50 Things

I saw this on YouTube where you just post 50 random things about yourself. Since I don’t feel like counting dots these are going to be numbered but are in no particular order.

1. When I was a sophmore in High School me and my best friend got in trouble for spamming the Traffic Education Teacher. Cops were involved and everything.
2. When I was  a child I had a goal to dig to China in my parents side yard. They kept refilling the hole every few months. I learned everything was an uphill battle.
3. I tend to be very incredibly anal.
4. I enjoy doing dishes when I am not being told to do them.
5. I am constantly afraid of getting addicted to something. So I try to moderate everything.
6. I try to keep my DVD’s in alphabetical order.
7. I get a kick of doing things that keep peoples perception of me off balance.
8. I don’t keep many friends just a select group of close ones.
9. I really can’t stand myspace and prefer facebook.
10. I enjoy Thai Food way to much.
11. I drink maybe 2-3 beers a month.
12. I have never tried any drugs or smoked anything.
13. I dug my parents first pond when I was 12 for $20. I didn’t realize that 6hrs of work for $20 was getting shit pay.
14. I really enjoy the MacOS but got tired of pushing it on people.
15. I have this constant feeling that I never successful at anything but I like the fact that it drives me to try harder constantly.
16. Almost every girl I have ever dated I have met online.
17. I listen to podcasts all the time. I hardly ever listen to music.
18. I once gave two underage girls a ride home because they asked me to. I was freaked out the entire time that I would get called a pedophile for just driving someone somewhere.
19. I try as hard as I can to be a great guy.
20. I am fairly quite and don’t say things unless need be. Which usually leads to people thinking I don’t care about them because I tend not to ask questions about people.
21. I tip way to much because I feel bad. I never tip at coffee shops though. I feel $4 for coffee is enough of a tip. But I will tip $20 on a $30 haircut.
22. I used to have this dream about how I was trapped in a Winnie the Pooh Scuba suit. I sometimes still have it and freak out every time.
23. I sometimes get frustrated by people who don’t check their e-mail as often as I do.
24. I really enjoy Amazon Prime.
25. I hardly talk on the phone and try to use most of my communication via e-mail and SMS.
26. When I was 4 years old my family took a trip to Canada and I fell out of a Van in a pancake house parking lot and had to get my head wrapped up like a mummy.
27. I really dislike having to answer peoples questions that could be resolved if they just performed a quick google search.
28. I am never sure how long to hug someone that I am not dating.
29. I have a huge collection of socks that I never wear.
30. I feel pretty good about not having any negative feelings about anyone.
31. Whenever an HBO show comes on and does the little “Awwwww” I always do it to.
32. I get stuck on sayings every now and then. “Delta”, “Pinner” and always feel stupid when people don’t get it.
33. My current girlfriend has played enough Abba to make me never want to hear them ever again for any reason.
34. I was really happy to break it off with an ex via SMS. Made me feel pretty good about getting revenge on the opposite sex for all the crap they have done to me over the years. I feel bad about someone having to face that though and would like to apologize.
35. I update twitter frequently but I always get the feeling nobody cares except when it updates on Facebook and people comment on it.
36. Growing up my house was the most popular place to be on the street. We had Swings, Tree House, The Digging Spot, We built forts on the rockery. Sometimes I miss being the popular kid.
37. I chopped wood for 8hrs a day for 3 days in a row for the neighbors to buy a $10 marines hat when I was 11.
38. I can’t mow the lawn because it will swell me up due to allergies.
39. I am allergic to most pets. Cats at the highly allergic end. I am allergic to most dogs as well. But I like dogs.
40. I caught Mono in the 8th grade and missed 2.5 months of school. I almost failed the 8th grade.
41. I failed Spanish II on purpose because I really didn’t want to take that class.
42. My favorite soda is sprite.
43. People who text in movie theaters are probably some of the most annoying human beings alive.
44. I always enjoy being around people. I am not much of a fan of being alone except when I am feeling burnt out.
45. I have never really traveled that much.
46. I always put the peanut butter and the jelly on the same side of the bread then add the dry side on top of the middle. I developed this habit to annoy the crap out of my ex girlfriend. It doesn’t seem to annoy anybody now.
47. I save everything. Every chat, e-mail everything.
48. I am really good at playing Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo.
49. The sexiest part of a woman tends to be their legs.
50. I am honestly shocked I came up with this many things. That I wanted to write something cliche about how I am shocked I came up with this many.

Hope you enjoyed reading this. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. If you come up with 50 things let me know in the comments and post a link to your 50 things.

