http://absolutliz.com/phpnews/absolutliz.rss This RSS feed was generated out of the newsdatabase of AbsolutLiz website. http://absolutliz.com So, I finally have a chance to share whats been going on lately. As you can see below, ive seen alot of movies recently. Its just that time of the year.Jil Station, Kyles band has finally released their new album. Hopfully ill snag a copy from Kyle soon. Im excited to see how it turned out.Last saturday I tried to go out with a friend around the city to take pictures, but we got rained out, so we might try again this weekend. A person I work with has a friend that needs someone to ride her horses with. So I hopfully can do that this weekend as well.Apple camp is going on right now, it is alot of fun, seeing what the kids come up with for their projects.I started reading a new book a bit ago. Its called The Great Book of Amber. Its interesting so far, but I am enjoying it.I think today I may even go up to the Y and go to the pool for a bit. I found a swm cap and goggles in my red travel bag the last time I used it. So, lets see how long I can last, its been a few years. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.25 of 5So, I have to admit I havent seen many of the Superman movies, and ive only seen small parts of the original one. But I thought it was a pretty good flick. There were things about it that i was pleasantly surprised about, like part about her son being Supermans kid, and how they kept the set rather "timeless" for the most part. You cant really tell exactly when this takes place. It had the typical super hero movie cheesyness to it, which I guess at this point is obligatory. I have to say I still like the Xmen series better, but Id say its almost close to Spiderman as well. Which is one I am really excited to see when it comes out next year. Overall, it was a pleasant experience and I am glad it turned out as good as it did, but there were parts that were pretty borderline too cheesy for me, but it worked out ok. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 5 of 5I loved it! The first one was awesome, the second isnt far behind. And they are already making the 3rd one scheduled to come out next year. What I found amazing was that the cgi on Davey Jones and his crew. It was simply incredible how real it looked. I wasnt sitting there thinking they were talking to cgi characters or partial cgi characters, instead i could just concentrate on the entire visual experience as a whole.Some claim it was only a bridge between the first and third movie...and while it was, it still holds its own. I went to the midnight showing for it, it was almost like a Star Wars release(though no where near the magnitude) There were people dressed up as pirates, and people with laptops passing time. The theater we were at had 6 rooms going for the release.I am glad it turned out so good, if you havent seen it....go now! :) http://absolutliz.com I spent the 4th of July at the Lake house this year again. It was alot of fun. I got to see my relatives that live in San Fran, they flew in for the week. I got in on Sunday evening. Monday I went to a small little amusement park with my uncle and cousin and her friend. We went gokarting and played some arcade games. It was fun to get some good games of skeeball and airhockey in, and it was very cheap too :)Tuesday we prepared for the evening by getting the red flares ready. We barbecued for lunch and played some games, including waterballoon tosses and egg tosses and of course your typcal board games like monopoly and clue. I also stopped at the book store there as well. The shelves seem to get higher and higher every time I got, there are piles of books to the ceiling now.I got some great shots of the fireworks. Dont worry, ill be putting up all the pictures over the weekend so you can see them. I got to see the new puppies. They are very cute, they run around and attack each other all the time, its really fun to watch.I left on Wednesday, i flew out of the Erie airport into Cincinnati. I was supposed to have a flight from Cinci to Alt at 8pm. But some unexpected weather occurred and I didnt get to leave until about 930. So I didnt get in until 1130ish. But it wasnt so bad, atleast they didnt cancel the flight all together. I had a great time, it was nice to see some of the family for a few days and relax up there. I need to get up there more often. http://absolutliz.com Typically held at the end of July/beginning of August in the Burgh, Atlanta's is held earlier in the tour. There werent as many bands that I wanted to see this year compared to last years, but it was still fun. It was held at the Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater. Its alot like StarLake, eh I mean PG Pavilion.On to the bands, first up was Anti-Flag...great as always, not used to them playing first, used to them playing last because they are from Pittsburgh, so they always play last there. I said my hello's to them at the booth and bought a tshirt. Next was Thursday, pretty good as usual. Then were the Bouncing Souls, they are fun to watch live as always. Then NOFX played an extremely funny set, during the set Roger from Less Than Jake was standing in the sound booth. So, not far away from where we were standing against the railing of the booth. Then he left and then LTJ came on and played an awesome set. They even played Johnny Quest, which I havent seen them play in quite awhile. I still need to pick up their new album.Glad I was feeling good enough to go. I am almost totally better. Which is nice. Should be aok for my trip to the lake house next week. http://absolutliz.com If you ever have a sore throat...go buy some of these lozenges. They are incredibly powerful. Ive had a sore throat since Sunday and taking one of these every hour or so makes it almost totally go away. I had to come home early from work today because I was feeling so icky. I dont like being sick, because its pretty boring. The only good thing is you can catch up on your internet reading and old tv show reruns. And I always get cravings for jello :) http://absolutliz.com I watched some of the World Cup