whoever leaked the video for money but all I see is that they aren't famous enough like they were when they first got famous so they need to be in the spotlight again and this is the perfect way to get in the tabloids.

Good luck with that.

Unlimited Email and Texting for Life from Peek

Peek Pronto Mobile Messaging Device with One Year of Service Included (Grey) - Source Amazon.com



Remember the ZipIt Wireless that I talked about with Fred?  That was only $50 with unlimited texting and IMing to any wireless device and you could IM with AOL/AIM, Yahoo and MSN for $10 a month.

This is a lot different and a lot more expensive at $230 for the device. Unlimited texting and email for free for 1 full year then after that it's only $15 per month.

I have to be honest here.  This is a good device if all you care about is email and texting and nothing else.  If you don't want to explore the internet with this then it's perfect for you.  No worries.  But if you want to actually go to websites then you are going to want a netbook instead.

Here are all the features of this device.

Product Features

• Unlimited email and texting on up to 5 accounts with one year of service included -- compatible with most providers, including Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, and Microsoft Exchange


• No contracts, no credit checks, no activation fees, and no monthly fees for the first year. After the first year get service for as little as $14.99 per month


• Large, full-color screen and full keyboard


• Long battery life of 4-5 days. Fully recharges in under 2 hours


• Usable throughout the U.S. with full nationwide coverage

It's a pretty neat device.  It's sort of like the Amazon Kindle but it's in color and there are no books, just emails and IM's.

Netbooks

I've been doing some research into the Netbook craze.  I'm not sure that it's a craze but let's just go with that.

Ok so I've gone to several websites to do price checks.

AT&T sells netbooks for $299.99 and you get a $100 mail-in rebate.  They have 2 plans for going online.  200MB for $40 a month and 5GB for $60 a month.

Verizon Wireless sells a HP Mini 1151NR Netbook for $299.99 and you get a $100 instant online rebate so you are only paying $199.99 for your netbook.  They have 2 plans for going online.  250MB for $39.99 a month and 5GB for $59.99 a month.

I couldn't find any netbooks at the T-Mobile and Sprint websites.

But I think you get the idea with AT&T and Verizon.  There is not much difference.  Both charge $200 for the netbook (after respective rebates) and charge $40 for 200-250mb and $60 for 5GB which is obviously the better choice.

If you decide you want a netbook but not a plan you can always go to Amazon and buy a netbook without a plan and just go to wifi hotspots and get the internet for free.  The only downside is that you are going to pay a lot more for the Netbook.  I see their lowest price is $250 and their highest price is $450.

Personally I think you are better off getting one for $200 at a cell phone company than buying it standalone without a plan because there is no point searching for a Starbucks just to read your email and look at porn.  I think they kick you out for that though.  I'm pretty sure.

Preserving the sanctity of marriage

I just love that Khloe Kardashian and LA Laker Lamar Odom are preserving the sanctity of marriage by getting married after only dating for 3 weeks.  Isn't it such a wonderful thing?  I mean, just think about it, you know someone for 3 weeks and you just know, you just know that you have found your soul mate and you just have to get married.

That was so much sarcasm I just couldn't go on.  It just makes me so sick that it's ok for these stars to get married at the drop of a hat just because they can yet there are people out there who have been together for 10-40 years and they can't even get married.  Chip and I have been together for 15 years and his cousin and her girlfriend have been together for something like 20 or 25 years, I can't remember but it's a long time.  Yet they can never get married, well in California at least.

I'm always seeing how these stars get married and they are married for a day and get annulled or the stars who are only married for a few months and their whole relationship is toast.  It's so easy for them to get married just because they can.  It's like they are taking what they have for granted yet I can never experience it as long as I live in California.

The one star who has really impressed me and made me like him more than ever is Brad Pitt who said that he and Angelina Jolie will not get married until ALL of the people in the US can get married.  Now that is a stand up person.  I liked him throughout his career but I wasn't as huge a fan until he made that statement.  Then I fell head over heels.

So congrats on your 3 week relationship Khloe and I hope that your 6 week - 6 month marriage is worth the 6 digits you are going to spend on your wedding.

Grow your own meat

Cocoon food grower wins Electrolux Design Contest - Source Dvice.com



Vegetarians rejoice.  This is the future of growing your own meat instead of killing animals for food.  Now vegetarians can start eating meat again because your conscious is now clear that your dinner didn't come to you at the cost of the life of an animal friend.

Here are a couple of quotes directly from that article on the Dvice website.

"He thinks that the Cocoon could make food shortages a thing of the past. "This will create 100 per cent pure meat without the need for animals to be killed and with no risk of contamination," said the 27-year-old. "It will change everything."

"The design, described as "controversial" by one of the judges, is made of glass, and works by cooking pre-mixed packets of muscle cells, oxygen and nutrients."

Of course you are asking yourself where do those cells come from?  Well I'm sure in order to get those cells they have to take them from somewhere.  But if the animal remains alive but with less cells which will regrow anyway then what harm is it to take the cells?