Geekery from Amazon

Today Amazon made a delivery to make my day.

We got the Race for a new Game Machine. A book about the story about the processor in the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3. Read just a few chapters and must say the book has been great so far.

We also have the Die Hard Collection on Blu Ray. Makes for a great visual experience. I really only care about Die Hard 1 and 4. The other 2 I could care less about. But it was cheaper to buy all 4 then buy two as singles.

Then on the bottom in silver we got a new 320GB Laptop SATA drive to toss in the Playstation 3 to replace the 80GB one that the system came with.

I must say I have been loving Amazon Prime. That is probably greater then my Costco membership. It blows away my Barnes and Noble card I think I maybe use that thing 2-3x a year and mainly for Starbucks discounts. When I switch my grocery shopping over to Amazon Prime I will have become fully intergrated with the internet. Mwa ha ha.

I wish I could have some cool power right now like shooting a lightning bolt out of my hands and a cape like the count from Sesame Street with a huge popped collar. That would be the ultimate badass of badass.

Goals for 2009

So I thought I might take the time to jot down a few goals I had for 2009. I don’t like the idea of resolutions because I don’t know they all seem to be broken somehow and most people just say them for a conversation started. So I wanted to get my goals down to make sense of things.

Wikipedia had a nice list of New Years Resolutions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution

So lets start with mine.

• Pay off Credit Card Debt – I have about 2,000 left to pay off. I can do this.
• Pay off Car Loan – This should be done in May so it’s a bit of a given.
• Buy a new car. I need to dump mine for something better.
• I would like to break a 10k gamerscore on XBOX Live. Currently sitting at 8410.
• I would like to learn a new skill. 2008 I wanted to be a better Grillmaster. I think I have gotten pretty good at the BBQ action. Not really sure what I would like to learn.
• I would like to obtain a new certification. Perhaps a CCNA or RHCE.
• I would like to lose weight and build more self esteem.
• Blog more.
• I would like to be a better boyfriend, brother and son.

I think that is a good list to go with. I think I can do every single one of those. I will need to come up with a new skill to learn. Anyone have any ideas? What was something that you learned to change your life? I thought maybe taking a human psychology class might be worthwhile. Understand people a little better.

I hope everyone had a great new years and hopefully I still have some readers on this thing. I on the other hand must get back to work.

Christmas List of 2008

So this year has been one amazing year for me. I have seen the purchase of many toys. So I thought I would write up a sane Christmas List. These are in no particular order so her goes what I would like for the Holiday Season.

• A Magazine Subscription to Wired, Maxim, and Discover.
• The Soprano’s Complete Series DVD
• A New Set of Silverware would be Awesome. Found this set I liked. Well Raleigh Liked so I Like.
• I Used to have a Set of Wine Glasses. But I have no idea where they are now. Could use Some of Those.
• When We Left Earth on Blu Ray
• Circuit Board Coasters
• DNA Poster – I know not really practical but still awesome. You would also need to collect some of my DNA.
• I could use a Bluetooth Headset. Since my last one went into the washer and came out broken.
• Some Video Games I would enjoy. Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty: World at War
• I am a total sucker for Board Games. I picked up an old school one called Careers a couple weeks ago. So here are some board games I would love to beat you at. Catch Phrase, Cranium I am a Trivial Pursuit Junky as well.
• Edit: Stingray Skin Wallet I saw this in Playboy. I must say this would be an incredibly cool wallet.

I can’t really think of much else. Trying to keep things simple these days where life can be complicated. If you were thinking about buying me a tie as something cliche may I recommend This Tie!

Okay there is the list. It might be updated but we shall see how the Holiday Season moves forward. Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving and I hopefully will hear and talk to everyone soon. Next Blog Post will be # 1000. Hooray for me! And Hooray to any of you that have read all 999 so far.

Edit: Fixed the Amazon.com Wishlist. Having Multiple List Catergories Seemed Confusing to Many.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/106QBBPP7L7DZ

Edit January 2009 – Crossed off the items that I had recieved.

My XBOX Avatar

I think I need to refine him a bit. I put him together when I was rushing out the door to catch the bus to go work this morning.

The Playstation 3

Well I guess the time had to come soon enough. I now own the Wii, XBOX 360 and Playstation 3. I first made my jump back into consoles back when the Wii was released. I waited from 9pm until 7am in front of a Target in Silverdale that cold November day. Everyone said they would stop by with food and coffee and not a person took the time to show up. Not that I am still bitter or anything about that. But the Wii sits there most days not being used. More of a toy that people always ask about and want to play when they come visit.

