dennisjudd.com

I really never thought I’d be the one to play an Xbox 360 simply because it never had a lot of the titles I wanted to play on it. I’ve only really ever played FPS’s on the PC using a mouse and keyboard (and that took me months to master back in the day).
Considering that up until now most of my gaming has been on the PS2 platform (using composite cables) I can’t tell you how impressive the graphics are on the Xbox 360 w/ our tv. First of all it comes wth component cables standard, secondly it can put out 1080i.
The graphics are on par if not better than what I was getting on my PC when I hooked it up with a DVI cable. Gears of War just simply amazing to play on it.
Graphics aside, the features of being able to plug my digital camera into it, and my Creative Zen Micro MP3 player (after a firmware update) are really impressive. The wireless controller is responsive and just the right size. The only draw back I have is that you have to pay for Gold Membership, and the demos are a little thin. I expected more to be online after a year head start.
Funny story though, after playing Gears of War on the Xbox for a while, we switched over to Kingdom Hearts 2 for a change of pace. Both of us thought something had changed in the tv settings because everything looked fuzzy. The graphics were so damn good that switching from component to composite threw us for a loop. Lol, in fact today we drove around looking for a set of PS2 component cables so we could squeeze every little bit of graphics out of it.

Thought I’d share some pics of the gifts that I gave to Jen, considering since I installed them both yesterday:

I bought here a set of Go Rhino nerf bars for her 2006 Ford Escape, and a WAAG Grill Guard.

Took me probably 5 hours to install them both by myself, I think they look pretty sweet, and she’s been wanting nerf bars since we bought the car.

Here’s a highlight reel of what I learned Christmas day:
- The Xbox 360 is much cooler than I ever thought
- Moxie soda is the most vile concoction ever made. I’m convinced my MIL tried to kill me.
- The cats have more fun than we do playing with the wrapping paper and toys
- CD’s are cheaper in CA
- I get pathetically excited over getting clothes now, so I am officialy old.
- Stupid little gifts are sometimes the ones people like the most
I won’t gush on about anything in particular, but let’s just say I think Jen and I have been very lucky to have people who care about us in our lives to be so generous. The simple fact that at least two people I know went so far as to stand in line just looking for Wii for me honestly touched me more than anything. Sometimes it’s the effort you put in, even if you don’t get something that can mean the most to somebody.

What xmas would be complete without these classic gems?

There’s some big news that we haven’t shared yet, but it’s getting late enough to go ahead and tell ya.
Jen’s incubating me a minion.
Yup, looks like we got ourselves a honeymoon baby. Guess that’s what happens when you stick us on a boat with no computers or games to play. We had to do something to keep ourselves busy
We’re about 1/2 way there now, and everything is looking good so far. I’m excited I finally have an excuse to buy toys again, although the bills are already adding up. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet, and we’re not even sure if we’re going to find out. The first ultrasound isn’t until January, but we’ve heard the heart beat already….it was going like a million miles a minute.
So begins the great onesie surplus of 2007, soon we’ll be wading in drifts trying to get around the house. On the plus side, we already have two rooms, one blue and one pinkish, so that’s one less thing we have to do. Which, by the way, if you were wondering why I was busting my hump to get the house done, this is the reason. No way I’m gonna have my kid crawling around on floors with no trim down.
Welp, that’s it. Our big news. Now we just need to do a gazillion other things. Like pick a name….personally I like Bubba Morris Judd the first.

