Funny thing to talk about during Winter...

This past weekend I stopped off at a Cub Foods "Super" Market to pick up some things for the week or two and had this urge to get something sweet and cold to eat. I found something new among the huge selection of frozen confections, as a matter of fact, 2 new items.

The first was Michael's Frozen Custard. If you've never had frozen custard, it's rich, creamy and very delicious. I'm a bit torn between Culver's and Michael's. It appears that both companies are from Wisconsin. Culver's has really good burgers, but are a bit more expensive than most other places. Culver's is famous for their "Butter" Burgers and Frozen Custard. Michael's specializes in Frozen Custard but at their drive in locations, have root beer.

Last night after getting home from work, I picked up some A&W root beer and made a root beer float... Oh the combination was beyond words to describe! All I can say is that if you can find some Frozen Custard you gotta make a root beer float with this. Oh, and the flavors I picked up was vanilla and pumpkin. By itself it was fantastic, but the vanilla in a root beer float just made up for the day...

The other frozen confection I found was a Gelato called Talenti. I picked up Sonoma Strawberry and Lisbon Lemon. Once I started on it, I couldn't put it down, I literally had to force myself to stop so I wouldn't finish it in one sitting (although I have done it with other Ice creams and sorbets before).

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I've been so hooked on Pokemon. I picked up Pokemon Diamond for the DS and have recently picked up Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green for the Gameboy Advance since the DS will also use the GBA games on it.

My friend bought a Wii for his son and so I bought Pokemon Revolution for it since it'll allow you to battle against another DS player. It'll also download your captured Pokemon from Diamond/Pearl. Eventually I'll catch them all and use them on Revolution.

I'm still planning on getting the Nikon D80 in the near future once I get this car thing out of the way. I hope that it'll be just in time for Spring/Summer when I can get out and get some great pictures.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Almost, but then again...

This time, my friend paid attention to the vehicle and not the dog or the female. Unfortunately, the Mazda was not in the shape that would've been a good purchase. The lifters were knocking, the trunk didn't open and looks like someone hit the dash to get the heater to work. The tabs were 3 months past due and the rear tire had the belts showing.

After all that, we stopped in at a Kia dealer and was looking at the cars when the salesman showed me a '07 Rio for about 14k. I impulsively filled out the forms to see if I could qualify for financing (but I knew that I wouldn't qualify) and had 800 in cash to put down. Well, they wanted some personal references (which usually means that they would've been able to do it).

After getting back home, my friends neighbor said he had a car that he was going to sell for about 2k that he would sell to me for 800. Personally, between having to make monthly payments and just owning a car out right, I prefer to own it out right. Yeah, it's older and run the risk of something breaking down more often, but it'll be mine and not on loan from the bank for me to drive.

つづく ( To be continued... )

I'm ahead of -- K --... so far...

I'm currently 3 posts ahead of -- K --.

Well, one of the vehicles that I'm interested in is still available. I have a good feeling about this one, the body looks like it's in great condition. I was just told she had it stored in a garage. If this pans out, I'll be buying a '95 Mazda 626 that practically looks brand spankin' new.


つづく ( To be continued... )

Out with the old and in with the new old...

Well, it's about time I get another car. This winter has taken it's toll and had to replace the battery twice and because I'm missing part of the muffler (the pipe between the end of the header to the begining of the actual muffler), I got stopped the the police for a loud vehicle.
I'm also worried that the CV shaft is about ready to go, to try and fix all that wouldn't be worth the vehicle considering I only paid about 400 for a rusted body that is just about ready to fall apart at the next hard bump or deep pothole....

I've been looking on Craig's list and found a couple of potential vehicles that would be far better (by 1000 times better) than what I have now. Granted I'll be paying between 3 to 5 hundred dollars more, the alternatives would be worse at a lower price.

Lately I've been really hooked into Pokemon (Diamond, Fire Red, Leaf Green and Revolution), I haven't touched the computer much let alone play Battlefield 2 or Call of Duty 4 within the past Month. At best, the most I've done was to check my email and check for driver updates.

I hope that after all this, in a couple of months, I'll hope to buy a Nikon D80 with a lens kit. I'll just have to save money, cause I can almost taste it because I want it so badly.

