“The Official Blog of Daniel J Garcia”

Instead of getting myself to post more regularly, it seems that I am going back to taking a longer time between entries. I’ve been sick this week (somehow caught a head cold), and my energy has been drained. I was up last night coughing until about 3am. I bought some cough drops, but they just weren’t helping much, so I bought some Robitussin knock off and that seems to be helping a little (“No matter what you got, Robitussin better handle it.”).

I also helped Mark move some of his stuff into the city (*note: city always means Chicago). We made a trip last night and one earlier today taking things up. I haven’t been in the city since I was laid off at the end of January (don’t worry, I’ve been employed elsewhere since mid-February) and it was nice going there again. I used to live downtown on the west loop (just 4 blocks from the Sears Tower), and I really missed being down there. I don’t know if I want to actually live there again, but I do love the skyline and I know the downtown area pretty well having lived at Madison & Jefferson and worked at Madison & Franklin, Monroe & Franklin, and Wacker Place & Wabash. I also used to love to go Union Station and re-enact the scene in “The Untouchables” where the gangster tries to skip town with the bookkeeper, but Andy Garcia (no relation) takes him out with one shot while lying on the steps looking down. The great hall of Union Station is still pretty cool looking and its nice to sit there sometimes.

I finally grilled out again (its been about a month), and had shish kabobs. I also watched “The Dirty Dozen” tonight (hence the quote in the title, sort of ). Its about:

“A Major with an attitude problem and a history of getting things done is told to interview military prisoners with death sentences or long terms for a dangerous mission; To parachute behind enemy lines and cause havoc for the German Generals at a rest house on the eve of D-Day.” -IMDB.com

It was fairly predictable, although I didn’t quite expect that bunker scene to happen quite like that. Overall I liked it well enough and I hear that Tarantino’s new movie “Inglorious Bastards” is sort of based on it.

In other news, I am reading “The Godfather Returns“, a book that attempts to fill in the gaps in the Godfather saga. I’m only half way through it and can’t decide how much I like it. The writing style is certainly different from Puzo’s, but it is nice to see what happened during the years, even if it isn’t Mario’s story.

I also got “Sin City” on DVD and watch it last Friday. I really like that movie and will probably be posting more about it in the future. I saw it in the theater and had to get it when it came out.

“This is blood for blood and by the gallon. These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. They’re back! There’s no choice left. And I’m ready for war.” -Marv

“It’s time to prove to your friends that you’re worth a damn. Sometimes that means dying, sometimes it means killing a whole lot of people.” -Dwight

Great movie, great dialogue, great cinematography, great action, just great all around. Its quickly becoming one of my top favorite movies. I also watched “High Fidelity” last week too when I couldn’t sleep. Thats a pretty good movie for a different reason.

For the record, I don’t just sit and watch movies all the time. In fact, I haven’t really been watching them the last few months, but lately I seem to be watching about one or two a week. I think the new/used surround system also helps.

Finally, to round out the geekdom, I got a new/used cell phone. Its a Samsung SPH-I700 PocketPC phone. Although its used, I got a really great deal on it and its in really good condition. I have been learning how to use the Microsoft PocketPC OS as its a bit different from Palm. I don’t know which I prefer, but I am able to surf the web with Internet Explorer on it. It’s also a little bulky and only has a softpad (no keys), but I still like it. I’m thinking about jumping my cell package up and canceling my Vonage home line. I’m not quite sure if thats what I want to do, but it may be the best thing for me. We’ll see.

Anyway, I added some Google Ads as well as some other stuff to the site. Feel free to click on them as I think I may actually get some revenue if several thousand (ney, several hundred thousands) of you click around. I am basically learning about some search engine stuff and really just wanted to have a place to play with some of the affiliate sites and search engine offerings, so you may see more of that stuff popping up from time to time.

It is now 1am and I think I’m going to go to bed and read a little.

Be seeing you…

Daniel General

What a week, what a week. I was so tired coming home from work Friday that I fell asleep on the couch talking to a buddy of mine. I then woke up, made my way to my bed, and promptly fell asleep again.

It was really weird, since I worked some extra hours this week, I left work at 4:30 and every place I kept going to kept closing when I got there. I went to this classic movie store and it closed while I was sitting in my car, talking on the phone, parked in front of it. It closed at 5pm (the sign says they’re normally open to 8)??? I then drove to the library to look for this book I want to read, and wouldn’t you know it, it closed at 5pm too! Sometimes it just pays to go home and crawl back into bed. I did stop by this down and dirty video store, which is between the depressing grocery store and the crappy Chinese buffet, and decided to rent “Constantine ” (whoa, Dude, Devil, Demon, Dude, Whoa; actually, I like Keanu Reeves, so there).

Side note, I don’t understand how one corner can be home to the triple threat of the depressing grocery store, the down and dirty video store, and the crappy Chinese buffet. I am totally not being negative here. These places really exist and going to them is like a trip through depression-land, population me and my neuroses. There is a Walgreens nearby that seems like a clean, happy place (have only been in it once, but I got a warm fuzzy; Walgreens are want to do that to you), but it is surrounded by its three ugly stepsisters. To be fair, its a good place to wander to when feeling down as it will either further the misery (misery loves company) or act as a pick-me up to show me that no matter how down I get, things can always be worse.

