Blu-ray splurge…

First off, this is a tag-heavy post. Roughly 23 tags and I’m sure I’ll add more before this post is over. It’s been almost a month since my last update, somy apologies (to those who actually read this). Work is going well, though I really want to find a full-time, Monday-Friday job sometime soon, that would be nice. In all honesty, I want to wear a shirt and tie to work everyday…I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I started working towards my Bachelors in Business back in 2005. Unfortunately, my degree has not helped me what-so-ever here in Massena, NY. Callan recently obtained a great paying job (for the area) so relocating isn’t really in the cards right now and I’d prefer to stay close-ish to family. So the hunt continues. If anyone in the Massena area is looking for a hard-working, level-headed go-getter, feel free to contact me.

Moving on, Chicago was fun, Utada was amazing, and next up is Anime North in Toronto in May. Definitely looking forward to it this year, especially since our hotel is literally right next to the Toronto Congress Centre (well, a short, short walk away). No cosplaying this year. A combination of not finding the material/parts and lack of inspiration did us in again…maybe next year?

Aside from work and anime, I’ve been building up my Blu-ray collection. If you check the tags (which is up to 33 now), you’ll see quite a few movies there. All are Blu-ray and all are mine now My most recent purchase was Firefly which was part of Amazon’s lightning deal yesterday. $27.xx shipped for the Blu-ray version, amazing deal if you ask me, and with Prime shipping it should be here Tuesday. I wont list off every movie, nor will I comment on every one as well, but I’m looking forward to watching Band of Brothers, That arrived earlier this week but I haven’t had a chance to watch any of it yet. Heard it was amazing though. Ponyo on the other hand was awesome. 2D, hand-drawn animation has never looked so good, seriously. Miyazaki never fails to impress you with his creations. Here’s hoping his other works (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) are released on Blu-ray soon. I also (finally) got Blade Runner: The Final Cut…never seen this movie before, though everyone tells me I should. I’ll get around to watching it sometime soon I’m sure. 5 discs though, including the workprint, pretty impressive, and I only paid $13.98 for it at DeepDiscount.com.

Gaming-wise, I’ve been playing a lot of Modern Warfare 2 lately, as well as some Final Fantasy XIII which was released on Tuesday. I’m about 8 hours into FFXIII and so far it’s good. I’ve been wanting a good RPG to play lately and the fast-paced battle system + strategies required to win = fun. Well worth it and the Collector’s Guide (I got No. 8,.783/210,000) was well worth the price so far. I’m hoping to hook up the Xbox 360 back in the living room sometime soon (perhaps after I finish FFXIII) so I can finally play some Mass Effect 2. The Collector’s Edition has been sitting on my entertainment center for a few weeks (months?) now.

Looking at the clock, I should probably get ready for work. I’m working on a few projects right; one – to finish up GuiStyle for Trillian Astra and, two – get my other site up and running…I’ll talk more about that later

P.S. the tag count is 47 48..holy shit!

It was awesome! (Utada + Chicago)

The concert was awesome. Utada was amazing. The guitarist was freaking sweet. Really enjoyed it overall. Would have liked to of had a better view but at least we could see her without being crushed. Aside from her having a great voice, her guitarist almost stole the show. He has some serious talent. Some of the songs were rock-ish and he solos just powered through the entire building, it was great. REALLY hoping she released a DVD of her “In the Flesh” concert at one of the House of Blues.

We checked out the Navy Pier and the Water Tower in Chicago. The Navy Pier was cool, we saw Avatar in 3D at the IMAX, it was fucking awesome. It was also my first IMAX/3D (polarized 3D) experience so not a bad way to pop my cherry (so to speak). The Water Tower on the other hand was really disappointing. Shitty, overpriced stores…no pop up shops in the middle of the floors, a waste of time really. Overall we had a blast. We tried some Lou Malnati’s “famous Chicago-style pizza”. The sauce was amazing, the crust…eh, not so much, still good, but not great. I’ll take my cheesy, thinner-crusted New York-style pizza any day

I’ll try and get the pictures up sometime this weekend, some of them turned out, some didn’t.

EDIT: uploaded some pictures, will upload the rest later. You can view them here: http://twitpic.com/photos/SynGamer

And we’re off!

Just a quick post today. Not only are we leaving for Chicago today, I also get to open the store, by myself, for the first time today so a lot of things are happening Looking forward to the 13+ hour train ride already. Will be nice to get some sleep and just sit back and relax. Hoping the Utada concert is good, I’m sure it will be, and the House of Blues looks very cool. Fingers crossed everything goes as planned and no problems crop up between here and Chicago!

Utada + Chicago = Awesome

So I think I’ve already mentioned this, but Callan and I are going to Chicago in early February to see Utada (Hikaru – the JPop artist) to see her live at the House of Blues. While I’m not a huge fan, I do enjoy her songs and she’s pretty so I figure this can’t be too bad. And we’ll be in Chicago so we’re going to visit Callan’s friend whom she hasn’t seen in a few years. So really, this is killing two birds with one stone, three if you include getting to see my aunt I hardly ever see and four if you include getting to site-see Chicago. All in the course of about 36 hours

We’re taking the train from Syracuse, NY to Chicago, a 13+ hour trip, but it sure as hell beats driving for 15 hours. $212 for 2 round-trip tickets, score. And it only cost us about $50-75 more than if we drove and had to gas the car up. In this case, we’re paying for the luxury of not having to drive, well worth the cost if you ask me. I’m looking forward to the train ride, as well as seeing Chicago, and we’re staying in a Super 8 Motel for like $42 so you really can’t beat the prices.

That’s all for now. I set my phone up to text directing to Twitter so I’m totally going to update while on the train

Twenty-Ten

The New Year is finally upon us and with that, the retail madness is quickly starting to die down. F.Y.E., job-wise, isn’t too bad, but I really want/need a full-time job. This small area is making me realize that unless I find something soon, I’m going to have to move. It’s unfortunate, but there’s just nothing here in Massena, NY and for some unknown reason, this town and its officials don’t seem to want to try and bring in new, big business. Instead, they cater to the elderly and local business…

So I’m still job hunting, just so it’s known On the video game front, I traded a few games on Goozex and got a few in return. inFAMOUS was sent out, as was Ski-Doo Snowmobile Challenge and 28 Days Later on Blu-ray. Quick note, NEVER buy 28 Days Later on Blu-ray, it looks like absolute shit. Seriously, the original source was shot on a handycam essentially so naturally it isn’t going to stretch well. Thankfully Tropic Thunder (Blu-ray) should be coming in the mail soon so I’m looking forward to that. I got Madden 10 in recently, a few days ago actually, and so far I’m NOT impressed. I threw that up on my offers list on Goozex last night. I’ll stick with Blitz: The League II on my 360 for now. For now, I’ll probably sit back and enjoy some Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures on my PS3 and wait for some games to pop up on my want list on Goozex.

Other possible newsworthy notes; I got Callan to join Twitter. We canceled our cable from Time Warner which will save us about $70 a month (score!). Callan and I are driving to Chicago in February to see Utada live at the House of Blues, should be a fun drive (/sarcasm). That’s about it I think. I hope everyones’ New Year and Christmas went well and here’s to a better 2010.