つづく ( To be continued... )

It's a new year and I'm still here...

Well, still in Minnesota, braving the cold... My car died so now the new hunt begins to find a replacement car. I do have something else to take my mind off my car...

GOTTA CATCH'M ALL!! Pokemon Diamond. My friends son has Pearl and recently I bought him the Pokemon Battle Revolution for the Wii. I'm still learning how to use it and recently got my DS Pokemon transferred over. Now I can use what I caught to battle on the Wii... but the little stinker cheats. After winning the battles, he turns off the Wii without letting me save.

So, in the past 2-3 weeks, I haven't touched Battlefield 2 or Call of Duty 4. I should get on this weekend since becoming a member of a battle clan.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Work and Movies...

moar funny pictures

It's not Christmas until you watch a couple of TV shows, my must watch list is as follows:

The Night of the Meek (The Twilight Zone)

Original air date: 12/23/1960
Season 2, Episode 47
Stars Art Carney, John Fiedler, Burt Mustin and Robert Lieb

The Night of the Meek (The New Twilight Zone)
Original air date: 12/20/85
Season 1, Episode 30
Stars: Richard Mulligan and William Atherton

It's a Wonderful Life

A Christmas Carol
Starring George C. Scott

Scrooged

A Christmas Story

Also, to have a McDonalds Egg Nog Shake.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Car Batteries... Factory 2nd's?

Can't complain about it, so far I don't see any difference between a New battery and a "Factory 2nd" battery. The only difference is the price. For a brand spankin' new battery is about $65.00 and for a "factory 2nd", it was about $35.00 so about half the price. So far the car has started just fine and the only other difference is that the label was removed. The battery looks brand new.

I ended up having to take back the Jump start kit, you would think, if they sell it in Minnesota, they'd make it so that it would withstand the extreme temperatures. Well, a couple of nights ago, I take it out of the car to start it and the insulation on the cable broke exposing the copper wire strands underneath. On top of that, it didn't start the car. So I took it back, only after a week of owning it. The best thing? I got a full refund, which went to getting the new battery.

Tomorrow is exactly 1 week till Christmas Eve. (Just thought I'd throw that in)

つづく ( To be continued... )

New Bathroom for Samantha...

It's not like I'm grasping at topics, but her new bathroom is really cool. It's a thing from Aspen Pet products called a Booda Cleanstep Catbox. It's larger than the old one and provides privacy. It also limits the litter from being tracked all over the place. I've also been trying different litter that's dust free (somewhat) and not clay. PaPurr Scoopable is really good dust free litter, however because of the little grains of newspaper, she tends to track it all over the place. Right now I'm using litter called World's Best Cat Litter.

It's made from corn...but according to their site, it's safe for kittens as well as juvenile and adult cats. No silica or clay and so far clumps very well, making it easy to dispose. Also it's safe for septic tanks and sewer systems. At first she was reluctant to use her new bathroom and when she finally did (a day later) she was in there for a while. Now that she's getting used to it, I think she likes it. Samantha is really good about using only her bathroom and not going any where else. I never have to worry about the bed or the floor.

つづく ( To be continued... )

The Car and TV Shows...

Well, I guess I don't drive enough to charge the battery to my car. These past few days, the battery has been dead when I go to start my car and with the cold temperatures lately, it'll crank a couple of times then die. I was going to purchase another battery but decided to wait, my friend picked up a trickle charger and I ended up picking up a jumper battery, so I'll get by with those for now till next year and buy a new car.

On Friday after work, I walked over to Target to look at the jumper batteries. At first I was going to wait, then something inside me told me to get it. So here I am, catching the bus with the heavy box and I get to my car, sure enough, it didn't start. The instructions said to charge for 48 hours prior to use, but I needed it right away. Apparently it had a good charge on it and was able to start the car.

