Justin Germino Ramblings

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

We are a capitalistic society without a shadow of a doubt, and the reason why many people migrate to America is because here they have the potential to achieve anything without limits. What makes our nation great is the freedom that allows corporations to thrive and innovate and bring in and retain top talent from around the world.

This also leads to corporate abuse and other issues as well though, I can see why everyone things CEO and Board Member salaries should be slashed and capped, especially if a resulting company is failing or going downhill. But this would be like taking back the $20 million dollars a film studio paid for an actor because the movie flopped at the box office.

Salaries and bonuses are rendered based on “perceived” worth of someone’s job and performance on the job, what I do think is that bonuses, shares, and salaries should not be set by individuals but should be voted on by board members. I don’t think it should be capped or set by the government, but I think top shareholders should have a right to dictate salaries and compensation for all high end company positions, after all their investment in the company entitles them to help direct which direction the company goes.

I don’t mean to compare publicly traded companies to the entertainment industry, but it is very much comparable on this front. Sports figures get paid millions of dollars, should they perform poorly then their contracts get cut or they earn less in future contracts. Movie stars command premiums the same way, it is based on supply and demand when you think about it. Demand is the consumer which is the viewers, and the people are the supply.

Companies are no different and they meet the supply and demand of consumers as well as their own internal organization, companies will fall under if the continue to pay top execs more than they are “worth”.

The one exception to this rule is this:

Government Bailouts if taken by a company then gives the right for the Government to dictate how the money is used and what the company can do. If a company is desperate or foolish enough to accept government funds, then they don’t have the luxury of setting their own wages, bonuses for top execs. Our public tax dollars fund these companies and therefore everyone must take cuts until the government funds are repaid.

Minus that above rule, the government should not be involved in setting caps on salaries or wages for any company. I do think however that top exec pay should be voted upon by senior shareholders, not just board members, so that a greater number of stakeholders in the company have influence into what compensation the top execs make.

-Justin Germino

Woke up feeling just generally blah, but in the last hour have developed severe stomach pains and I have a migraines so bad that my vision is blurring staring at the screen. I have sixteen meetings at work today, so can’t really take a sick day and am going to trudge through. Times like this make me very glad I work from home as often as I do.

I suspect that my stomach problems are related to my eating lunch yesterday, I happened to have some spicy buffalo chicken crisper’s at Chili’s and my stomach can’t take spicy food anymore, when I was a teenager or in my early twenties, I can eat spicy without any problems, but now no matter what stomach acid reducers I take (none of them work) I just can’t eat spicy food anymore, it leaves me in stomach pains and agony for hours after and the next day.

You would think I would learn my lesson and eat healthier, but I am a glutton for punishment as they say, though I did have a healthy stir fry dinner my wife made up last night with just beef strips, broccoli, carrots, celery, bell pepper over white rice. But today I pay for eating a very delicious but ultimately painful lunch at Chili’s.

I really have to stop dining out so much, it is one of those bad habits that I do far to often. I mean seriously, I waste so much money on dining out its ridiculous. It’s a bad habit I have to break.

-Justin Germino

So when I went to see the new Star Trek movie on Friday we ate at a Sushi place here in Casa Grande called Ah-So Sushi, and I have to say we were not impressed in the slightest. From the moment we walked in the wait staff was not overly friendly and we waited almost eight minutes until our drink orders were taken.

A spider found at the restaurant questioned the cleanliness of the place, and top that off with my wife getting a fish scale in her mouth while eating some Ahi Tuna Sushi nearly made us wretch. The Tempura was a little bland, but I did think the Salmon Sushi (Sake) did taste pretty good.

Overall if you are looking for the best Sushi restaurant in Casa Grande you are better off going to Lucky Chinese and Sushi, which has far better quality food and better service.

Ah-So Sushi restaurant was So-So at best.

-Justin Germino

Opening the door to the front of the house this morning my wife came across the dead carcass of a freshly killed Jack Rabbit in our front lawn. The poor rabbit was still soft and rigor mortis had not set in yet which indicates it was killed just a short time ago, its throat was torn out and some stomach injuries appeared to be suffered.

The poor Jackrabbit was killed viciously, but didn’t appear to be eaten, as if the predator was taking Anoretix or on a diet or something. This leads me to believe it was a dog which would chase and maybe kill for sport, rather than a coyote or owl.

I had to get a garbage bag and a shovel and discard the poor bunny in the trash which gets picked up tomorrow, I used to have a Jack Rabbit as a pet (caught him when he was a baby from the wild) and its still a sad thing to see the dead rabbits on the road and killed by predator animals. Though we would be infested by rabbits if something didn’t hunt and eat them, so I know its all part of Nature’s balance.

-Justin Germino

As a father who is married to the most wonderful woman I have ever met, I celebrate the fact that this girl whom I have known for thirteen years now has given me two beautiful boys in our life. Today is a day meant to celebrate the people who create life and bring them into this world, care for them, nurture them and raise them to be our future generation.

I may sound a little cheesy, but something in the quality of being a mother helps make you a better person in this world. Nothing can teach you more patience, love, understanding and joy then going through the range of life of raising another being. It is the hardest job on the world and the reward is measured more than gold, for what is money compared with seeing a healthy and successful child make his own way into the world in the future as a result of your hard work.

Congratulations to all you moms out there who struggle, work, raise one or many children and do your best for them. You all deserve to be appreciated for all that you do. I just hope my wife feels as special as she deserves to feel, not only today because it is Mother’s day, but every day for being a mother (and a good one) to our children.

-Justin Germino