Traveling Around

One thing I love to do is travel. I'm the biggest road warrior of anybody I know - I'll drive a thousand miles or two on a long road trip and take it with the best of them. So I got to wondering how much more traveling I really want to do, and where I'd like to go. Here's a list of places that I want to go but haven't yet for both the U.S. and the world.

Within North America (in order):
New York City
Washington DC
Seattle/Vancouver
Toronto
San Francisco
Mexico City
San Diego/Tijuana

The rest of the world:
Greece
Iceland
Norway/Sweden
Japan
Australia
Egypt
Portugal
Monaco
Switzerland

Where have I already been? Here are some maps (click for larger maps):

Within the United States: 17 states (33%)


I sure love the southeast, right? I've got a lot of traveling left to do in the States.

The whole planet: 15 countries (6%)


Yup, the US of A and parts of Europe. Exotic, no?

Now you're probably asking how I can live in Detroit and not make it to Canada, less than 20 miles away. The explanation for such is a funny story.

So while working up in Detroit, one of my coworkers is set to get married. For a pre-bachelor-party party he wants to run to Windsor, Ontario (right across the border from Detroit) and to go to some strip club there. So we all load up in his car and head to the border. I show my passport along with the other guys when we get to the border, and the border cop scans one of my coworkers' drivers license, as he was the driver that night. A puzzled look came up on the border cop's face, and he tells us to drive off to the side. Apparently my friend the driver had gotten a DUI in Canada 8 years earlier and was told not to come back to the country. Whoops. So we spent the better part of the day sitting in a Canadian customs office on the border before they released us back into the U.S. - I'm still not sure of whether or not I'm allowed to go back, or if it was just the driver. Regardless, we didn't get to Canada (unless the border counts) so that's why I didn't count it.

If you want to make your own State Map or World Map follow the links to World66.

Fantasy Football Season Recap: The Penal System 2004

Well it only took a couple years, but I finally won our fantasy football league.


Matt Jordan, your 2004 Fantasy Football Champion

First and foremost, your final standings post-playoffs:

Championship Bracket
1. Matt Jordan [Reg season: 2nd]
2. Todd Feldman [Reg season: 4th]
3. Matt Cooper [Reg season: 1st]
4. Drew Magee [Reg season: 3rd]

Consolation Bracket
5. James Light [Reg season: 8th]
6. Matt Glass [Reg season: 7th]
7. Andrew Marder [Reg season: 6th]
8. Dan Cawl [Reg season: 5th]

Playoff-Less Fools
9. Todd Rio [Reg season: 9th]
10. Robert Eaton [Reg season: 10th]
11. Zack Brown [Reg season: 11th]
12. Allen Mathis [Reg season: 12th]


My Winning Roster:

My championship roster and their season stats.



My road to the championship: 10-4-0.

Congrats first and foremost to myself, and to everybody else for allowing yourselves to get beaten by yours truly and allowing me free reign to trash-talk you for an entire year. Thanks also go out to Daunte Culpepper, Curtis Martin, Shawn Alexander, and Brandon Stokley for all having career years for me, and to the rest of the league for allowing me to draft good players.

-your 2004-5 Fantasy Football Champion

Maddox gets it right again, Some Movie Reviews

Apparently Maddox has the same opinion of U2 as I do.

Man, I hate those guys. At least Creed had the good sense to break up. Please follow suit, U2!

And since I haven't reviewed any movies in a while, here's a few:

Paycheck: Now I know this movie bombed in theaters, but I actually liked it. It ended up in my Christmas pile (I didn't ask for it, but got it) so I watched it again the other day. Not bad. The much maligned Ben Affleck isn't bad, and Uma Thurman was pretty good in a supporting role. Good time-killer type of movie.

Napoleon Dynamite (DVD): So I'm sure I've reviewed this before, but this movie still is freaking sweet. And having it on DVD now just makes me feel good inside. When am I gonna watch it? "God. Whenever I want."

