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here’s where i geek out about my car February 12, 2009

Posted by brandon in : ramblings , add a comment

now, i know that no one actually reads my blog. and those of you who do, couldn’t care less where i’ve been this past week. but i feel like i owe the internet an apology. last week was supposed to be the ‘relaunch’ of my blog! and two posts in, i fizzled out. but i feel that if, given the chance to explain…. those 25 or so of you unique visitors i get a day will understand.

this saturday i bought a car. there. thats my excuse for being a recluse all week. and not just any car. a 1997 TURBO mitsubishi eclipse! alright now for the real story.

i’ve been searching for months for a good condition turbo eclipse 1997-1999. They are my favorite car. I’ve already owned one, and will probably never own anything else. Last Friday I found one…. 600 miles away in San Jose, CA. So, deciding for once to have some fun, i called up a friend, booked two tickets to San Jose and said lets go! Let the record show that the drive to vegas from San Jose is nothing but a straight boring line with nothing at all to look at for 8 hours. [i'll go into detail one day about the trip]

That ate up my saturday, and i’ve spent every waking minute since then working on it. I’ve stripped off my Intercooler, exhaust, turbo timer, and a million other mods from my old eclipse and installed them on my new eclipse. Aside from my stereo and subs, i think I am finally done. My hands are all forms of cut up, i have spent days out in the cold rain, but it was so worth it.

So there. That’s my lame excuse. I hope the internets will forgive me. And i’ll be back tomorrow with some real material [hopefully]

my dog February 4, 2009

Posted by brandon in : me , add a comment

last night i finally bonded with my dog.

to take a couple steps back…. a couple of months ago, jessica decided it would be a great idea to go out and get a puppy. a chihahua puppy. knowing that i am deathly allergic to dogs. if i come within 50 feet of a dog, my allergies kick into overdrive, and then cause my asthma to come out of nowhere and attempt to kill me. it gets really bad. and i mean really bad.

so for the past couple of months, i ‘take care’ of our dog, but i don’t enjoy it at all. all she seems to do is get her hair everywhere, jump all over me, and generally make me miserable. i lost count of how many times i daydreamed of punting her through a couple of goal posts.

tonight, with jessica at school and dylan at his grandparent’s,  it was me and our dog. alone. we started out with our usual staring at each other hating each other’s guts. this lasted for an hour or so…. i decided to get up and take her out. she actually went to the bathroom on her first trip outside. i was amazed. on the way back in she went and stood at her food and water bowls. this prompted me to grumble, then get her some fresh food and water. while she ate, i realized how nice the weather outside was, so i threw a shirt and some shoes on. almost as if she could read my mind, she met me at the door. together, we went for a jog around the block.

after our short jog [which served to remind me how out of shape i am], we came back and played a little bit of fetch and i spent a bit of time trying some more to train her to sit. we spent the last hour before bedtime sitting together at my computer. today had the perfect combination of my allergies not bothering me, my patience for the dog lasting longer than normal, and the puppy behaving better than normal. thanks to this random trifecta i finally started to bond a little with our dog and her a little with me. while i feel these days will probably be few and far between, knowing that they do exist, makes it all worth it

[and as i save this post, i turn around to find that she has gone to the bathroom on my living room carpet!]

my blogging rebirth February 3, 2009

Posted by brandon in : me , add a comment

looking all the way back to my first blog post here at TOGNB [July 2008], i find its time to apologize to the internet for 7 [off and on] months of crap from me. I wanted to blog, but I had no direction, inspiration, creativity, or self control. My social internet self was trying to branch off into 10 different directions and projects. Today marks the day I reel them all in, and keep them in, until they are ready to hatch.

Yesterday I finally got around to purchasing Wil Wheaton’s audiobook, “The Happiest Days Of Our Lives.” I believe it clocks in around 3.5 hours. I listened to the entire thing today. In one sitting. I laughed. I cried. I laughed again. I spent hours just drifting off into nostalgic memories of growing up. It was so great, that I am immediately purchasing his other writings and audiobooks. And for a mere $19 bucks [and NO DRM], i highly recommend you give it a listen: http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/

I don’t have any possible way of explaining the connection between the two, but somehow it has re-energized me about my blog. I spent the last few months trying to find funny things to post and digg and spam everywhere I could, instead of writing honest, interesting material. I realized its not about how many people i can trick into reading my blogs, its about the memories and ideas that come with the mental process of putting the everyday moments of my life into print. This blog is about me, and the things that matter most to me