The Wii Games that I have currently.

• Wii Sports
• Legend of Zelda : Twlight Princess
• WarioWare
• Super Smash Brothers Brawl
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Mario Kart Wii
• Wii Fit

WiiFit isn’t mine it’s Raleighs but all the same she enjoys it. It’s rather gimicky but no real fun games to play and the lack of online play that is actually useful or fun is perhaps my number one gripe with the console. It seems to be a good lure for women. They actually enjoy the system. So I guess I keep it around for that reason. When Raleigh had a Rock Band party a few months ago they seemed to enjoy the Wii more then Rock Band.

Then I picked up the XBOX 360 Elite in May of 2007. This has been the greatest console I have ever owned to date. They rape you on accessories for the console. I had to pickup an extra controller $60 and the Wireless Adapter $90. I also picked up the ill fated HD DVD Drive addon. Now while HD DVD looks beautiful and I thought it would be the winning format I sadly failed in that arena. I have that white drive mocking me every single fucking day. “You spent $200 on me” I look to the right in the DVD case and see The Matrix Trilogy another $100 HD DVD Mockery. Planet Earth HD DVD$70 mockery. Heroes Season 1 HD DVD another $80 mockery. I picked up the Ocean’s 11,12,13 gift set on HD DVD from Amazon for $27 which I thought was a steal at the time. So I have a small but respectable HD DVD collection. I feel like I am the kid on the block that had the Dreamcast. Awesome at the time but quick to die and easily forgotten. I love my XBOX 360 even when I had to send it in for repairs when it quit reading discs all together. Had to pay $100 to renew my warranty for a year and to get it repaired which took 3 weeks.

During this three week social experiment I was going a bit nutty. My thumbs were not getting used as often as I would have liked. Raleigh was going crazy with me not having my video game fix. So after a week or two of not having the XBOX I just break down and buy the Playstation 3. I picked up the Metal Gear Solid pack.

80GB Playstation 3 + Metal Gear Solid 4 + Rumble Controller for $499.

What I was intending to do was pickup the 40GB PS3 for $399 and MGS4 for $60 and the new Rumble Controller for $55 but in the end the bundle was the better deal. The cool thing is that it also plays Blu-Ray discs. Which is generally all around awesome so I can keep up with the next generation format. Most people are thinking “Whatever” in fact I think that is all that Raleigh thinks about my toys. I think that whatever keeps me busy and not bothering her she is happy.

I guess I really have nothing to say. I own all of the current generation gaming platforms.

• Nintendo DS
• Sony PSP
• Nintendo Wii
• XBOX 360
• Playstation 3

I have a hard time finding a reason to say “I’m bored” other then I ordered Batman Begins on Blu Ray from Amazon and it’s taking longer then expected to arrive. I hope all is well with everyone else.

My next blog post will probably be about how Sprint is annoying me. It’s currently in the works. This post is kinda like Seinfeld. Nothing was said. A few gripes and we are now more enchriched upon reading this.

Global Warming or Cooling?

So I thought I would tell you about my past few days since well I haven’t done that in a while. So my roommate moved on Tuesday which was a great deal of drama. I was tired of him using my shit all the time and just being a bum with no job. Saturday he tells me he can’t afford rent and would be out by Tuesday.  Which was a whole big drama since I hadn’t seen him for the past few days after that so I take Tuesday off from work to be around to make sure he doesn’t steal anything since I have a great deal of expensive toys. I packed up most of the expensive ones and took them to my mothers house since it would be a safer place. But that isn’t really anything I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about last night.

I go have dinner with my mom every Wednesday night. I try to be a good son and I am told I do a damn fine job. But the people that tell me that are always a little biased in my favor. But hell it’s an ego boost that I am doing something good. Everyone knows I am a little lacking in the ego department. But if you ask Raleigh well she will tell you a different story.

But my mom canceled dinner last night because she wasn’t feeling so well. Which has been the story of the women in my life the past week.  So I had this evening that I usually don’t have so I did my normal geek thing grabbed the laptop. Cooked some Salmon Patties. I tried using Olive Oil this time. It worked out pretty well. I couldn’t really taste anything different. Figured I would try to be healthier in this day in age. Plus this is Washington and everyone is nuts about that kinda crap. For some reason I have never understood most of that gourmet food and it just doesn’t taste that good.