Tonight, I was checking to see what was on and saw something about Robert's Chicken. I passed it over and thought it was some kind of thing on the Cartoon network for kids. By the way, lately the cartoons for younger children have been getting weirder and weirder. Like that show called Chowder. Anyway, in case you hit the link for Robert's Chicken, it goes like this:

A DAILY GUIDE TO NOTABLE SHOWS by Whitney Pastorek

11:30-11:45PM
Cartoon, TV-MA

Robert Chicken's Half-Assed Christmas Special

I'm gonna tell you right now, don't watch. You won't like it. I say this because if you didn't already know this program was on — if you're not already a Chicken nugget — you'll find any number of things offensive about stop-motion skits features a dentally obsessed, upwardly mobile Rankin/Bass elf (above); a wicked evisceration of The Chronicles of Narnia (complete with topless witches and decapitated Christ stand-ins); and Stephen King's Misery, starring Peanuts' Linus and Sally. The rest of us will be laughing our sugar plum arses off. —Marc Bernardin

It was on the EW.com site. After reading the description and seeing the picture there, I realized it was Robot Chicken on the AdultSwim network. Apparently the Editor or the copy checker is off for the evening cause they missed this one. Another thought, the guy has never watched Robot Chicken before and never will.

About a month ago, I bought a Food Saver from Sam's Club. I really love it! I can buy steaks and chicken from there or Costco and portion it out. Also I can marinate stuff for grilling and possible preparing lunches for the week.

つづく ( To be continued... )

DS Lite - The new 2 tone Red and Black version

DS Lite - The new 2 tone Red and Black version
Originally uploaded by TekBandit66

Well here is the pictures of my new DS, you can see more with the Nerf Case that I picked up for it on my picture site. I think I've been playing games on this more than when I had a Sega Game Gear.

つづく ( To be continued... )

New DS Lite

Got a new DS, sold my old one which was all black and got the Red and Black DS. I'll post pictures later. Also the case I got for it is a Giant Nerf case like the one I had to cover the DS, but bigger. The new games I got to go along with it are CoD4, Mortal Kombat Ultimate, Jewel Quest, Lego Star Wars: The complete Saga and Nameco classic arcade.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Yume no Naka

I had a dream and in that dream, I dreamt that I was on a smoke and dust filled battlefield, I could barely see if there was any of my comrades still alive. As I looked about I then saw in the distance several dark apparitions, marching through the fog of war as if searching for those warriors who had fallen bravely in battle that deserved their place in heaven.

つづく ( To be continued... )

The Ultimate Clock Radio!

Just received my new clock radio from Creative Labs yesterday and got it unpacked and setup last night. I really like the sound quality but the LED status lights are a little bright to try and fall asleep. I ended up cutting up the protective plastic and painting it black then put it on top of the area where the LED's are. Good 'nuff. Dark enough to fall asleep by, with the radio, falling asleep in stereo is a good thing.

The SoundWorks Radio 730 has Radio Data Service, Alarm Clock as well as a built in Sub-woofer. I looked at the SoundWorks Radio 830HD, but couldn't justify spending over $300 for something like that (yeah, I know... I did spend over $200 for the 730...), just for a couple of stations in HD, I just couldn't do it. If I do, it'll be a regular HD bookshelf stereo system. I'm sure by that time, they'll be more stations broadcasting in HD.

My next major upgrade is looking like my TV, but I still have time before they discontinue broadcasting in Analog, hopefully by the time I do get a new TV, the prices will be a lot lower than they are now.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Creative Labs, Electrical Devices, T.C.

In my last entry, I wrote about Creative Labs, then someone named T.C. commented that I'm unhappy with any electrical device I've owned, but that is not the case. I've been very happy with all of my electrical devices, I'll even research the hell out of it before making a purchase to make sure it will fit my needs, have the features I want and support my budget. All of the Creative Labs products I've owned and currently own, I've been very happy with. However when making purchases directly from Creative Labs, their sales support is truly terrible. Any other company, the response would be quick, usually within an hour. Not Creative, it takes them 1 whole day which is unacceptable, especially when dealing with shipping.

It wasn't just this recent issue, there have been at least 2 previous issues with notification and shipping. I recently sent my Vision: W in for repairs. No status updates or notification that it had been shipped back to me or what was repaired. Just silence for over a week then it shows up on my doorstep, literally, just placed there by the shipper. What if I had been away for a week or two? I wouldn't have known my device was shipped back to me, someone could've walked off with it...

In January of 2005, I had ordered a set of earphones directly from them, which showed it was in stock. After checking back the next day, my order showed that the earphones were out of stock and still got charged for the purchase. After having to call them a couple of days later to find out why, somehow they were able to find a set and send them. In 2002, I had order a power adapter for a Nomad mp3 player and was sent a carrying case for a different mp3 player.

