Justin Germino Ramblings

We woke up this morning to see a small family of quail running around our front yard for the third day in a row, it is funny seeing these little birds around the community.  There is also an extremely colorful bird that does not appear to be a native AZ bird that constantly visits our front yard as well, but I have been unable to get a picture of it thusfar.  I also don’t have a good telephoto lense on my camera, so this is the closest shot I could get and the bird was about 50 feet away.  So I cropped this little photo just showing the critter running by, his fellow troupe followed behind him.

-Justin Germino

With such a very busy weekend, I now go back to work at my day job on Monday feeling like I didn’t even get a chance to rest. I was out until almost 2am Friday night, then until 4am Saturday night and had to deal with replacing two toilet fixtures, laundry and mopping floors on Sunday around the house. I didn’t get as much time to play with my kids as I usually do, I always feel a little guilty when I don’t spend as much time with them as I want to.

I did see the movie Frost/Nixon last night and thought it was a good film, albeit a little slow and since the subject matter is before my time the topic was not as interesting to me as it probably would be to people in a slightly older generation. Ron Howard did to a good job with the film and all of the acting was top notch however.

Meanwhile, It is exactly 2 weeks from today that I will be spending a week in Cabo to enjoy the sun, beaches and deep sea fishing. I haven’t had a vacation in almost a year so my spirit is sorely needing a getaway for just me and the misses.

-Justin Germino

Some people believe that buying fancy things like huge diamond engagement rings, fancy cars, expensive clothes and other highly expensive tangible goods are a sign of affection. Those in of itself are just signs of some ways to express your commitment and love for someone, but they aren’t the only way to express affection and appreciation for someone.

Think of it this way, the act of giving a gift if bought not out of an obligation for a holiday or special occasion but for no occasion at all is selfless and is one way to show appreciation. Even more is the act of giving something that isn’t purchased that cost on only time perhaps. One such gift could be giving your partner the opportunity to go and get a manicure or pedicure once a month and take care of the kids. Others include just maybe getting a bottle of massage oil and giving your partner a simple 1/2 hour or hour long massage to some relaxing music (no ulterior motives, simply a rub with no expectations).

Make the time to show the one your with how special they are to you, and you don’t have to do it with an expensive display of affection, a simple gesture that is done for no occasion at all can become some of the best and most cherished memories in the future. Love is a special thing and cherish it when you have it and do your best to never take it for granted.

-Justin Germino

Some of you may remember me complaining how my toilet handle broke last week and I didn’t have the parts to dismantle and install a new toilet flushing system, so I hired a plumber. I spent $98 for the plumber’s labor, and $50 in parts to get the new toilet flushing system. As if my house is playing a cruel prank on me, my downstairs toilet handle broke the exact same way as the bedroom bathroom toilet just yesterday. This time instead of calling the plumber, I went to home depot and bought the tools I needed.

I then proceeded to dismantle and install new toiled flushing systems on both of my remaining toilets to avoid this issue in the near future. So I spent another $130 in parts, but didn’t have to pay for a plumber, because the knowledge I gained from watching the plumber last week was sufficient that I was able to do the work myself today.

I believe I gained a level in plumbing, and added to my “handy man” skill set, I now can replace everything in the back of a toilet tank without any assistance. But darn if I am not bummed I had to spend over two hundred dollars in tools, parts and labor for my lousy toilets over the past week. This is one of the bad things about being a home owner is the constant repairs and upkeep just to keep your home operational. As my home is now three years old, some stuff is starting to wear and needs to be replaced.

-Justin Germino

I can tell you from experience that one of the most common causes of migraines appears to be lack of sleep, at least in my case it does. Nearly every time I have less than 5 hours of sleep I am usually reduced to a haggard weakened individual where light causes me to cringe like a troglodyte and loud sounds echo in my ears and brain like atomic bombs.

Last night was a great show, seeing Vayden play was really cool, though I don’t think their new Bass guitarist is as good as Jason was, they still had a good sound and played an acoustic song “Zoe’s Song” from their album which I had never heard them play live before even though I saw them seven times already.

So time to entertain the children for a few hours and do some housework before going to help out with the Rock Along Productions show tonight, I just wish I can kick this darn migraine, but looks like I will carry it until Monday morning. It could be worse, at least I don’t have mesothelioma or something seriously terminal.

-Justin Germino

I will be running the door tonight at Rock Along Productions Bands & Babes show at Goat Head Saloon in Mesa, Arizona. This show features 4 rock music bands, and a 45 minute Lingerie Fashion show put together and will be very entertaining. Male and Female models will be walking down the run way, so don’t think this is an event just for men.

Tickets are $10 at the door, but you can get $1 off by printing out your coupon at Rock Along Productions website. Come out and support local musicians if you live in the Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler or Mesa area, you will be in for a fun time tonight.

-Justin Germino

I am heading out to see Vayden at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale tonight, as the band will be taking a haitus from gigs as they work to find a replacement for Jason Salomone who is leaving the band after this show.  The band has a very interesting rock sound and is one of the better rock bands coming up in the Rock Music Industry, I certainly hope they come back together and release more material soon.

Those who like rock music should check out Vayden on MySpace and listen to some of their songs, some of their music also plays on Sirius Octane radio.

-Justin Germino

I have a guilty habit of enjoying reading the Best Buy or Fry’s electronics ads whenever they come in the paper. I can’t help it, I just like seeing what latest tech gadgets you can get and for how much they go for.

I get a kick out of seeing LCD monitors for less than $200 now, or laptops for $400, and AMD Quad Core personal computers for under $600. It is amazing how the stuff that cost thousands of dollars a few years ago is now 80% cheaper than it was back then, based on the prices dropping it isn’t unreasonable to start seeing 24″ LCD monitors for under $100 and laptops for the same within the next two years based on the way prices are dropping.

It is one of my habits, I just love perusing electronics and computer ads in the same way women like to look at clothes in departments stores, I don’t plan to buy anything yet I still have to look and enjoy seeing the products.

-Justin Germino

This post is for all Role Playing players out there who are playing either Dungeons and Dragons or another D20 product. I was looking for something a little easier and less cumbersome as far as skills, feats and decided to purchase the Castles and Crusades book by Troll Lord Games.

The system however just doesn’t work for me and its limitations and variations just don’t fit with my style of game play, so far my favorite games still include Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 edition and Sword and Sorcery Scarred Lands setting.

The 4th Edition of the game just didn’t look like a good fit, I like D&D 3.5 but am going to scrap the Prestige Class system and maybe rework a custom feat/skill system. Ideally though it was the perfect gaming system and wish WoTC hadn’t dumped it in favor of 4th Edition.

-Justin Germino

For some reason lately WinAmp is having problems syncing with my ipods, doesn’t matter if I use my wife’s or my own, I connect it to the computer, start up WinAmp and when I try to send a playlist or files to my iPOD it shows that they are transferring, and completed, but when I detach my iPOD none of the files are there.

It works usually when I try the same files a 2nd time, but it makes no sense why I have this problem at all and why it acts like the files are transferring when they are not. This happened when I upgraded to the latest WinAmp version of 5.5.2, I didn’t have this problem with the older 5.4 or 5.3 version of WinAmp and wonder if there is a bug of some sort.

I am going to do some further testing to see if it happens when the iPOD is plugged in prior to WinAmp being loaded, after or all the time. It is quite frustrating to load songs on your iPOD only to find they haven’t been loaded.

I just like WinAmp as a music media manager so much better than iTunes, I am reluctant to ditch it and go back to iTunes.

-Justin Germino