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition: Now this DVD blew me away. Packing in over 4 hours and 10 minutes of action, this is the best of the Extended Editions to date. The extra scenes not in the theatrical release make this film a lot better than the version I'd previously seen. Well worth every penny I paid for it - and now my fourth DVD trilogy set is complete (Matrix, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones).

Ocean's Twelve: slower paced than the first one, but still very, very good. The ending has huge twists, as to be expected after seeing Ocean's Eleven, but everything is pulled off perfectly. Good movie, good movie.

Collateral: I meant to catch the movie in theaters, but missed it. So I rented the DVD and all I can say is that it's an okay movie. I wasn't blown away by anything in it at all. The acting was superb - Tom Cruise was a good heartless killer and Jamie Foxx sure can act (who would've thought back in the "In Living Color" days that Mr. Foxx had such talent?) - but the story was rather bland and predictable. Is Michael Mann just making the same movie over and over again? Heat was much better.

South Park's "Woodland Critter Christmas": While not a movie, this was possibly the funniest episode of South Park that I've ever seen. The twists are incredible, and I nearly died laughing a few times during the episode. I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen it. The episode is still on my TiVo. That's how good it is. Best SP episode ever. "It's Critter Christmas dude. It sucks ass."



The Simpsons Season 5 DVD Set: what a haul this set is. The best episodes to date, killer commentaries (god bless Conan O'Brien), and tons of material. Well worth every penny (as is Season 4).

Deadwood Season 1: So I finally got around to finishing the first season of Deadwood and I have to admit that the show is good. Really good. While crude as hell, the story lines are developing well and the characters are great.

Champs Sports Bowl 2004 and Christmas

First off, congrats to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, winners of the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando. I had the privilege of going to the game, my only GT football game this year, and I have to say that I picked the best one to go to. Less than 30 seconds into the game, Chris Reis picked off a Syracuse pass and took it to the house. 7-0 GT before you could even blink. How good were my $25 seats?


This good. See GT? See GT score?

Georgia Tech looked absolutely incredible, dominant on both sides of the ball. The passes were well thrown and caught, the O-Line made holes and the RBs ran through them with ease, the special teams blocked punts and made great stops - the game was just a pleasure to watch.


Fireworks and the final score. Orange Crushed!

I'm really looking forward to the 2005 edition of Georgia Tech football. If we can get some consistency out of Reggie Ball, the team will be incredible. The defense is good, the offensive line needs rebuilding, but the rest of the team is great. August can't come soon enough!

Christmas this year was a bit subdued due to me working 12 hours both Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Got some CDs, some DVDs, and some cash for grad school. All in all, a good haul.

Seminole Bound

I've decided on just staying put and going to Florida State for grad school. I start in January. I grew up a Seminole fan for all my life and it looks like I'll end up with a degree from there after all.

Oh, and I edited the list below - 85 is good, but I was sure I could think of more. In other news, I'm probably going to consolidate this blog with the sports blog again, since I just don't have the time or energy to remember to post to two seperate blogs. If you don't like the sports stuff here, just skip it.

Did anybody else catch South Park last week? The "Woodland Critter Christmas" was freaking hysterical. I won't ruin it for those of you who missed it, but if you're one of the unlucky few who did, catch a re-run this week. What a great show.

And I'm off later today to Orlando for the Champs Sports Bowl (formerly the "Tangerine Bowl") where hopefully I can watch my Yellow Jackets beat the Syracuse Orange. It's the only football game I've gotten to go to, keeping my streak alive of catching at least 1 GT football game back through 1999. ESPN, 745p. I'll post some pictures here.

100 Songs for 2004

The year isn't done just yet, but here's a list of 100 songs from the year 2004 that you need to hear. So go download them!