I have owned, in the past, a SoundBlaster 16, SoundBlaster 32, SoundBlaster 64, a SoundBlaster Audigy, the Audigy 2, the Cambridge SoundWorks DTT 2500 5.1 Speakers, a Creative MuVo Tx, a Creative Nomad, the Zen Micro, Zen Travel Dock and Sub-Woofer and recently the Zen Vision: W 60 gig and the Zen Stone. For the office I have a set of 2.1 speakers, the SBS 380 and soon the Cambridge SoundWorks Radio 730. I would have gotten the 735 but it only supports the iPod, if it supported the Vision: W, I would've gotten that.

A year ago, I was having issues with the headphone jack on the Zen Micro, I had sent it in once before while it was under warranty and got it back repaired. Then, several months ago, I was having the same issue with the headphone jack, it was out of warranty, I knew that, I would've been willing to pay them to repair the headset jack cause I was going to give it away to a friend, it works fine, just when you use a headphone, only one side will work at random. Did creative response? NO, nada, nothing, so screw that, I fixed it myself, I didn't want to, but I did it so that I could give it to a friend.

So, when I buy electrical devices, I usually name brands, this way, I know the quality of the device is what I'm also paying for. My expectations are higher because of that. If I buy a 2nd rate name brand, I don't expect much of it, I get what I pay for. I've expected Creative Labs to have higher standards of quality, higher standards of service and willing to please the customer so that they'll be loyal customers and willing to promote Creative Labs through word of Mouth.

Creative Labs should advertise themselves more to the American public for product recognition, most people, you ask about mp3 players, they'll say an 'iPod", when you mention Creative Labs, they'll say "Huh?, what's/who's that?" Stores here do more to promote the Apple product than they do for Creative Labs, if they do carry them at all. They need to stop thinking like their the only thing in town, listen to their customers more and think like their in second place all the time cause right now, it seems like their in 5th place.

To T.C., it may seem like I'm never happy about the electrical devices I have, but is in fact, never satisfied with the ones that I purchased, mostly because by the time I can get the latest gadget, there is something new coming or already out. At the time, I may have underestimated my personal requirements. Another reason may have been because at the time, the device that I've complained about may have done exactly what I wanted but a new version of the device may have been released that may have improved features, like for example, my digital camera.

At the time, it was very good for what I was doing, but even with research, as I used it more, I found the performance didn't perform as I needed it to.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Anything Gummy, Creative Labs and the Constructions almost done...

My name is Tekbandit (hi, tekbandit) and I'm a gummy-holic.

Once I get my hands on a bag of gummies, doesn't matter what kind of gummies, I'll eat them non-stop till it's gone, usually in about 3-4 hours. With Halloween coming up, the bags of gummies are huge, which makes for a lot of gummies to consume.

Ok, so now I've ordered my radio directly from Creative Labs... on Friday morning so that it would make the shipment that afternoon. Most, if not all companies, even the smaller companies, if you place an order before 12 (depending on which time zone), your order makes it for the afternoon pickup. Not Creative, it takes approximately 24 hours for your credit card to be confirmed. I order from newegg and my card gets charged within a minute of clicking on submit.

Now the weekend passes and it's Monday. I check with Creative Labs to see if my order shipped. I check almost every hour and still hasn't shipped. I emailed their sales support at least 3 times asking about my order. With Newegg, I get a response within the half hour of emailing them.

Now, I'm a really big fan of Creative Lab products, but after this lack of response and support, I'm looking at different products for sound and audio devices/cards. It was after 11 CDT that I had seen it was shipped at 9 PM PDT and I still didn't get a response from their sales support. The next day, after I already knew it was shipped, I get an email that it was shipped... WTF!!!!

Well, my purchase is on it's way, this is the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened. Creative Labs has the potential for being a great company but with the service the way it is, their really putting themselves out of business.

The ceiling in my room is finally up, all that it needs now is to mud and paint. One other thing is that he's planning on covering the load bearing beam with sheet rock, instead of screws, he's planing on using liquid nails (basically glue it up). The main thing is that it's now warmer, quieter and a little more brighter.