games today. I caught some of the England vs. Ecuador. Then we watched the Portugal vs. Holland game. Ive never really paid much attention to soccer, but it was entertaining, even though we watched it on the Spanish channel.Ill be going up to the lake house next week for the 4th. Should be nice to see the family and the two new dogs that my parents got. Their names are Mario and Mia, two little shitzu dogs they got a bit ago. Ill have pictures up once I am back.I ordered some new shoes to wear to work. You can see a picture here. Ive heard that they are super comfy. Its getting too hot to wear jeans and shoes with socks all the time. I am almost done reading the chronicles of narnia series. Ill be starting book 7 tonight. Not sure what to start next, I have a few different things to pick from. Always looking for recommendations if anyone has any.Thats about it for now. http://absolutliz.com I went to an event last night called Screen on the Green, they were showing Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Great movie. It was packed, totally packed with people in Piedmont Park for the evening. I have a couple pictures up here. It was alot of fun. They are playing movies all through the month of June too. Pretty cool event. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 5 of 5I absolutely Loved this movie. It was simply one of the cutest movie I have seen in awhile. There was alot more to the story then what the previews show too which was a nice surprise. Pixar does it again! I cant wait to get it on DVD, and as always there is a new short that they included before the movie. Its called One Man Band, its already up on iTunes. So funny. Everyone needs to see this movie. http://absolutliz.com So I was in Pittsburgh this past weekend. Saw lots of people and had a great time. Thanks to Christina for picking me up from the airport! And thanks to Keppy and his roommates for letting me stay with them all weekend while they were trying to move in. It was great to see everyone, ill be back in a few months.I am working all week this week, but I am seeing Cars on Friday. I am all moved into my new apartment, big thanks to Dustin for helping me with that. I think I might be going up to the Lake House for the 4th of July. Should be nice to see the family. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.75 of 5I saw this while I was in the burgh with Christina, Keppy and Brian. I have to say, I am still enjoying the series very much. I have yet to be disappointed at all. They added alot of characters to this one. My only wish was to have a bit more background on some of them. But besides that, it was an awesome movie, yet again. This series has become one of my favs. If you liked either of the first two, or both, you wont be disappointed in this one, if anything you will be left wanting more detail and background like i did :) Rumors are already telling of a 4th movie too. Overall, excellent, i really liked it. http://absolutliz.com My new camera arrived yesterday. Here is what I got:Body: Canon EOS 20DCanon Lens: EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USMTamron Lens: AF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 LD MacroI also picked up a bag for it. It is so much fun to use. Once I get out to take something worth keeping, ill post up pics soon. I should be going on a photo outing this sunday, so probably ill have something from there.I am almost done moving, one more day to go. Dustin is coming over later to help me move the rest of my stuff. Comcast isnt coming until next Tuesday, but i wont have time after today really to move anything else.Next weekend ill be in Pittsburgh. Should be a nice getaway for a few days. Thats about all for now! http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4 of 5I really enjoyed it. It was more entertaining then I expected. Though I have not read the book, the movie wasnt all that difficult to figure out. I went into it with a fairly open mind, I knew the very basics about what it was about so I didnt have any really high expectations. I can see how it causes controversy, but I think you must remember that afterall, it is just a story. I do recommend seeing it, its a fun and interesting story. Xmen 3 comes out next weekend so excited :) http://absolutliz.com I attended my sisters college graduations ceremony over the weekend. She graduated from the University of Dayton with a degree in Marketing. It was nice to see the family for a little bit. I flew in and met them at some tent parties on campus, the next day was the ceremony and then we went back to her school house to help her start packing up. Short but sweet trip.I have signed a lease at a new apartment. I am slowing starting to put stuff together to take over. I am going to try and get over there tomorrow before work to do the inspection. It is just across the complex I live in now, just a different phase. I have also decided to look at the Canon 20D in place of the rebel. It is more $ but might be worth it in the long run. So we shall see. http://absolutliz.com So, what has been going on for the last week or two? Well, I went to the aquarium again. I have been to the barn a few times, which is great. We painted some fences one afternoon. It was fun. Difficult and I got sunburn, but they look great now.I also went bowling with a few friends from the store. There were about 8 of us so we split into two lanes. I also went to an 80s theme party and a friends house prior to going bowling. I picked up Jad from work and we headed to Gene's house. It was hysterical. Everyone was dressed in 80s attire. We listened to 80s music and barbecued on Gene's new grill.Right now I am planning on selling my two cameras, well one I already sold and I am going to be purchasing a Canon Digital Rebel XT. I think it is finally time to step into the digital SLR world. Hopefully in the next week I will purchase it. I have to make sure I have enough saved to also pay for the new apartment I will be moving into in the next two weeks as well.I am also going up to Dayton for my sisters college graduation ceremony this weekend. Hard to believe she is