I learned something last night, that in my 31 years on the planet I never knew.
Mushrooms don’t like me. Not even a little bit.
I am really glad I had today planned to take off already. Plus I was able to get a lot of trim work done last night in the upstairs hallway and on the stairs. Now all I have to do is make some plinth blocks for the end caps of the stairs, fill the bazillion or so nail holes and paint. Then I get to start on doing the master bedroom….weeee!
Here’s a funny story. Last weekend around this time we were at a local Target looking at tv stands and we walked by the electronic department. Lo and behold there was a PS3 60gb just sitting in the case, actually there were 2 of them. Now since the shopping center we were at was kinda new, I guess that’s the reason why 2 PS3′s could just sit there for longer than 5 seconds.
It was a moment of slight temptation, but when it came down to it, could I really justify spending $599 for a console that doesn’t even have any games I really want to play on it? I mean Resistance: Fall of Man looks pretty good…but after buying that, and tacking on an HDMI cable (I mean with our TV you really have to go all out) and after tax that’s probably close to $750 bucks.
All because they felt they needed another proprietary format shoehorned in there (ya know, like the successes that were UMD and minidisk).
Hell, I could buy a Wii for under $400, and that’s with component cables and Zelda: Twillight Princess. Sure the graphics aren’t as good, but hell. I mean I’m just started playing Kingdom Hearts 2, and I’m not even done with Tales of Legendia yet on the PS2.

This is Jen’s fault….I’ve had these two monitors for probably like 4 1/2 years now. I picked them up for I think $699 for two of them (which was a steal at that time), but now they’re just not cutting it. No wonder my eyes hurt so much considering I spend all day on them and they’re not up to snuff. I’ve got a 3rd Dell 17″ that I stole from Jen when I upgraded her to a 19″ and everything’s just so much clearer and crisper.
The sad thing is now I can get 3 new 19″ Dell monitors for $619….so yay, let’s here it for decreasing cost of technology.
Complaining aside, I was helping my sister setup a new projector over the weekend and I ran into the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.
When you change inputs from HDMI to component, and then back all you get is static. As it turns out apparently there is something going on with the Comcast HD DVR box that messes up the output so when you switch back some type of hello packet is dropped or not transmitted.
The results is basically to get rid of the static you have 3 choices:
1. Turn the box off and on again…impossible if you are recording a show
2. Unplug and replug the HDMI cable
3. Use component cables instead….which kinda defeats having HDMI now doesn’t it…
What a joke, they need to get that 16.20 firmware patches ASAP. I can’t believe they can get away with this crap and expect to keep customers on their HD service.
Moving on….We’ve snapped a few cat pictures:

Chloe Pile!

I think chloe’s gonna have to file a restraining order soon

“Well what are you waiting for? I command you to seal this box and fill out the RMA form or I’ll poop in your shoes!”

I totally forgot to post these pictures of the show we went to on Jen’s Birthday.

The show was interesting…the first part is basically a bunch of their songs tied loosely to a story that somebody narrates. It definitely keeps the Christ in Christmas, so if your a person of religion you’ll probably really enjoy the whole experience. There’s a lot more singing in it than I thought there would be, but I guess I never really listened to all their CD’s enough to know it was coming. We did pickup a Christmas tree ornament for about 10 bucks….I guess it’s just a sign of how old I am that I’m shocked at the price for T-shirts today at events.
- Can you type? If so then this game is strangly addicting. Word Shoot: spell fast or die!
- Remember at? Looks like he’s in good company…even I find battle armor for cats a little strange.

I was at the FedEx store today. We stopped by to send off some Christmas gifts to family in other states.
In front of us was a guy wearing a lemon yellow wind breaker type jacket, and light grey sweat pants. The lady behind the desk was trying to locate a package for him using a “sorry we missed you” type of door hanger that he had provided (I’m assuming from his front door).
As she was typing away, trying to find the package he just stood there with two hands in his pocket. She said out loud that the package was actually on the truck for delivery, which upon hearing that he stuck his hand out….as if expecting her to put the slip of paper back in it immediately. He stood like that for a good 30 seconds, still as a statue while she kept looking and tried to express that the slip said he could pick it up at the depot “after 3pm” the next day. Which was today, and the current time was 11am.
When she was done, she gave him the slip, and he responded with the words “well I’m sorry to have bothered you”. This man was clearly upset and apparently expected her to bend over and pull his package out of her ass like a magician. It was an uncomfortable situation for all of us, since it wasn’t this woman’s fault and there was nothing she could do.
As we walked up to her, after baby huey stormed out, I said to her “wow, what a dick”. Her response was to smile and say “thank you….yeah merry f’ing Christmas, right.”
Nobody has a right to be a dick, and yelling at people probably won’t help in most situations.