So I had the XBOX going playing some Assassins Creed. I finally accomplished something in that game. So far it’s been a rather fun game but my attitude towards video games has changed since I was a child. I remember playing my Apple II or my Atari back in the day and the games were a challenge to get working let alone to a playable state. But you could play an hour and be done since they were rather simple. But now a game requires like 40hrs of your time and I just can’t sit down to play a game for more then an hour. Other then social games like Guitar Hero or SceneIT. I miss board games but getting people together to play them seems harder then ever.

Okay that was another tangent back on track. So I pause the game to just use the restroom, clean some windows, vacuum the ex roommates room.  I grab the laptop and I have an Instant Message from a girl I went on one date with back in 2005. Which I found to be a little odd. Saying all the guys she dates are losers and full of drama. I replied with “Water Seeks It’s Own Level” and I quickly got prompted with a Fuck You.

This quickly prompted me to laugh and laugh. In all reality it was probably a very asshole comment for me to say. But it was fitting and quick and got to the point. But it made for a good night of Assassin’s Creed and some Halo. The guys playing Halo with me thought the story was hilarious and asked me for her IM Screen Name. Ahh the realm of Halo Voice chat. Some of the most racist hateful 13 year olds. Sometimes I am shocked when I cross a path with someone that speaks english without any accents.

But anyways thought I would share a few stories. Since lately I haven’t shared my life with the blog. Which seems kinda odd to have the blog if I am not telling my life story. February will be a busy house hunting month.

Cheers! -Tristan

“I Want a Wii Now” – Random Bitch at Wal-Mart

So last night I was having dinner with my mom and she wanted to drag me to Wal-Mart to offer advice on getting gifts for people. Personally I have gotten everything done and now just in the process of checking tracking numbers. I must say out of FedEX, DHL, UPS and USPS the USPS tracking site is probably the worst and they have one item with an expected delivery date of 12-24-2007. Which has me worried but meh Amazon.com has only failed me once.

So my Mom and I went to the electronics section of Wal-Mart and were looking for some game. There was some woman with her daughter yelling at Wal-Mart clerk A since I didn’t catch his name. She was totally heated the conversation went as follows.

Bitch: “What do you mean you had 42 Wii’s this morning and sold out in 11 minutes!”
Clerk: “They are a popular holiday item and word got around”
B: “But my son really wants one! You should have  held onto it for him”

Now  I was trying to ponder what logical thought process she was using to come up with this remark. Wal-Mart has never held anything for anyone. I called them to see if they had any copies of Super Mario Galaxy when it was released and he said he would hold one for me. He didn’t do so because well they had a full shelf and many boxes of them on a rack. But everyone and their grandma wants a Wii. Last holiday they were a hot item as well. I camped out for 16hrs in front of a Target I was 17th in line for 1 of 47 Wii’s. Now that I have the Wii I never play it. Well except when hot ladies come over and want to get naked for Wii Playing. (okay that last part was a lie.)

But I think the angry customer thought process is always interesting. Getting angry at store clerk or phone person never seems to accomplish anything. You just get imprinted in the clerks memory as a random slur against yourself. So the odds of you getting decent service again dwindle quickly. The people the yell over the phone are always great because you can put yourself on mute. Put them on speaker phone and you will get a crowd of people enjoying the person yelling. They are wasting energy and time and at least you get some humor out of it. But odds are if they heard what we did to mock them it would just piss them off even further.

So this crazy lady went on for about 5-7 mins about how she wanted a Wii. I wanted to mention to her that I had one. I could have probably sold it to her for $500 or so dollars. Or I could have mentioned the GameStop Raincheck that if you drop $250 for the Wii they guarantee one for you by the end of January. But meh she gets the stupid award.

I guess the point of this blog post is that it’s to late to get a Wii you should have been looking in June. Don’t get pissed at a store associate or phone people because you are stupid. You will accomplish nil. Most phone places will tag your account that you are hard to deal with and just stupid and it’s rather difficult to get that removed.  The Customs and Border Patrol do it. It stays on your account for 40 years. =)

Happy Holiday!

Also if you are awesome and have a Wii. My Wii friend Code is 5651 4193 4958 5574 shoot me an e-mail with yours and we can be Wii Friends!

The Christmas List – 2007

Well it’s 2007 and people are asking “Tristan what do you want or need for the Holidays?” So I figured I would lay it out for the people that care to know. I also have an Amazon.com Wishlist if anyone cares to look for that you can just search for Tristan Pipo.

Note: I have multiple wishlists setup for different groups. So it’s not empty on the right hand side of the page you will find the multiple lists.

Okay so lets kick off the list for this site in no particular order. If you are a reader from the intertubes shoot me an e-mail and can exchange mailing information.