done with school. Which means I have been out of school for two years...yikes. So thats a small update as to what I have been up to lately. Future plans include a trip up to the burgh again soon and to the lake house for 4th of July. Wee! http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4 of 5I did really enjoy it. It is one of those movies that has a bunch of twists at the end that make you say "wow how crazy". It was an interesting story too, very unique. The characters were histerical and the actors were perfect for them. I like movies that keep you guessing and arent too easy to predict. If your into movies like that then you will love this. http://absolutliz.com Celebrate and read all about it HERE! http://absolutliz.com Rating: 5 of 5I saw this a few nights ago with Jamie and Danny. I love this one just as much as I did the first one. I was pleasantly surprised that Scrat was in it more often and at how many new characters they had. I like it when sequals have a differnt story from the first that is just as powerful and interesting. They didnt overdo anything, had some funny songs and cute characters. I totally loved it. If you liked the first you will not be dissapointed! http://absolutliz.com So I had plans for the entire weekend, but something is going around at work and now i have some sort of cold/flu/allergy thing going on. I want to go see Alkaline Trio tonight but I may skip it and just go see Ice Age 2. Either way it will be fun. Tomorrow I am going to the barn to help repaint some of the fences and jumps. I have been going more often now and helping out more, which is nice.The pollen down here is incredible. Every time i go to the car it is covered in this layer of green dust. Its kinda gross :) So thats probably why im not feeling well, i havent had allergies before, but its so much more down here that my body is like on pollen overload. Time to drink more Theraflu! http://absolutliz.com Well, Happy April Fools to everyone. Want to know all the internet pranks everyone pulled today? Go here.I went on a drive up to Helen, Ga to visit the cute little German City and to see Ruby Falls. I will have pictures up soon from that trip. The town was really cool, had some great German food, shopped around, bought a few things. Then headed up to see the falls. The area reminded me of Ohiopyle alot.Today was also Apples 30th Anniversary. So, that is pretty cool as well, I was sporting my Thank You Steve shirt today. I know, its kinda geeky, but who cares :) http://absolutliz.com Finally after who knows how long, I have finally redesigned my website. Hope you like it!On another note, a Happy Birthday goes out to my sister Val, she turned 22 on Sunday. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.5 of 5I saw this on Saturday. Not really knowing most of the plot besides that it was based on a comic, made it exciting to see how things were played out. I really enjoyed it. The characters were very well done and Natalie's character was excellent. There were some very 1984 overtones to it, but it wasnt so much so that it was distracting. I found myself getting lost in the story multiple times not really sure what outcome I was wishing for. I do have to admit that I liked how the citizens came together and rose up against the politicians. It is strange how true it really is. The government is supposed to be there to protect us, not to instill fear in us. We are not supposed to fear them, they really should fear us. Either way, I highly recommend it. Very good movie. http://absolutliz.com They are up, you can see it here. Enjoy :) http://absolutliz.com I woke up this morning, my day off this week, with two tasks. Take my car in for an alignment and go grocery shopping. This was at 8am. By noon I had been told that my car had some Major repairs that needed done, was too expensive to fix for the age, and that I should get a new car. And by 8pm I had arrived back at the apartment with a loaner from the Volvo dealer while my new car was being worked on and would be ready the following morning. But lets back up a little. Fortunately I had spoken with my mom a few days earlier and she told me that my dad wanted to trade my car in in about 2 months anyway and I should go test drive some cars. So I dropped off the car and headed for the Toyota dealer to test drive the Highlander(Dad's pick).My thoughts on the Highlander: it is a nice cost efficient midsize suv. Pro's were body size, mpg and reliability. Con's were that it drove like a small car inside a larger steel bubble, no ipod integration and a digital odometer (i prefer the orange thing). Overall, I liked it, but it didnt feel as good as the jeep did as far as how it drove to me.Next it was a nice long walk to the Volvo dealer to test drive the XC90(my pick). My first impression of it was nice. It drove very much like my Jeep and was very similiar in size, but about a few inches longer, say like 3. Pro's were safety, ipod integration and memory seats. Con's were initial price tag, gas tank door being on the wrong side then im used to and mpg was not much better then the Jeep. Overall, I liked it better because I felt it drove more like the Jeep and I was used to the size and feel of it.So I get back to the Jeep dealer only to find that my car was in alot worse shape then I had even imagined. I wont get into details, but it was becoming very unsafe to drive. Because of its age, mileage and problems. My dad and I decided to move up the trade in date to today and get a new one. After some debating, and number crunching with the sales people at each place. We went for the Volvo XC90. So I went there, signed some paperwork, cleaned out all my stuff from the car(keep in mind this was not on my todo list today)and moved it into a loaner that they gave me for the night.So, tomorrow morning I am going to be the proud owner of a brand new 2006 Volvo XC90 in black.Kind of a crazy day. I will miss my Jeep, I already do. I had 7 great years out of it and over those years it became a big part of me. So, this is my farewell. http://absolutliz.com I was walking back from getting a snack at the newsstand and