Monday falls and my week is 1/3 over!

Yup, my new 10-hour day schedule gives me every Friday off, but this Friday is a federal holiday. As a result, my regular Friday off slides to Thursday, which if you're keeping track, means that my work week is already 1/3 over. Very sweet!

The bad side of all this is that with a 10-hour work day, there isn't much time for other cool things to happen, which means I don't have much to tell you. Just got back from a nice 11 mile bike ride, and I'm going to settle in with the latest "Walking Dead" trade as soon as I'm done here.

I have remained psyched all day about the forthcoming Diablo 3, but I really need to get over it. It isn't going to be out for at least a year.

Oh, something cool DID occur today! The teaser trailer for the next James Bond movie came out!! It looks extremely sweet - picking up right from the end of the previous installment. I'll embed it here from YouTube because I like you so much, but keep in mind you can watch a much nicer Quicktime version of it right here. I love me some Bond!!

INCREDIBLE NEWS!

I never thought I would see the day; however, this weekend Blizzard announced the upcoming release (no date given) of DIABLO 3!!!

Incredible! And here's the best part of the whole announcement...

"It'll feature the return of Deckard Cain (the old dude from the last two who crooned "Stay a while, and listen!" when you clicked him)."

My old friend! I've been a huge fan of Mr. Cain for almost a decade now! It'll be wonderful to have him back!!

Check out the details HERE!!

The doubters said it would never happen...

...but my bike odometer passed 100 miles during this afternoon's ride. This, coupled with today's re-dedication to the consumption of salad, should put to rest all the folks who think I'm going to slide back to my lazy, gluttonous ways!

Would you like some bacon with your bacon?

Just returned from a late breakfast. The best thing about it was the thick-cut bacon which I enjoyed with my eggs. As serious Linnen scholars know, I'm partial to that tasty, tasty bacon!

Hans, Missy, and Siena are gone, motoring back home even as we speak. You can check out their progress on their blog, TurkeyBaby. That Siena is a real cutie! Her dad, not so much! :)

Woke up today and immediately began downloading video from Queen's performance Friday night at Hyde Park. It's up on YouTube but I want to be able to burn a DVD of it, so I need it as a larger file. Here it is just to watch and enjoy on your PC.



Great stuff! A bunch of time has passed since I started this because I was busy watching those videos again. I love those guys! Awesome musicians!

Looking forward to visiting the cinema tonight to see the new Pixar movie, "Wall-E." Seems like kind of a weird one, but I'm sure it will be good. In any regard, I bought a big box of candy already so at least I'll enjoy that!

Shook up the traditional Linnen-look today by shaving my head WITHOUT having a van dyke. Usually I don't shave the head unless I have some facial hair, but I wanted to try it out. Here's an artist interpretation for how I usually look and how I actually look today:

I'm handsome either way...as you know!

We went to a big birthday bash for our friend Kathie yesterday and I was able to log hour after hour of pool time! I enjoyed pelting people under tents and on the deck with balls, floating on rafts, and dunking our friend Amy. I wasn't as fond of the times when Amy retaliated, but that's OK. Lots of good food and good folk. It was a great afternoon. Makes me wish I had a pool too, but one of those pools where someone else does all the work to maintain it....

I have to go log some bike time. More later!

A quick one for Slacker Saturday!

I've been busy swimming and playing games all day and long into the night. Almost forgot to even type up a few token sentences. Tomorrow's entry will be kick-ass, but today I'm just going to put up a couple pics from two big concerts last night.

The first two are from the big Mandela Birthday Bash in Hyde Park. My favorite group Queen closed out the show with 6 songs - "One Vision", "Tie Your Mother Down", "The Show Must Go On", "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions", and "All Right Now." Earlier in the show, Brian May joined the lead singer of the Corrs for a version of "Is This The World We Created?"




The other pics are from the big Rock Band concert that occurred in my living room. Lots of energy and musicianship on display...along with my big bald head!


Enjoy!!

The Big Announcement

The clock is nearing the hour of midnight, which means I have to get this in to keep my streak going; however, downstairs a group of my friends are rocking away on "Rock Band" and I have an itch to sing a little Bowie. It's going to have to be brief.

I promised a big announcement for today (and if you are checking this out only because my father hyped it up to you for the past 24 hours then I apologize! You really aren't going to care!) However I truly can't think of anything bigger or more fitting for World of Linnen than this:

Today, I worked my first shift as a counter monkey at my favorite store in the world, The Comix Connection!

Yes, maybe most late-thirties men wouldn't jump at the chance to spend your day off in a comic store, but I was on it like ugly on an ape! I had a blast chatting with folks about books, bagging and boarding, and getting some inside scoops on my favorite hobby. In the days of yore, I used to bag and board comics for hours for free for my Cousin Tony, so to do it and get paid is pretty sweet. Bill (the owner) and Joe (the manager) are both great guys, and while we were busy doing stuff most of the time, it was still quite enjoyable. I won't be in the store too often...every other Friday pretty much unless they would need someone to fill in on a shift at some point. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love the place, so it's cool to get involved with it on a different level.

Well, I gotta go rock! More tomorrow!!

Oh baby Jesus, please end this pain!

Oh dear lord!

For some reason, I accepted an invitation to play basketball with two of my youthful and energetic friends, Toly and Cody. Keep in mind that I haven't played b-ball (other than wheelchair b-ball) in probably two decades, and that starting up with two guys who are 13 years my junior is what we call in the business "a terrible decision."