• Ocean’s HD-DVD Box Set (Oceans 11, 12 and 13) Buy.com $55 Link
  • My favorite set of movies makes the jump to HD DVD what is not to want. I think my Ocean’s 11 Disc has been watched more then anything time to upgrade and replace.
• Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass for Nintendo DS $33 Link
  • I can always use a new game to entertain me while on the ferry. Currently have conquered all my DS games at the moment.
• Kitchenaid Gourmet Essentials Hard Anodized 12 Piece Cookware Set $199 Link
  • Note: Now this was the best reviewed set on Amazon.com Feel free to change the brand up if you desire. Could not find on Buy.com.
• Fiestaware 4 Piece Table Setting $20 Link
  • I will admit it I need some more plates. Raleigh recommended Fiestaware and I made mention to my mom and she was like that is what you should get. Now a multiple of 4+ would be nice. You can also get get different colors which is the appeal of Fiestaware I suppose. Link from Amazon.com Wishlist
• The Orange Box for XBOX 360 $59.99 Link
  • I waited 8 years for Team Fortress 2. I can wait a little longer.
• LED Enabled Faucet$12.99-$19.99 Link via ThinkGeek
  • I ran this idea past Raleigh and she seemed cool with the idea. But it was one of those things “That’s nice Tristan, Here is something to distract you and hope you don’t remember this later” Well that didn’t work. So here it is now on the list.
• Guitar Hero 2 Game Only $39 Link
  • Can always use more songs for this long winter indoors. Me and Raleigh have already gotten down the mastering of Guitar Hero 3.
• Edit: Old School on HD DVD $22.95 Link
  • I was recalling a conversation I had with Raleigh over the weekend that she has not seen Old School. The copy I have on DVD is scratched to Hell. Figured it would be a time to upgrade. I loved this movie it was totally hilarious. I was told to cross this out. Not sure why.
• A Mountain of Happiness.
  • Not sure anyone I know can afford this one.

So that is a quick little rundown of a list. I am not exactly sure what I want since this year has been rather fulfilling. A great deal of things happened but without a doubt it has been Raleigh.

I have felt incredibly lucky to find a Woman that I can connect with and be myself with and just accept each other for who we are. It’s odd to finally be understood by someone and understand them back. I will be writing a year in review coming up when the year is done and ready to be reviewed and we get to add another month and year to the blog archives.

I won’t be breaking 1000 posts in 2007 but it has been a fun one. Much love to you and your family this Holiday Season. I say Happy Holidays if this bothers you. Well you can…. It’s the Holidays I will keep it clean.

Oh and as the reindeer fly.

Hi Marcia. =)

P.S. Raleigh made me do it.

Super Mario Galaxy

So Super Mario Galaxy was unleashed upon the world yesterday. There were some mixed things that I heard about the release date. Most smaller shops were  getting it today (Tuesday) where Wal-Mart had it yesterday on the 12th. Not being a fan of being jerked around I went to Wal-Mart and picked it up. Buying a video game at Wal-Mart is interesting since you have to hunt somebody down to unlock their glass case to get you the game.

But I had been waiting for this game for way to long. I picked up a Wii on Launch day last year. That was an interesting process where I camped out in front of a Target from 8:30pm until 7am. All my friends were saying they were going to bring me coffee and food so I didn’t really pack anything but my DS expecting Starbucks or something to arrive. But most people didn’t seem to grasp the concept of dates and that turned out to a very cranky Tristan. But there haven’t really been any killer Wii games. I have Wii Sports, Zelda: Twilight Princess and Warioware. Zelda is good. I should probably sit down and beat the game. So getting a Mario Game would finally be the Killer App to make the Wii playable other then Virtual Console Titles.

This game I can totally see me and Raleigh playing some afternoon since she can be involved as much or as little as she would like. She can use the second Wii-mote to collect stars force me to jump to my death. Which I see her doing a great deal of that .  She can also shoot enemies and so forth. It kinda matches the Elebits side of things in that regard.

But gameplay is spot on everything I would expect from a new mario pushing the envelope and making an all around fun game to play. I am a child of the Mario era. I didn’t have a Nintendo growing up I was an Atari kinda guy until I got a SNES when I was in the 4th  grade.

So if you have a Wii I totally recommend Mario Galaxy. You will not be disappointed. The whole perspective and gameplay is totally a new experience since Gravity is not a major part of the game. You can spin around the planets and it is just a riot. Me and Nick were playing it last night and we found it to be a little trippy while tired and spinning around the world.

I give Galaxy a 9.9/10 the .1 off is for the camera angle can get a little odd at times.