a kid passed me, he stops and turns and says 'Hey, I know you'. I thought to myself "thats rather doubtful", but i will humor him. He proceeds to ask me if I was friends with some girl that he knew and if i went to some highschool i didnt remember the name of, well of course i didnt, but i just said "sorry, ive only lived here since august". He said he was sorry, and i said no problem, and I went on my way back to the store. It makes me miss pittsburgh where if that had happened, there is a much much higher chance of me actually being that person that they know or a friend of someone that they know. Someday that will happen here, just takes time. http://absolutliz.com I saw these guys at the Masq a few nights ago. It was an amazing show. They played for about an hour and played a bunch of songs I liked and also some new ones. They concluded with Justified which is one of their best. I went with Danny and a few friends of his from school. It was alot of fun.I am seeing Kyles band again on Thursday night at a place called the Drunkin Unicorn. Thats all for right now. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 3.75 of 5I saw this movie with some friends from work. Julianne Moore did an excellent job with her character in this movie. Without giving away the story, she is a mother who winds up in the hospital claiming her car was stolen by a black man and her son was still in the backseat. The movie takes you through the investigation and how uprisings occur in the black neighborhood where the crime was committed. Its not a happy movie, it is rather sad, but it sends a very loud message about how discrimination is still going on. It is definately a rentable movie, if you want a movie that makes you think. http://absolutliz.com My trip was very fun and relaxing. I got to hang out with my friends. Thursday was 80s nite, and Friday and Saturday was mostly with the Shadyside crew at the Tavern. I got to hang out with Christina and saw Joe and Brian too. I got to drive around this cute little Mazda 3 rental car, it was alot of fun :) All in all a much needed vacation.Tonight I am going to a movie with some people from the store, should be fun. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get out to the barn on Thursday this week too. I saw my friend Kyles band on Friday night play at the Masq. Their band is called Jil Station. They were really good and are knee deep in a brand new record deal that they signed not too long ago. So he is really excited about it.Not too much else going on right now except I am now the proud owner of an Apple 23' Cinema Display. Ill be putting up pictures soon. It is sweet, and I got a great deal. Now I gotta sell my old monitor :/ http://absolutliz.com So, the Steelers finally won their SuperBowl. Of course it had to be the year I move away, but nonetheless I was excited to see them win.It snowed here today, it was kinda cool, i stood outside the back door of the store and watched it for a little.Tomorrow I do laundry and pack for my flight home. Cant wait to see everyone. I have so much I want to do its like I have to make a list! http://absolutliz.com Monday night I went bowling at U.S. Play with a few friends from work. We had a fun time. The building it was in was sort of like a Dave & Busters, games, pool, food, prizes, interesting place.My parents came into town today. They brought down some of my clothes and my dresser that I couldnt bring down before. Then we headed to Centennial Park where we looked for a brick my dad had submitted for the Olymics on behave of the PTSC.Tomorrow we are going to the Aquarium, we have 11am reservations. I cant wait. Ive heard really good things about it, too bad Nate has to work so he cant go :( .I will be back up in the Burgh in one weeks time. I cant wait to see everyone. I hopefully will have a car to drive around otherwise ill be having to get rides from everyone, but I think ill be able to snag my moms van for a few days. http://absolutliz.com I attended the Less Than Jake show last night with Jamie and her fiance. It was lots o fun. Seeing them play live never gets old to me. They played some new songs, and a medley of older songs which was awesome. It has been quite some time since ive been to a concert. So I picked up a tshirt. I was tempted to get some Monkey vs Robot toys for nate, but i didnt want to carry them around during the show. The bands that they played with I wasnt too impressed with, but i guess it could have been worse.The rents are coming down soon and we will be going to the new aquarium down here, i hope its as good as everyone is claiming it is. I already have my pass, i just need to get the id when i go there on my first visit. They are also bringing down more of my stuff including my dresser, which i cant wait to get :) http://absolutliz.com Rating: 3.5 of 5Im still not sure what I think of this film, it was not cinematic by any means, and that can sometimes be a nice change. I didnt know all too much about what went on with the shootings at the games but I did read some articles about it once. I dont think it would be a movie I would pick up and watch very often, its a rather long movie, with obviously large amounts of political and racial undertones. From what I heard though its pretty accurate, but im not sure how truthful my resources are, either way it was a nice change of pace from the typical hollywood assassin movies. http://absolutliz.com Today I, along with a few other friends from work, helped Carey and his wife move a bunch of their stuff from their old house to their new house today. I arrived a bit after 9 and we had some coffee and then we got started loading up the moving truck. It took us about 3 trips to get everything over to the new place. After we were done, we had a barbecue on the deck. It was a fun time. Day 3 of my 4 day weekend has come to a close. Tomorrow is laundry/cleaning day. Woohoo. http://absolutliz.com The new year has come and gone. Nate and I went to dinner at an Ethiopian Restaurant with two others. It was very good, but filling :) Then since I had to work the next day we just stayed in and watched the ball