[I've already made a few important changes to the layout and functionality of TOGNB, and i'll get around to the rest soon. Comments require registration, I'll get a good subscription link up soon and some much better categories soon]

the man’s remote November 18, 2008

Posted by brandon in : hilarity , 1 comment so far

Wassup 2008 November 4, 2008

Posted by brandon in : hilarity, videos , add a comment

wassup 2008:

wassup 2000:

idiocracy November 3, 2008

Posted by brandon in : politics, ramblings , 2comments

being raised mormon has always left me with a certain ‘view’ of the mormon church. i left as soon as i was old enough to realize what a hypocritical joke it was. and it’s funny to see how little non-mormons know about the mormon church. even funnier is how little MORMONS themselves know about the mormon church.

all of that aside, i’ve never had a reason to really rally against and hate the mormon church. i’ve just been more along the lines of indifferent, as i really think all organized religion is a joke. that is, until prop8 came along.

prop8 is a ballot proposition in california to change the california constitution to ban all gay marriage.
read that again. and then again. yes - AMERICA is still that ignorant, closeminded, and full of bigotry and hatred. why shouldn’t same sex couple’s be allowed to marry? what makes them ANY different than anyone else? why should they be denied the same rights as everyone else?

that’s where religion steps in. religion brainwashes everyone into thinking that sme sex couples are EVIL and are destroying our country. and blah blah blah. etc. the mormon church has funded over 20 MILLION DOLLARS to try and get prop8 passed. because according to their leaders, ‘it is a direct commandment from god.’ take a look at www.protectmarriage.com and the open ignorance and hatred right on their website.

to see the mormon church actively trying to deny rights to regular everyday people and trying to force that into the government is very disturbing to me. mormonism has been elevated from just another stupid religion to a brainwashing, ignorant herd of bigots in my opinion. and yes i know this will offend some of you, but too bad, your religion has deeply offended me. while we as a race try to advance ourselves past petty issues like this, you like to drag us backwards and keep us there.

and on that note, i leave you with this gem:

no on prop8:
http://www.noonprop8.com
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1335

and here’s the opposite side of it:
http://protectmarriage.com

college at 23 years old. October 31, 2008

Posted by brandon in : ramblings , add a comment

so i finally broke down and dropped by the college to take my math placement test that i’ve been dreading….

i’m not ashamed to say that i couldn’t answer a single algebra question. i took algebra1 way back in 8th grade and didnt pay a damn bit of attention. same with algebra 2 in 9th grade.

it being 2008 now, and my 9th grade being back in 99-00, its been quite awhile.

which means….. yep. i get to take math 93! haha. introduction to algebra. then math95, algebra1. then math96, algebra2. and THEN math120, which is the only damn math class i need for my degree.

lesson to be learned? none whatsoever. because i still feel better than all of those kids who went straight to college out of highschool and either switched majors 5678 times before giving up after 6 years, or spent 40k on student loans for a degree they will never use.

i took the time to wait until i was ready to learn, and knew exactly what i want/need out of college.

kthxbye

internet television and the future October 27, 2008

Posted by brandon in : ramblings, videos , 2comments

my san francisco trip October 23, 2008

Posted by brandon in : fun, videos , 1 comment so far

my first time to San Francisco.  as well as my first time editing video. leave a comment [or two]

buliding brand loyalty September 29, 2008

Posted by brandon in : computers, ramblings , 3comments

so the other night i made a quick reference to the fact that i want an Ipevo webcamera…. it was a quick, hurried blog because i was busy, but very excited about having just learned of the Ipevo….

here’s a quick rundown:
640×480 @ 30fps
tiny!
and cheap! 39.99!

well, i didn’t get around to ordering mine that night, and was contemplating putting it off for awhile when i received the following comment on that blog: http://thatoneguynamedbrandon.com/2008/09/25/i-lold/#comments

wait, what?!

a company actually puts forth a little bit of effort to spend a few quality seconds with a customer/potential customer? that exists?! they actually want some feedback?! they are actually excited that I AM excited about their product?

Talk about a way to build brand/customer loyalty in the walmart day in age.

Kudos to you, Ipevo Team! Not only have you secured a customer for life, but you have succeeded in something far greater: making someone who doesn’t even own your product yet, tell all of their friends about what a great company you are.

For more information about Ipevo products and the company, check out http://www.ipevo.com/products/pov/pov_overview.htm