When you’re blue and you don’t know
Where to go to, why don’t you go
Where depression sits,
Living on the fritz…

Ok, so maybe that’s not as clever as when I first thought the parody, but not too many words rhyme with Ritz. I did think of another that starts with an “sh”, but this is a mostly clean blog.

Anyway, Saturday was really nice and I ended up watching “Beyond The Sea” with Kevin Spacey. The movie itself wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, but I was pretty impressed with Kevin as he did all his own singing. My favorite scene was the dance number in Italy when he sings the title song and tries to woo Sandra Dee. That is still running through my head and with the wonder that is Rhapsody, I was able to listen to the soundtrack while I was doing some web dev today.

BTW, there was a “Night Court” marathon running on TV Land all weekend and I caught a few episodes. I used to really like that show, but looking back, I think I was just really amused by John Larroquette as Dan Fielding. Its no wonder the guy won 4 Emmys. Funny, funny stuff.

So, onto Sunday, I decided NOT to go for sushi today (am trying to cut expenses), but I did wander to the crappy Chinese buffet after deciding that Pizza Hut was waaaaaaay too expensive for a multi-topping stuffed crust pizza. I think the only reason I keep going back to that buffet (besides the cheap price) is that I keep thinking that it couldn’t have been as bad as the last time I went (been there twice before) and maybe I was just in a bad mood. Let me assure you, it as bad each and every time. Ugh. How low am I sinking that I keep going there every month or so. Ugh.

To round out the day, I spent the afternoon/early evening doing some web dev, but took a break to chase down the ^%^%$%$#$ ice cream man. I only know that he is coming because his stupid truck keeps playing the same song, over and over and over and over and over again as he slowly drives around (yada yada yada and the turkey in the straw). Luckily there were some kids that had the same idea and were able to catch him and stall him long enough for me to walk over there (all the while strutting tough like I wasn’t just going to buy something from the ice cream man or something). To my credit, I didn’t actually buy anything for myself, but rather for a friend. My friend has an un-natural fixation with Snoopy Bars and seeing how the ice cream man is the only place I have seen them in a long time, I bought 3 for them. Yes, El Padrino has 3 frozen dog heads sitting in his freezer. Its not as cinemagraphic as a horses head, but it will have to do. The only trick now is to forget that they are in there long enough for them to be picked up, otherwise the three little puppies won’t be long for this world.

Now that I am coming around full circle, I have to finish up this posting and pop in my movie (Constantine). I saw it in the theaters back in February and liked it enough to want to watch it again. I will hopefully get myself posting more often on a regular basis which will mean that I won’t keep writing these mini-novels all the time. We’ll see how it goes.

Anyway, as Number 6 would say…

Be seeing you.

Daniel General

What a long, tiring, draining, extremely productive week it has been. I have a ton of stuff to do this weekend, but I want to get back into the habit of updating my blog on a regular basis.

I am feeling pretty good right now and am in a relatively good mood. I’ve been enjoying my new/used stereo surround sound system (thanks again Mark; fast shipping, extremely easy to work with, A+++++ eBayer; heh heh) and am generally optimistic. My apartment is clean and as the old song goes, I am feeling groovy. I was supposed to sing the National Anthem tonight with my chorus at Sox Park, but I didn’t really feel like it this time. I can still go, sing, and come home, but whats the point? Been there, done that (I sound like such a diva…shut up Steve).

My weekend plans include doing some long overdue reading, getting some quarters for laundry, doing some webdev (side work doesn’t complete itself), and watching a movie in cinematic stereo surround sound. If I get really ambitious I may try and do some actual writing, although I haven’t decided if I am going to work on a poem, a short story, a screenplay, or just a dirty limerick.

Speaking of poetry, one of my poems from years ago "On Road To Nowhere" was selected to be included in a poetry.com poetry contest as well as be included for publication in their next book this fall. They of course are encouraging me to buy the book, although purchasing is not necessary for inclusion. I thought it was pretty cool anyway, and I’ll probably end up buying the book (I’m a whore for seeing my name in print, just ask David).

As I get things more organisized (think Bickle), I will create a poetry section and place all my poems up here. I just got done with my first new one in many many years, but I may wait a while to start posting the new stuff.

BTW, here is the poem "On Road To Nowhere" (note, this was written 10 years ago):

Anyway, the day is quickly passing and I need to get a jump on things. For my friend(s) out there in internet-land, read between the lines about this week and know that "I’m alright, nobody worry ’bout me". Later…

Cute, brown, and furry…just like me.

Daniel General

“From the first hello,
To the last goodbye,
It’s been awfully nice to know you,
So excuse the parting sigh.

And I’ll watch you go,
With my head held high.
You’ve been dear and sweet,
A pleasure to meet,
A special treat say I.

From the first hello,
To the last goodbye.”

Fade…

Daniel General