drop on tv.Nate is in DC for the week for job training. So I am flying solo until probably Saturday. Today I got a new Georgia Drivers License. Its strange, its pretty much the final thing I had to do to fully become a Georgia resident. I will be getting my voting card in the mail soon they said.I hung up the panoramics that I got printed for Christmas, they came out awesome, all 5 are hanging on the wall now. I also picked up a Waffle maker at Target a bit ago with the gift card that Val gave me for Christmas, maybe ill make them this weekend, i need to go grocery shopping anyway.I could really go for some LuLu's PadThai right now...cant wait to go up to the burgh and have some in Feb :) http://absolutliz.com It started around 8:30 when I woke up and set up video chat with my family back home in Cleveland. It was great to actually see them and do the gift opening on the iSights instead of over the phone. Highlight gifts include a year pass to the new Atlanta Aquarium, a candle holder, some clothes, a book that I wanted and some dvds.Then it was off to my cousin Mikes house to see him and Melissa. We watched a movie and talked for awhile, it was nice to see them and meet their new puppy Bailey.Back at home I cleaned up the paper and stuff from the morning and put some of my gifts away. Though on our way home unfortunately we witnessed a rather terrible car wreck, the guy was flying in and out of the lanes on 75 and lost control and flew off the side of the road. Luckily no other car was hit, but he was pretty banged up. We stopped to make sure he was ok and wait till the ambulance arrived. Later on I made a trip up to my friend Maceys house and we watched one of the movies I got: Madagascar. It was a cute movie. Now Nate and I are taking advantage of the rest of the evening to relax, play some games and eat a chocolate covered apple my parents sent us :) I hope everyone had a great holiday! http://absolutliz.com Rating: 5 of 5Aside from its unsuspecting length, the movie was outstanding. I wasnt sure how it would turn out, I was a little skeptical, but I was greatly surprised throughout the whole thing. The visuals were amazing, how closely Kong looked to a real live gorilla was so cool. The bug scene, which I was told was taken out of the original for being too creepy, was added back in by P.J. but was still way too creepy for me :)It was different then I expected, it was actually a rather sad movie, I am really glad I got to see this in the theater. Great overall, except we had no idea it was such a long movie! hehe http://absolutliz.com I had the day off from work today. It was uneventful, but nice. I did laundry, lots of laundry, and finished wrapping the xmas gifts I have. There is now a nice little pile around our small little xmas tree :) Nates mom sent him cookies today, yummy, they are very good.I have finally finished the Isaac Asimov books that I had to read. All in all it was about 18 books. I have decided to read all 7 of the Chronicles of Narnia books now. I have previously only read tLtWatW when I was little so it will be nice to see what happens in the rest of the books. After that, its either HitchHikers Guide or the Book of Amber.I cant wait to start playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, I have been waiting for it to come to Mac for quite some time. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.75 of 5I would have given it a 5, but I never felt the "WOW this is incredible" feeling as much as I thought I would. That, and the audio in the theater we went to was terrible, never going back to that one again.As for the movie itself, it was amazingly accurate to the original story, atleast as much as I could recall, its been quite some time since I read it, though I plan on reading it again very soon. It reminded me of when I was little I loved to watch the cartoon movie of the story all the time.I didnt however like how they made Mr. Tumnus rather tall, I always imagined him as a smaller/shorter character, no taller then Lucy. But I was greatly impressed with the White Witch character, all of her costumes were almost exactly as they were described, and they did a great job with her character.Overall, I loved it, it was a great story, and the movie I think did the book justice, they didnt really change much, which I liked. Even if your not into the fantasy genre, you will still like this movie, brings out the childhood imagination again. http://absolutliz.com I found $20 today on the ground in the mall parking lot. Pretty cool if you ask me. I think ill use it to take nate and I to see a movie tomorrow. I am almost finished with my Christmas shopping. I have one or two more things to get and Ill be all done. Ill be having Christmas morning via iSight with my family this year since I wont be able to go up cause of work :) http://absolutliz.com I have new pictures up from Thanksgiving. Check them out in the photos section.Being able to go up and see my family was nice. And the food was wonderful! :) http://absolutliz.com I can finally announce that I have been promoted to ASM at the Apple Store that I work at. SOOO excited!!!! It will officially kick in about 2 weeks from now.I found a place to get a haircut too, this really cool place near where i live, she did a pretty good job this first time, so Ill be going back again.Looking for sales on Black Friday??? Check out this really long list of stores and what stuff they have on sale.For anyone interested, I have put up on DeviantART a select few of my photos up for sale, you can see what I have up there now by going here. Ill be adding more as I get to them. http://absolutliz.com I attended the Depeche Mode concert with Nate on Saturday. It was alot of fun. I dont know the band all that well, but I do know most of the popular songs so it was fun to sing along. They had a new cd out and played a few songs from that I was told. I bought the tickets for Nate for his birthday coming up at the end of the month, and I am glad I was able to go, with my elbow still healing and all.I started back at work yesterday, it feels nice to get back in action. I have some really really awesome news about work too but I cant say until Sunday, so I will post about it then. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4 of 5I really didnt have an idea of what this movie was exactly about when I went to go see it. But I found myself really enjoying it from the start. It isnt your typical shoot'em up war movie. There really isnt much gore to speak of at all. Then again, when you do a movie about Desert Storm, you cant really have to much validity in putting in alot of gore.It was more documentary-like then one is used to with a war movie, but it was also very humorous, lots of jokes and funny things the main group of guys went through while waiting and waiting in the desert. I dont blame them, what else would you do in the middle of nowhere.It must have felt so unfulfilling to some while they were there. I remember writing to one of them while in grade school, it was a project that we did, everyone wrote a letter to one of the soldiers over in Iraq. I even got a letter back with a picture of him and one of his buddies, which I think I have long since lost. But it was hard to imagine for me the things that were going on at the time when I was that young.Anyhow, go see it, if your normally turned away by "boring bloody war movies" then you might actually enjoy this, cause its far from a bloody war movie. http://absolutliz.com Well, it was more of a fall, but I did end up spending the prior part of the day in the hospital. I was at the barn working out Irish, lost mt balance and fell on my elbow. Normally I try and land on my feet or back but I rotated too much and landed square on my left elbow. This was Sunday afternoon, and now im at home on meds and cant work till tuesday next week. Which sucks, and i feel bad for everyone that i cant come in, but the meds make me tired and i cant drive. Yes i am aware that riding horses can bring injuries, so i consider myself lucky for not breaking my arm, so i am taking the opportunity to catch up on some sleep, and teaching myself to type with one hand. Its actually not too bad. So, if anyone is bored, please give me a call, i can only take so much daytime tv :) http://absolutliz.com Ive gone to the barn a few times now and I really like it. Its alot of fun, I had to take my car in yesterday cause I was having gear problems. Thankfully it was only a sensor and cable that needed replaced. I got it back today so I didnt miss any work. I will be going back to Cleveland for Thanksgiving, though I dont think ill be able to make it to the burgh until after the new year. Nothing else too exciting to report. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.5 of 5I saw this movie last night. I love the shorts, and this movie was nothing short of great. I think these characters are so unique and funny. The story was very typical for a Wallace and Gromit plot. I highly recommend it and also check out their dvd of shorts that they put out a bit ago. Claymation takes so much time and effort and these guys have done another fantastic job. http://absolutliz.com I am excited to say that I have finally found a place to ride. Its at a barn called Bits and Bytes Farm. I went out there for the first time today and met all the horses and even got to ride a bit, ill be getting pictures soon. http://absolutliz.com Well, we are moved into the new place finally. I will be taking some pictures tonight and will have them up later. We bought ourselves a futon cause we have no couch, its nice and comfy. We had Comcast stop by yesterday to get our internet and cable set up. After a bit of trouble with the cable we are back up completely and it is great to feel connected with the world again :) http://absolutliz.com So I have been back from my trip to the Burgh for about a week now. I had an excellent time while I was back. Even helped out with the South Hills Village Apple Store opening. I will have pics up as soon as I get some highspeed internet access. But it was great to see everyone and hang out for awhile.Nate and I just signed the lease at our new place down here. We will be living at Post Brookhaven Apartments. Now I can finally prove residence since I am on the lease and get myself a snazy Georgia Drivers Liscense. I am excited to go furniture shopping soon too cause well, we have none :) All for now. http://absolutliz.com Ill be heading back to the Burgh bright and early tomorrow morning. I should arrive around 6pm ish. Ill be hitting up 80s nite of course. I have a fairly busy weekend planned already it seems. Going to be bringing the last of my stuff in the apartment down to Atl with me and the rest is going up to Cleveland with my mom. I will have pics of the wedding up when I get back. I havent gotten around to uploading them, being on dialup and all, its a process.Nate and I will be moving into our new 2Br 1b apartment on the 1st of October, yay. That means we can get cable tv and internet! Cant wait. http://absolutliz.com I wanted to with my cousin Mike and his new wife Melissa congratulations. They got married yesterday. I will have the pictures I took up soon and I will be adding more as people share them. It was a very nice day for the event. Not too hot or too windy. The food was great. It was nice to see my family again since being down in Atlanta doesnt allow me the opportunities to visit as often. I had a good time and I wish them all the best. http://absolutliz.com Nate and I went to the Atlanta Zoo on Sunday because we both had days off. It was very nice to get outside and walk around for a few hours. They had a great panda section with two really large pandas. It wasnt the biggest zoo ever, but it was nice. I took some pictures of course, you can see them here. I will be going up to the Burgh at the end of the month, Sept 22-25 to finish packing up all my stuff in my apartment up there. So since I am driving both ways that wont leave much time to see everyone, but I will try.Nate and I have found a more permanant dwelling place, we move in at the beginning of October, so we will finally have cable internet again!I am very much considering buying this game here. It sounds really fun :) Thats about all for now. http://absolutliz.com So I am sure everyone has alteast been watching the news about New Orleans and everything. Here is a link to a great page that has some real live information about what is really going on with regards to the evacuation and everything. You can view it here. It is a link to a LiveJournal posting blog that this guy started when he interviewed a guy over the phone who had been in the dome awaiting buses to get them out. It is quite amazing. So, check it out. There are even pictures that he took that are here. http://absolutliz.com Happy birthday to meeeee! :) http://absolutliz.com So I am slowly becoming familiar with the area. Nate found this great little mexican place that we have been going to a few times so far, its called Ponchos. Work is going well. I actually visited the Lenox Mall store yesterday on my day off to see the place again. It was quite busy but thats to be expected on a Sunday. Nate and I went to ProMove yesterday too to get some help on finding a larger apartment to move into that is a better commute for me. The guy was really nice and gave us some great information and suggestions. Even a free map. So I highly recommend using their services if you ever need to relocate and they are in your area, its free. I think I am going to make plans to come up to the burgh the last weekend of September. To clean out my apartment there and to see everyone. Thats about all for now. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.25 of 5Its a great documentary of the Empire Penguin. From the trek to the breeding grounds, to little baby penguins walking about, it is one of the more refreshingly fun movies I have seen in awhile. You dont need tons of cgi and effects to make a movie fun, entertaining and amazing. The environment that these penguins have to survive in is terribly harsh. It is amazing how they all work together and have done so for thousands of years. If you love animals, or ever read National Geographic, this movie will make you fall in love with the cute little guys :) The video the group captured is amazing. I highly recommend it. http://absolutliz.com Atleast traffic-wise. The highways are crazy here, if you thought 28 was bad? Yikes, this is so much worse.Anyway, so Im here, the drive took about 10 hours, including some stops in between. Then I met up with Nate and his dad who helped me unpack all the cars. Didnt take too long, his apartment is rather similiar to mine, accept he has a joined kitchen and den area. Then we went driving around the area and I found a grocery store, a bank, post office and such.Today I did a trial run of my commute to work. Its not the greatest, but I guess for here it could be worse. I have dialup in the apartment until we find a permanent place, so I will only be online for a little every now and then. So if you need to reach me, just call my cell phone. Now its off to find something to do for dinner. http://absolutliz.com So I leave tomorrow for Atlanta. Its been great, but if I dont get out now, Ill regret it forever. My apartments almost all packed up. To everyone I have said goodbye to already, I will miss you lots and I will try to keep in touch. To those that I will not get the chance to say goodbye to before I go, I am sorry I missed you all! I wish everyone that I leave behind good luck with everything and I will hope to be back soon for a visit. So long Pittsburgh, I will miss you. http://absolutliz.com I attended The Warped Tour today. Compared to last years turn out, this year could have had more then double the amount of people. It was rather crazy.There were a handful of good bands that I saw. The most notable to me was of course The Offspring. Even though they have been around longer then the tour itself, this is their first time to actually attend the tour. They played a great set, lots of older songs that I like. I had a great spot in the front row against the barriers. Though I got smushed from all the crowd surfers, it was worth it. Thrice was there too and they sounded great. Overall, it was a fun, but really hot and sticky, day. http://absolutliz.com I went trail riding with Keppy today, at the Rolling Hills Ranch. I actually went there a bit over a year ago with the riding team from school. It was alot of fun. I miss being away from the barn right now, school practice is over for summer so I havent ridden in about 2 months. Im hoping once I get down to Atlanta, I can find a barn to practice at. http://absolutliz.com So I had dinner at Joe and Brians last night, we made "loaf", which is kinda like a meatloaf, but its not made with meat, the one we made was with carrots, cashews, garlic, bread crumbs, onions and a few other small things. But you bake it in a pan and after its cooked, its supposed to sorta look like a "loaf". It was actually very good. So was the spinach salad with grilled onions, peppers, tomatos and feta cheese. Yummy, it was one of the best home made meals weve made yet. It was nice to see them, its been too long. Tomorrow night is my last week at 80s night at the Upstage. Im kinda bummed about that, its a fun place and ive met alot of cool people there. Hopefully Atlanta has something similar. http://absolutliz.com Since my plans are finally concrete, I can finally say that I am going to be moving to Atlanta, Georgia on August 10th. I will start work at the North Point Apple Store on Aug 15th. Its crazy, not 6 months ago I had no idea that I would be moving to a new city. Then again, these things always come fast. Id like to see as many of my friends as possible before I go, I will be having a going away party of sorts soon, so details about that will come soon. Just thought Id let everyone know :) http://absolutliz.com I finally got my...well a....cell phone back yesterday. Between the hours of 5 and 7pm yesterday I was in contact with the RadioShack that was supposed to have received my "replacement phone" that day but, of course, did not have it. In a nutshell, we eventually figured out that I was not being shipped a new phone, and the store was out of the one I had, so I got a brand new phone. Its the Samsung