In The Kitchen With Monica

Today has been one of those rare days (lately anyway) that Monica and I have both been home (and awake) at the same time. So we've spent the day cooking together, something we haven't done in a long time.

I got the grill going, and slow cooked a couple racks of short ribs, which we'll be having with corn and mashed potatoes for dinner. While they were cooking, Monica and I worked in the kitchen together, making a couple of quiches, and some chicken-n-rice. The plan was to make a couple meals that will last for a day or two, and that we can take to work with us for lunch, so we don't eat as as much as [I] have been lately. (I swear, I should own STOCK in Moe's!)

Anyway, at the moment Monica is sitting outside, chatting on her phone, and I [obviously] am sitting here typing this blog post while we wait for the potatoes, corn, and chicken-n-rice to finish cooking. Then perhaps we'll sit down and watch a movie while we enjoy dinner. And then later, maybe we'll have banana splits for dessert. Ah, the good life. :)

Back In Business

Well, I printed out the mailing label to ship my PS3 back to Sony, to have them fix it, or send me a Best Buy gift card to go buy another one, but when I talked to the customer service people the other night, and informed them that I had a Netflix DVD stuck in the Playstation, the lady I spoke with told me to go to Best Buy to see if the Geek Squad could get the disc out for me. So that's what Monica and I did today.

The Geek Squad tech tried the approved methods to try and get the disc to eject, and then he tried other methods, such as inserting a knife blade and a bent paperclip into the disc slot to try and get the white post that was preventing the disc from ejecting to retract. He didn't have any more luck than I did, unfortunately. On the plus side of things, however, he was like "Just go get another one off the shelf, since we're not going to be able to fix this one here." So I was able to get a brand new PS3 from Best Buy (without the 1-2 week wait for N.E.W. to send me a gift card to buy a new one), and since they don't make the 60 gig version like I had any more, I was able to get one of the 80 gig versions (it's the same price that I paid for the 60 gig one.) It just cost us $4 due to the difference in the tax rate in Acworth and Athens.

So we're back home with the new PS3 hooked up and updated, and we only missed a day or so of movie watching! It did also cost $20 to pay for the Netflix Blue-Ray DVD which is still stuck in the old PS3, but that's a small price to pay, all things considered. However, I will have to rent that movie again, since the PS3 crashed in the middle of watching it. Oh well, it was a funny movie, so it's all good. I'm glad we made the trip to Best Buy though. I would have hated to have been without movies for 2 weeks or more! (Hey, we don't have TV hooked up, what do you expect! lol) All's well that ends well. :)

No Movies For A While :-(

Well, right in the middle of watching Wild Hogs on Blue-ray with Monica tonight, my PS3 decided to lock up. It just stopped working, the disc stopped spinning, and it went into and "error" mode with a flashing red light. There's a small, white "post" that's across the entrance to the slot where discs are inserted, and it's preventing the DVD that's in there from coming out, and stopping me from putting anything else in. Another problem is that the disc is from Netflix, so I have to try and get it out (or find someone who can), so I can send it back to them.

The major bummer, though, is that I will be without my PS3 for at least a week or two, because I have to send it back because it's messed up, and then N.E.W. will send me a Best Buy gift card for the original purchase price, and I'll have to buy a new one. Unless Geek Squad can get it to work when I take it to Best Buy to see if they can get the disc out. But I'm still without the PS3 for at least a week or more, which means that I've lost my major form of entertainment, namely movies. (Which doubly sucks, considering we're paying for Netflix.)

On the plus side of things, I'll get to buy the PS3 with the 80 gig hard drive, which is what I wanted in the first place, but they had pulled all the original 80 gig ones off the shelf just before I purchase mine, in preparation for the re-release of an 80 gig special edition model. So I guess that's the silver lining to this whole situation.

I'm heading to Acworth/Woodstock on Saturday with Monica, so I'll be taking my PS3 with me, and stopping by the Best Buy store that I purchased it at, to see what can be done. I'm really going to miss being able to watch movies though, and it's going to be a very LONG 2 weeks. *sigh* Oh well, there's nothing much I can do about it, so I guess I'll just have to go with the flow...

Griffin Day 2009

Well, the Griffin Day 5K and Concert was a great success, and thanks to everyone's support, thousands of dollars were raised to help out the family. I don't know the exact total yet; I'll leave that up to Clare to post. Needless to say, it was a fair amount.

The day started with a 5K run/walk along a trail cut through the Adams' property. Then some people left while others stayed and socialized. In the evening there was a pot luck dinner, and an open air concert featuring some local artists. Prizes were raffled off, and again, all proceeds went to Griffin and his family.

I spent some of my time taking pictures of everyone, and I have put some of them online. If you would like to view them then head on over to http://www.fullmoondesign.net/griffinday/. I took close to 800 pictures that day, but I only put 176 or so online, and they're not full-sized because it took quite a while to upload these. But you'll get an idea of what it was life. They're not professional pictures, so don't expect too much! lol Also, if you have any problems with the site, please let me know.

If you would like a full sized version of one, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Thanks, and have a great week. Peace.

Twitter App For Windows Mobile

I'm checking out a new Twitter application for my Windows Mobile based phone. It's calle Twikini, and you can view screenshots of it here:

http://www.trinketsoftware.com/twikini/Screenshots.aspx

I don't have a snazzy iPhone or a Blackberry, but Twikini received high ratings as a Windows Mobile Twitter app, so I'm going to check it out. For more information about the program, visit

http://www.trinketsoftware.com/Twikini

Thanks, and have a safe and happy 4th of July!