[In alphabetical order by Artist]

Air - Cherry Blossom Girl
Air - Mike Mills
The Arcade Fire - Haiti
The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
Ash - Evil Eye
Ash - Renegade Cavalcade
Ash - Meltdown
Ashlee Simpson - Pieces of Me
Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending
Bad Religion - All There Is
Bad Religion - Atheist Peace
Bad Religion - God's Love
The Beastie Boys - Ch-check It Out
The Beastie Boys - Right Right Now Now
Big and Rich - Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)
Cake - Take It All Away
Cee-Lo - The Art of Noise (featuring Pharrell Williams)
Cee-Lo - The One (featuring T.I. and Jazze Pha)
Christina Milian - Dip It Low
The Coral - Bill McCai
The Coral - Don't Think You're The First
Counting Crows - Accidentally In Love
D12 - My Band
Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
Dilated Peoples - This Way (featuring Kanye West)
Dios - Starting Five
DJ Danger Mouse - What More Can I Say?
The Elected - A Response To Greed
The Elected - Waves
Elliott Smith - A Fond Farewell
Eminem - Like Toy Soldiers
Eminem - Yellow Brick Road
Faithless - Mass Destruction
Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
The Futureheads - Man Ray
The Good Life - Night and Day
The Good Life - Notes In His Pockets
The Good Life - Album of the Year
Green Day - American Idiot
Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia
Gwen Stefani - What Are You Waiting For?
Houston - I Like That (featuring Chingy, I-20, and Nate Dogg)
Icarus Line - Up Against The Wall
Iron & Wine - Cinders and Smoke
Iron & Wine - On Your Wings
Iron & Wine - Sodom, South Georgia
Jimmy Eat World - Pain
JoJo - Leave (Get Out)
J-Kwon - Tipsy
Juvenile - Slow Motion
Kanye West - All Falls Down
Kanye West - Jesus Walks
Kanye West - Where U At? (featuring Ludacris and The Game) [aka the Boost Mobile Anthem]
Kelis - Milkshake
Kevin Lyttle - Turn Me On (featuring Spragga Benz)
The Killers - Somebody Told Me
The Killers - Jenny Was A Friend of Mine
Lil' Flip - Game Over (Flip)
Lil' Scrappy - Head Bussa (featuring Lil John)
Linkin Park and Jay-Z - Numb/Encore
The Living End - End of the World
The Living End - Tabloid Magazine
LL Cool J - Headsprung
Lloyd Banks - On Fire
Loretta Lynn - Miss Being Mrs.
Ludacris - Get Back
Ludacris - Blueberry Yum Yum (featuring Sleepy Brown)
Madvillain - Accordion
mc chris - Robot Dog
Modest Mouse - Bukowski
Modest Mouse - Float On
Modest Mouse - The Ocean Breathes Salty
MVP - Rock Your Body (Mic Check 1, 2)
My Chemical Romance - Give 'Em Hell Kid
My Chemical Romance - Hang 'Em High
My Chemical Romance - To The End
My Chemical Romance - You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison
Nellie McKay - Sari
Nellie McKay - Waiter
Nelly - Heart of a Champion
Nelly - Paradise
Nina Sky - Move Ya Body
Norah Jones - Sunrise
One Less Frame - Full Circle
Petey Pablo - Freek-A-Leek
Pitbull - Culo
The Roots - Don't Say Nuttin'
Sum 41 - I'm Not The One
Sum 41 - Noots
Sum 41 - We're All To Blame
Talib Kweli - I Tried (featuring Mary J. Blige)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Tell Balgeary, Balgury Is Dead
Terror Squad - Lean Back (featuring Fat Joe and Remy Martin)
Trick Daddy - Let's Go (featuring Lil Jon and Twista)
Twista - Pimp On
Twista - Slow Jamz (featuring Jamie Foxx and Kanye West)
Usher - Burn
Usher - Yeah! (featuring Lil John and Ludacris)
The Vandals - Don't Make Me Get My Fat Lazy Ass Off This Couch
The Von Bondies - C'mon, C'mon
The Walkmen - The Rat

I'm still working on the Best Albums of 2004 list, but if you look above you can see hints of where the list is heading. I'd say that the #1 Album is a 4 horse race at this point. Prominently missing on the list above: U2. I hate those guys.

And listen to some of those songs, they're great.

