PixlBit

Good morning Pixlpeeps and Happy St. Patrick's Day. Yes the one day where I actually wear a lot of green (by a lot I mean a green baseball cap, and matching sneakers). Today is also week two of No Meat Friday so hopefully I can find something to eat that doesn't involve the words “Tofu”, and “burger.” I might hit up the local casino for dinner because its two for one seafood night, and crab, shrimp, and clam chowder is on the exempt list (WOOOOO!) I also hope there is a trip to the local mom & pop for me so I can add to the music library. As I type this I am currently ripping an audio cassette audiobook. I do like audio cassette books because I can say “Books on Tape” but also there are tons at Thrifts and usually they are cheap, and the sound quality isn't bad. The drawback is I have to rip them in real time, and this is where I miss high speed dubbing. Anyways let's get started with Quick Hits

 

Three Books Off The List

 

So after finishing off one of my recent purchases I thought it would be good to finish “reading” (audiobooks) two other books and count them to my Goodreads goal of 12 books.

The Faith Of George W. Bush: This was an interesting read because it is a biography of the former president and how he went from a guy with no real direction to someone who's life was changed by religion. While an interesting story there wasn't a lot of heavy handed religious views, just how religion changed him and how he and many other politicians have to balance their religious views with their political views.

The Fourth K: This is a thriller about a fictitious nephew of John F. Kennedy, Francis Xavier Kennedy and how he deals with his daughter being part of a terrorist plot. The Fourth K is a quick read, with an interesting plot but it had moments where it was predictable. What was fascinating was the inner workings of the political game that went on behind the scenes and how it relates to the terrorist story line.

The Onion: Our Dumb World: This is just plain comedy. It deals with a bunch of silly “information” about various countries. At various times the reader would scold the listener for listening to certain passages and urged the listener to go back and listen to another country.

All three books were short, and enjoyable. I listen to my audio books at 1.5x the regular speed because the normal reading cadence is too slow. At 2.0x the speed its too fast, but at 1.5x they sound a bit like a chipmunk but I understand everything they are saying. After a minute it sound normal. I should try this with my podcasts.

 

Chris Watches...

Water & Power: A California Heist – Nat Geo

 Link To Nat Geo's Page

I stumbled upon this last week and it was interesting to finally see someone address the situation. The show is about how the water is controlled in Central California and how the state grows various items like Pomegranate, and Almonds. The Almonds take up so much water that farmers are resorting to drilling for ground water because the water resources just isn't enough. This puts a strain on water reserves, and hurting the land while the big farmers become insanely rich, and the people who work the fields in the small towns are going without water, or the water they do get isn't clean.

The one scene that irked me was at the end of the episode one of the guys they talked to finally got water in his storage tank and the first thing he did was wash his hands. He kept the water running while soaping his hands. Growing up in Southern California where water is a valuable resource we learned early on that when you soap your hands, or brush your teeth, TURN THE WATER OFF! There would be a lady form the local water district that would visit all the schools and that is what she always preached (she also handed out nifty pencils so I remembered that as well), and this is something we all learned and then here's a guy who complained that he doesn't have running water in the house and the first thing he does is waste freaking water.

 

March Madness – Everything

My Aztecs didn't make the postseason for the first time in over a decade so I am rooting for the first school to send me an acceptance letter, The University of Arizona. #BearDown. I have two brackets, one for the Tony Kornheiser Show where I picked based on nothing but gut and that Arizona will win it all, and one I took seriously for an SDSU Facebook group where I have Kansas beating Arizona. I will most likely lose to someone who picked schools based on cutest mascot, prettiest cheerleaders, or uniforms.

 

There was no Supergirl this week, and I skipped Green Batman (Arrow). I did enjoy the latest episodes of The Voice, and The Challenge. I'm glad to see that The Challenge brought back old school Eliminations for the Champions where strength and skill come into play.

 

Chris Listens To...

Last Friday my zero plays playlist I was 8,103 tracks. As of this morning my zero plays playlist is at 7,724, a difference of 379 tracks. That averages out to 54 songs a day which is above my goal of 50 songs a day.

I found a nice balance of listening to music whenever I am on the computer and while I am out and about its all podcasts or audio books on my phone. Speaking of Podcasts I am maybe one day behind my list of three daily podcasts. I usually knock those out on the weekend while playing video games or just being lazy.

 

Adventures At The Thrift Store

I snapped some pics of video game related stuff from the local Goodwil 

Here is a Wii bundled with a couple of games. Goodwill wanted $90. I think it was on hold for someone.

 

The next picture is another Wii but this one is under glass and it is the Black Wii with WiiSports

 

This was cheaper at $30 and it seems complete.

 

Next to the Wii was this GBA SP

 

It's a little steep for me but it looked like it was in good condition.

 

Random Picture

While buying stamps from the Post Office they had a series dedicated to music icons. The books were made to look like 45 sleeves

I used one of the stamps right after I bought it because I ran out and those pesky bills need to be paid. Anyways awesome design USPS!

 

Pickups!

Games

The streak is over. I took part in Bundle Stars Spring Sale and picked up everything here for under $21

 

I now have Borderlands, B2, and Pre-Sequel living on my laptop

 

The $3 Bionic Bundle

 

 

And the massive One Dollar Bundle

 

 

From the .99 Cents Only Store

 

Its slim pickings now but I still snagged these Lego Dimensions for parts. Grimli comes with axe heads, and a cool helmet and beard. I could use those items for a Castle build. The Witch because she's a witch and they will come in handy for Halloween. I might hit the local store and buy their remaining Homer Level Packs and Bart Fun Packs to start an Army of Homers and Bart's.

 

 

Music

 

The Swingers CD I got from a Thrift Store. I liked the movie Swingers and I already own the Soundtrack and this is just more music from the flick. Scooby Doo I got from the mom and pop. I bought it for the Scooby Doo 1964 TV Theme Music.

 

More from the Mom & Pop Music Store

 

I really don't care for Two Live Crew, but they were huge when I was growing up, and I wasn't allowed to listen to them. I bought the albums because of that and after listening to them my folks did me a favor.

 

I found a lot of rap, along with a Hawaiian CD and Scooby Doo. Talk about a wide range of stuff.

 

From Goodwill I found these CDs

 

Remember Feist from this commercial?

 

I have the silver version, and it still works! 

 

Some Audio book Goodies

 

American Theocracy is still sealed.

Random tangent: Have you ever encountered problems ripping audio books to iTunes? It seems like a couple of discs in the set of an audio book while have trouble being copied. It's usually the last two tracks where I have problems and it becomes really slow in the copying process. Everything else rips fine, but then it just bogs down. Four tracks from American Theocracy took 30 minutes each to copy. It's odd. Maybe its a protection from being copied.

 

Final pickup is a sealed DVD for $2 from Goodwill

 

When I get back to migrating all my DVDs to digital, this will find a nice home on my external hard drive.

 

Alright Pixlpeeps I am off. I am hungry, my weekend has started and I want to finish listening to Seabiscuit today. Have a good weekend.

 

That's all for now, more later!

-Chris

 

Today's song of the week is the full video of Feist's 1234. Let it get stuck in your head.