Grand Opening...

Bar's open for business. Call for good times.

More details about the grand opening party later. In the mean time, Pictures here.

Recycle Your Cell Phone at the Zoo

"FONZ has partnered with ECO-Cell to collect and recycle Zoo visitors'
cell phones, batteries, and accessories. Working cell phones will be
refurbished and donated to low-income people abroad and selected local
organizations, such as battered women’s programs for emergency use (911
calls). ECO-Cell will pay FONZ up to $15 for every working cell phone.
All other phones and accessories will be recycled under EPA guidelines,
keeping hazardous materials from reaching landfills and harming human
and environmental health."

[ FONZ ]

Be green and help people, it's good for you. Did I mention you can see some monkeys while you do this?

Since the break up..

The air in the flat is filled with nostalgia(I keep thinking that if I oen all the windows it’ll go away). Although it’s all mine all along the place feels like it’s lost something.  Everything seems much darker, much quieter and a bit lonelier (is that a word?).  My bed now feels like it’s the size of the Atlantic Ocean, so I sleep on the couch.  Her clothes (what’s left of them) still neatly folder in her drawer, her toothbrush along with her hair pins still on the sink ready to be used any minute.   There’s constant depressing music playing in the background, although I’m quite sure it’s all in my head.

I’ve been keeping to myself.  I really don’t want to answer the “How”, “what”, “when” and most importantly the “why”.  It was good, it was great, It ended.  The End.  This time around I’ve avoided doing the formerly mandatory post-break binge drinking and binge hooking up. Why?  I’m not really sure.  Just didn’t feel right.

Despite all this sadness and loneliness,  somewhere deep inside I know everything is going to work fine because life is back to being the threesome that god always intended it to be:  Man, the gym & ESPN.

Some computer tips...cuz I'm that friend

Let’s be honest here, amongst your friends you know there is one or two that you are amicable with for the sole purpose of calling them when something goes wrong with your computer. Unfortunately for me I happen to be that guy (well people call me for boozing too, and you haven’t you should). Anyways, just last night another one of my friend called me asking for computer advice because his computer was going slow. And of I had to sit on the burn cell phones minutes trying to figure what was wrong and blah blah blah. So I’ve come up with a few things that you can to save yourself some cell phone minutes and not irritate that geek friend of yours unless something is really wrong. Plus you’ll feel smarter and better about yourself.

1. Download Firefox. It’s less vulnerable than Internet Explorer and has a ton of extensions that make browsing much more enjoyable.
   
2. Install Anti-Virus software. Acquiring one shouldn’t be too expensive. If you have Comcast, AOL, or EarthLink as an Internet provider you get one at a discount price. If you are dissatisfied with those or the trial period has expired, you can download Avast. It’s is free and quite affective. I use it on my machines at home. It scans everything from e-mails to AIM conversation including p2p downloads. It’s easy to set up and even has multiple skins. You can also try this one, but I don’t know much about it.
   
3. Install Anti-spyware software. Microsoft’s anti spyware is currently in Beta version, but seem to get the job done. A lot of experts also recommend the paid version of Spybot. But I’m not a fan of it.
   
4. Get a better spam filter. You can find a free one here. And for the love of god (any god), DON’T CLICK ON LINKS IN EMAILS.
   
5. Turn on your Windows firewall
   
6. Back up your Files. You can find externals hard drive that a 2 year old child can setup on Amazon or Froogle at a very reasonable price. My rule of thumb is get one twice the size of your hard drive.

Also don’t forget to secure your wireless network. But that’s something your friend doesn’t mind helping you with that. It will make them feel needed. Even geeks like that. It would nice to call him/her for non-computer related talk/events once in a while, but you don't have to.

UPDATE:  Microsoft has renamed their Anti spyware to Windows defender and it's now a Beta 2.  Download here.

The Time Traveler's Wife Review

In an attempt to broaden my horizons, I decided that I should read more this year. Not only business section of the Post, friends’ blogs but also actual books. Crazy, I know. Anyways, I made it a goal to read at least six non-computer related books this year. The first of book I read was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It was recommended by a couple of friends so I eventually "borrowed" from one of them to read. Whether or not I return is up to various gods, including the god of laziness.

The Book was a very good read. It was not nearly as addictive as Brown's The Davinci Code but it was still tough to put down. At first the book is hard to follow because the story is told from the perspective of the two protagonists (Can a book have two protagonists? If not, then it's really up for debate which character is the protagonist. Can a book have a protagonist(s) without an antagonist(s)? Or can an antagonist(s) be an object i.e. time?. And the author switches the between the two very often. After the first fifteen pages or so you will get hang of it. The book actually starts out rather oddly (7 year old meets a naked man in his 30's from the future) but grows into a love story that endures many tests over "time".

I'm still working on my critic style (really I’m not) so I’m not going to go into the writer's style and her use of various literary tools in the book and whether or not they were used appropriately. But I'm going to tell you that she does a fantastic job telling a love story in a very unique way. The book also raises questions of fate.  Are events in our live pre-programmed and we are just acting accordingly or do we have free will and in effect shape our future? Although the plot is not as wild and crazy as some would like, the author weaves enough webs to keep you reading without getting confused. While the ending was a bit drawn out and the self pity of the one of the main characters was completely unnecessary, it is so superbly written that it will have you wanting to commit suicide if you were in his place. To close the book, the author does and excellent job of tying all the loose ends

If my review doesn't have you sold, just think it was "a Today Show book club selection" and "One of People’s top ten books of the year.

Now that I'm done with this book, I'm looking for the second one. Any suggestions?

To Netflix or Not to Netflix

Over the last week, I've been trying to decide whether or not to get a subscription to Netflix. This seems like it would be a pretty easy decision but it has not been. The positive about Netfilx is that it's very cheap. It has an incredible selection. It would not take that long to have them delivered to my place. And some movies are just meant to be rented and never bought. However, when I want to watch a movie I want to watch it now. I don't want to watch it tomorrow or the day after that. And if I want to watch a movie again, I really would rather not wait for another couple of days to see it again. And there is just something about having a DVD collection that seems awesome. But that gets really expensive. Moreover, it starts to take up a lot of valuable space after a while.

Ideally for my DVD addiction, I would like something that is crossover of rhapsody and Itunes, where I can digitally buy DVDs or just rent them (for a couple of days) and watch them right away. Comcast onDemand is a start to this idea; however I just hate Comcast it's overpriced for a pretty small collection. For now I will keep debating whether or not to get Netflix.

Free Pizza

The catch is that they will send you sale emails long after the promotion is done. This is according to the company CEO Nigel Travis.