a740, so in the end I got a whole new phone, which was cool, and the guys who were helping me figure out what was going on were nice too, I just wish I didnt have to go through hoops to figure out if they were actually sending me a phone or not. But I have one, and its neat so im happy.Im at my parents house right now visiting them. I went to dinner with them and my aunt/uncle/cousin and grandma earlier, it was nice to see them. I also saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tonight, but ill review that one probably tomorrow when i get home. http://absolutliz.com "You have your theories, but how certain can you be. Certain enough to consider it a firm basis for the existence of a mighty force for which all other evidence is negative? It's always easy to explain the unknown by postulating a superhuman and arbitrary will.It's a very human phenomenon. There have been cases all through Galactic history where isolated planetary systems have reverted to savagery, and what have we learned there? In every case, such savages attribute to-them-incomprehensible forces of Nature-storms, pestilences, droughts-to sentient beings more powerful and more arbitrary than men.It's called anthropomorphism, I believe, and in this respect, we are savages and indulge in it. Knowing little of mental science, we blame anything we don't know on supermen..." - Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov, p248-9So, I finished this book the other day and I went back to read this section, and I found it to be so true. Now, in the book they refer the "supermen" as this Second Foundation that everyone is looking for, these people that can read minds, but no one can find where they are located. But, taken out of context, you can apply this idea to alot of theories and beliefs.When something unexplainable happens, alot of humans like to look towards "higher powers" for solace and comfort, especially when the events are tragic. Look at death, when someone dies young, or because of unfortunate events, we as humans need closure that there was a reason that it happened, otherwise we would feel empty. Humans love to use this when dealing with predetermination. "They made me do it", or "I was told to do this" are typical when someone does something terrible, they give explanation by saying they were following a "higher being". Obviously this plays a huge role in religion. The whole "God has a plan" idea. We feel safe knowing that there is something out there to explain all of the stuff that we cant, because we, as humans, fear everything we cannot explain. If there werent an idea of a God, or a higher power, then we would probably live in a very chaotic world.... http://absolutliz.com Rating: 4.25 of 5I watched this movie today and I have to say, I was amazed at the performance by Tom Hanks in this movie. It was made in 93 and looking at the topics of the movie, I am sure this was a very controversial movie for its time. It gives light to how people felt back then about aids and sexual preferences, and how we struggled to come to terms with things, how hard it was for some people. Its amazing how close minded people were back then, and still are today about homosexuality.There could be so many ways for people to respond to this movie, and that in its own right is why I think this movie is very well done. Being able to get into meaningful discussions about movies is always a fun thing for me. I totally enjoyed this movie, and I recommend everyone see it. http://absolutliz.com Rating: 3.5 of 5I have to say that even though it wasnt the most interesting plot, it was a fun and cute story. At first I must admit I was a little skeptical about Adam Sandler playing a more serious role, but I think he did a fine job. The lead woman was very good too. Overall I would totally recommend it if you want a fun movie to rent thats not a total chick flick. http://absolutliz.com So I went to Kennywood yesterday with Nate. He went earlier with his family and I came around 5 after work. We rode a couple rides, got some corn dogs(a must) and then road a few more. I had to get some potato patch fries before we went. I dont care how new and extreme rollercoasters get, the Thunderbolt is still my favorite coaster ever. Even though I only got to stay a few hours, it was worth it, keeps reminding me to still be a kid sometimes. http://absolutliz.com?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=6 Rating: 3 of 5Saw that movie today. I have mixed feelings. On the one had, the premise of the story was rather interesting. But the movie itself aside was just full of fx. And the ending seemed kindof abrupt, but im not sure how it could have ended where it wasnt abrupt.The only part that annoyed me was after the first lightning storm and everything lost power, a few minutes later there was a guy filming with a video camera...what gives? heheMaybe ill get around to reading the book sometime. I hear its better and a bit different from the movie. All in all, was worth the matinee price, and entertaining, but not much else, atleast for me. http://absolutliz.com?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=5 So apparently in the last two days, my phone has gone from working...to not playing any sounds when someone calls me. So...its out for repair. Ill hopefully have it back w/in the week. If you need to call me...call Nate, or call the store.It was 4th of July weekend a bit ago, so of course there was a party. It was fun. We went out on the top of Mt Washington to see the fireworks cause it was so close to Keppys house. All for now. http://absolutliz.com?action=fullnews&showcomments=1&id=3 My site is back up and running, only a few minor things to fix and it will be complete. I have a new news script running and now people can post comments w/o needing to login at all.On a more festive note, it is the 4th of July. I happen to be working, which kinda sux, but ohwell. Hope everyone has a fun day! Go see some fireworks.Nate had his going away party last nite. You can see pics here. Thats about it for now, ill be fixing things and adding things over the next few weeks. So, tata for now.