I caught the DIRECTV FREEVIEW of the John Mayer Trio the other night and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to buy this. I had to. Really. Check out the web site here for occasional free live MP3

Ever wondered what the most powerful man in the world listens to in his spare time? In a rare departure from formal media interviews, George Bush has revealed what is on his personal “clunker” iPod. Click Here (WMP)

8-Ft One-of-a-Kind LEGO STAR WARS REBEL ATTACK CRUISER

Ebay has a one-of-a-kind 8-foot LEGO Rebel Attack Cruiser™ model designed by LEGO Master Builder Erik Varszegi exclusively for display at Star Wars Celebration III, San Diego Comic-Con, LEGOLAND® California and several other national LEGO events* to promote the final episode in the Star Wars saga.

100% of auction proceeds will be donated to Habitat for Humanity’s hurricane relief efforts in the southeastern United States to aid families who are rebuilding their lives in the wake of the natural disaster.

*sigh* Good thing it’s Christmas… and my credit cards are all already at the limit.

How could I not post this…

So…

McKenzie wants her car home for Christmas break, but she doesn’t want to drive the whole way. I end up with a 6 AM flight Thursday morning to pick her up and drive home.

Kelly drives me down to Syracuse to stay at McKenzie’s aunt and uncle’s house Wednesday night. A blaring alarm, and then the curious cat, startles me at 4:15 AM. I shower, get to the airport, stumble through check-in, fall into my window seat and sleep till we touch down in Atlanta. Damn. I missed the sunrise.

I make my way to train in Atlanta, ride to the next terminal and check the screen. It says 11:30 AM departure. I was supposed to be in Raleigh at 11:30 AM. *sigh* I settle in with a book and begin reading. Only to have the guy behind the counter tell me over and over that the plane is late due to mechanical problems. Thanks. I’m looking forward to the flight now. TAXI!!!!

I finally get on the plane at around 11:40, and after another reminder from the captain about the mechanical problems… I flip through a magazine, and then fall asleep with thoughts of crashing, burning airplanes in my head. I was jolted awake again when the plane touches down hard in Raleigh. Thank God I didn’t have a lot to drink…

I meet McKenzie, and we find the car, managed to guess the correct exit and find the right road to head home… something I’ve never managed to do when leaving from Ericka & Kevin’s house right down the road. We called Ericka to make sure, because I forgot to bring a map, filled up and hit the road.

Traveling with McKenzie is fun. We both like to radio surf… never listening to a full song. Of course, it wasn’t long before we’d heard half of many songs, multiple times. I put up with occasional Mike Jones, and other various rappers that all sound the same, and she endured a few hits from the 80’s for my sake. Radio sucks. We battled bumper-to-bumper traffic when we first got on I-81, and then it was fairly smooth sailing till we got just outside of New York. We stopped only for gas, Pepsi and Mountain Dew. Then the snow began to fall, and got heavier as we went. Binghamton was horrible. Couldn’t see much of anything, but we pressed on, deciding that if we stopped, with the storm moving in, we could end up stuck someplace for a couple days. By the time we got to Syracuse the snow had let up a little. We made it to Central Square and it was horrible again. We filled up one last time (Gas, Pepsi and Mountain Dew) and headed out for the last leg of the trip.

It was around 1:15 when I placed the call to 911. We were 1/2 a mile from the Kellogg Hill exit. Not far from home.

McKenzie yelled “Deer!” I saw it and hit the brakes veerring to the right. The doe, which looked the size of a moose as he zoomed closer and closer to the car, decide to turn back the way he came from… directly in front of us. WHAM!!! We nailed him… and then as we were still sliding to a stop… he fell from the sky and smashed into the windshield right in front of McKenzie.Then engine smoked and fluid drained into the road. The trip had come to and abrupt end… maybe an hour from its intended destination.

The Trooper took my license, asked me what had happened and then shot the deer a couple times, because somehow, he managed to still be picking his head up and looking around. McKenzie called AAA for a tow truck and
Kelly showed up (just a few minutes after the Troopers) with a nice warm Van. We loaded it up with her stuff from the car and after a stop at the emergency room to look for some glass in McKenzie’s eye (she was ok)… we headed home. I crawled into bed at 4:30 AM. What long, strange trip.

• X-Men 3 Pics… coming to theaters on May 26, 2006.
• It’s official… Adobe now leaves designers virtually no options… whatsoever.
• 2006 Ultimate Arcade Stand-Up Unit… who needs an XBox??
• A Perth astronomer says a spectacular light show in the sky last night was a meteor. Witnesses say the the sky lit up and the light was followed by a thundering sound that shook buildings. (Video: http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200512/r66292_183334.ram)
• On a related note… see if one has hit near you.

• Nissan Motor creates a paint that repairs scratches on its own, restoring a car’s surface to normal within a week… that’s cool, but how about a paint thats impervious to deer?
• Firefox 1.5 Garners Quick 2 Million Downloads… if you haven’t downloaded yet… do it now. I’m serious. Go.
• How to survive Worst case scenarios… uhm, is the alien abduction one really needed?
• Network Traffic Ticket… for the guy in the next cubicle downloading the Harry Potter movie. Write him up.
• Winter blues got you feeling down already? I’ve got just the solution.