Alien Hominid

So maybe you've heard of the new PS2/Gamecube game Alien Hominid?

Go play the original flash game that started it all: Alien Hominid

Sweet. I love good, free games.

Some New Games

After having a shitty day I'm going to talk about something that always makes me happy: games.

My videogaming habits are weird. I can't ever seem to play just one game at once, unless that game is phenomenal - in which case I'll sit down and devote almost every free moment of my time to the game, in attempt to beat it. Now these games are very, very few and far between. Most of the time, I'll start to play one game, play it to a point where it either gets boring or annoys me, and then I'll shut off the console and play something else for a little while (either hours or months, who knows) and eventually I'll come back to the game. An example: I got to the final boss in the amazingly fun Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga for the GameBoy Advance and after getting annoyed with the cheapness that the boss (Bowletta - a combination of bosses Bowser and Cackletta) showed, I put the game down for a while. Last night at work I finally beat the boss, on my second try. While I loved the rest of the game - the dialogue was brilliant and the action and story were both top notch - that one point in the game made me put it down for a while. I guess I have the gamer's equivalent to ADD. Games that I've got partially beat at the moment include the following:

• Halo (Xbox)
• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (Xbox, though I started it on Gamecube)
• Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour (Gamecube)
• Mario Golf: Advance Tour (GBA)
• Legend of Zelda: A Link fo the Past (GBA - gotta beat the Four Swords Temple)
• Mario Power Tennis (Gamecube - just got it)
• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Gamecube - just got it)
• Pikmin (Gamecube)
• Ikaruga (Gamecube - lord knows if I'll ever beat it)
• Starfox Adventures (Gamecube)
• Eternal Darkness (Gamecube)
• F-Zero GX (Gamecube)
• Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (Xbox)
  

...and probably a few others that I can't think of at the moment. Not that those games aren't all excellent (most of them are) it's just that there are too many games and not enough time.

After finishing Mario and Luigi I took it and a few other GBA games down to GameStop and traded them in towards Metroid Prime 2 and Mario Power Tennis, two games I'll no doubt love. [And yes you heard that right, I bought games.] I'm currently playing my way through Metroid (started a few hours ago, writing this post in-between game sessions) and I've got to say that I absolutely love it. The original Metroid Prime was the biggest gaming suprise I'd ever had. I bought my Gamecube in February 2003, for my birthday, because the price had dropped to $149 and I figured out a deal at Best Buy to get a Gamecube+Mario Sunshine bundle (which were few and far between), and at the time Nintendo was giving out your choice of one of 4 games (Metroid Prime, Mario Party 4, Resident Evil 0, and some other game I forget) so I snatched up my Cube, Sunshine, Metroid, and Best Buy's free promotional NBA Street for $149. Hell of a deal. [By the way, if you don't have a Gamecube by now, why? $99 nets you a Cube and Mario Kart: Double Dash - and most of the best games are only $20. So get on it.] Anyway, I picked up Metroid Prime only because so many people had said good things about it, but I never really played it until maybe late April. After buying my Cube in late February, all I could think of was the March release of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - I loved the Zelda series and that honestly was the reason I bought my Cube. So after beating Zelda, a great game, I turned my sights to Sunshine - a game which left me wanting. Bored with that, I threw in Metroid and was instantly hooked. The amazing music, the creepy ambience, the brilliant gameplay - it easily became my favorite game of the year and possibly of all-time. [Well, second to MegaMan 2 at least.]

So when I heard there was a sequel to Prime coming out, I knew I wanted it. But I learned one very, very valuable lesson in 2003: never buy games the day they come out. What taught me that lesson? Enter The Matrix. I bought it for my Gamecube and boy was it a stinker. A complete waste of money. So since then the only game I've pre-ordered or bought the day it came out was the aforementioned Mario Kart. So I let Prime 2 come out, waited for reviews, and when they were overwhelmingly positive (as I thought they would be) I went out and got it. Now I'll tell you in a month or so how good it truly is.

Enough rambling, back to the game.