つづく ( To be continued... )

Under Construction...

Well, my room/apartment/house (part of it) is under construction. My friend who owns the house is putting up the ceiling. It started out funny cause we started the day at Menards, picking up supplies for putting in the ceiling. I wanted the ceiling to be sound proof (or at least dampened) so he ended up picking up some sound damping insulation. After we get back and drop off the supplies, he took off to pick up the dry wall jack to hold it up while he secures it to the ceiling...

Just as we start, I asked, "what about the lights and the cooling/heating ducts?" cause he only was supposed to have it for about 4 hours. He then realized... "Damn, I completely forgot" so he ended up calling the rental place back and putting in for a 24 hour rental. We started at about 11 and as of right now, we've got 2 panels up and still got about 20 percent more insulation to put up. At about 6, he realized that the ceiling duct was not the right one, so we ended up going back again to Menards and picked up the right one... at that point, I was just too tired to laugh, so we'll pick it up again at 7 the next day...

Since he had to turn off the electricity to take down the lights, only the electrical outlets work at this time so at least I have my computer and a lamp... I should take some pictures... it's funny in a tired sort of way...

つづく ( To be continued... )

In addition....

Showing the softer side of me...

From icanhascheezburger.com



and from cuteoverload.com



Just had to share these with everyone...

つづく ( To be continued... )

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!!!!

I'm happy when I'm upgrading my computer... I have 2 DVD burners in today. One is a Lightscribe DVD burner and the other is a Super Multi DVD Burner. Both have black bezels so it'll match the case. In a way, I'll be sad to see my NEC DVD burner go, it's been really good to me and hopefully the new ones will be able to give me the same, if not better performance than the NEC.

With October in full swing, so has the Office candy project. So far, these past 2 years, I've brought in Halloween candy for everyone to take for the whole month of October. I found that having candy is better than trying to stuff turkey into a container, also it lasts longer.

Next week, I'm planning on getting a new clock/radio. Theres this one from Creative Labs, produced by Cambridge Soundsworks. It's called the Soundworks Radio 730. Cambridge Soundworks has a newer model, the Soundworks Radio 735I, but it's geared towards the iPod owners. What really got me interested in the 730 (and the other models have the same feature) is the RDS feature. RDS displays the station ID, song and artist that is currently playing. The other feature I like about it is that it has a sub-woofer built into it.

Another Item I want to get is a Dymo Rhino labeler. I was looking at getting the Rhino 6000 Hardcase kit which includes the data cable and software with a nice case to carry it in. It's made for labeling router racks and other areas for computer networking and also has a shrink wrap tubing cartridge for making labels out of shrink wrap tubing. Although I just may settle for the Rhino 6000 without the hardcase kit and just get the data cable and software separate. Although they have a price listed on their site, I'm sure I can find an online retailer that would have it for less than if I were to purchase it directly from Dymo.

For some reason, I feel like the Tim Taylor of the computer world... it's computing power and computer tools... .

つづく ( To be continued... )

Finally got the pictures up of the new computer case

I've finally got everything tweaked and setup. I'm taking a break for now, but I'll eventually start cleaning up the cables in the case. Just to make it easier to get inside and not have to fight the clutter of all those cables. I'm also planning on upgrading the speakers again. I want to go from a 5.1 to a 7.1 surround speaker system. Also looking to upgrade the DVD writer drives. Currently I have 2 beige drives, ones a writer, the other one is just a reader. I was thinking of getting both writers, one of the drives I've been looking at is a lightscribe drive and the other is a Super Multi drive.

To see what the new case looks like, click here.

つづく ( To be continued... )

IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE!!!!!

Eventually I'll have pictures, but I've gotten a new Full tower case with a new sound card. The parts arrived this past Wednesday and with this cold I'm trying to get rid of, the transplant was slow but deliberate. I took my time moving things over from the old case and now it's just a matter of making things look a lot nicer and hook up and re-adjust some of the cables... basically tweaking things.

Once that's done, it's clean up the workspace... with all the shipping boxes and tools, my living area looks like a Mad Scientist's laboratory.... MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... *ahem* I digress slightly... I think I have my Halloween costume...


つづく ( To be continued... )