I was really no factor in the crazy three-man game we played, a game known by the enigmatic title "33." As you can guess, we played till someone reached 33. I think that the closest I got was like 15 or something, which is pretty good considering that my feet only left the ground once and it felt like I had two separate and distinct heart attacks as we played. The lads were nice and didn't make me feel too badly about my lackluster performance.

When we were done, I hurried home to go bike riding with three of my friends. We covered 12 miles, which normally wouldn't bother me too much; however, tonight, after the first mile, I was really feeling it. Evidently 75 minutes of basketball before a ride doesn't agree with me! There were stretches where I really doubted that I could make it, but never underestimate the strength of shame. I climbed ever hill just a little bit behind everyone else.

We finally finished; I showered up, and then the pain began. Every muscle from my thighs down to my toes (really!) has been cramping up for the past two hours. It feels quite horrible. As soon as I'm done here, I simply must away for a handful of Advil...or maybe just good ol' Tylenol. MMMMMM....so tasty!

People, I am dying!! I am practically begging for sweet, sweet release from that cute lil' baby Jesus, and you expect me to blog! I have already said too much! Just watch this video until tomorrow when I will make a major annoucement.

Me and Larry King!

Man! Many, many years ago, during Olympics of some sort, Larry King (who was doing a radio show at the time, not his CNN TV show) did some sort of marathon run of shows that he referred to as "30 Nights." He was always going on about how vigorous he was to be soldiering through so many consecutive nights of broadcasting, but at the same time he was actually falling asleep during interviews and completely misunderstanding questions and comments from callers. It's pretty hilarious.

Well, as I slide into Day 3 of my 30 Day Blogging Guarantee (coupled with my new 10-hour work day(coupled with my new-found love of biking)), I am feeling quite Larry King-ish. I have a feeling if I was broadcasting live over the airwaves right now, I would be barely coherent.

Watched the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" tonight with my dad. It is from 1967 and stars Warren Beatty and the beautiful Faye Dunaway. I think maybe the only other movie I have seen with Ms. Dunaway was "Supergirl" way back in the early 1980s, and I really have no recollection of it. However, I was quite taken with her performance in this movie. She was extremely hot, had a wonderful accent, and who can resist a blonde with a machine gun anyway??

Excellent movie, but what I took away from it was the opening scene where she stands in front of the window naked. Of course, it being 1967 you don't see anything, but she was quite shapely.

Very good flick! Having said that, I think I'll retire for the evening! Tomorrow is my Friday!

Stopping for Ice Cream and other Tuesday Stuff

Something has been brought to my attention tonight: it is not really all that fun to sit and watch others eat ice cream when you have none.

It seems almost like it should take only common sense to realize this, I know. But even when one of the people enjoying the frosty treat is someone as funny as my buddy TC, it's still a drag. Add to this the almost overwhelming need to urinate and you have a situation envied by almost no one.

I enjoyed yet another fine ten-hour work day, and as Tuesday came to end, I realized that C.O.B Tuesday is now my "hump day." Wednesday is on the downhill-side of the week for me! Nice!

I thought about buying some new sunglasses today but backed out at the last minute. Wasn't quite ready to make the commitment.

Today was our monthly "BFL" (pronounced "Biffle" for those not in the know.) "BFL", of course, stands for "Breakfast For Lunch" and as usual I found myself at the Mechanicsburg Bob Evans enjoying a delicious plate of eggs-over-medium, bacon, and hash browns. MMMMM! I loved it! With me were BFL staples Jo Lyn, Toly, and the muscle-bound Cody. Many of our fellow BFL'ers were unable to attend this month, but we still had fun. And speaking of the energetic 24-year-olds Toly and Cody, for some reason I have agreed to play basketball with them on Thursday. What the hell is wrong with me??

Just heard back that my screen test for the upcoming film "The Hobbit" went over really well with the studio execs! I'm looking forward to playing an elf in the much anticipated fantasy adventure!

Well, it's getting late and I have to read a few comics before turning in. I will accept that this installment of my blog is even more worthless than most previous entries; however, I certainly came through in terms of getting the words up on the screen. No one can say that I'm not living up to my promise to bring you 30 straight days of drivel!

Talk to you tomorrow. It'll probably be a movie review because it will be a post-Wednesday movie night entry.

Wow! Two in a row!!!

Quite a streak - blogging two days in a row! What a display of incredible dedication!!

Speaking of dedication, have you seen the new addition to my life? I received a nice check from the Commonwealth of PA to reward me for buying a hybrid car, so I put that money towards a hybrid bicycle! She's a beauty:



Unlike the hybrid car which runs on both gas and battery power, the hybrid bike simply means that it is a road bike that can also go off road. It's propelled purely by the power of Linnen!

Anyway, I have begun my effort to pedal my way to good health! This, coupled with my new habit of eating salad, can only lead to great things.

Meanwhile, I have been busy reading through the latest edition of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. Even though I was actually begging my friends to quit playing D&D just a few short months ago, I was so intrigued by these new rules that I had no choice but to go out and get the manuals myself.

So far, I am really enjoying most of the changes the authors have made to the veteran game system. I am much more enthusiastic about 4th edition than I ever was about 3rd edition and I'm looking forward to playing soon.

Well, I'm tired from my kickoff 10-hour workday. Overall, I'd say it was a success as the day really didn't seem much longer than a 9 hour day. I did have to wake up an hour earlier though, but I did alright with that. I hope I will continue in that vein tomorrow morning.

See you in 24!

Wow! It's been a long time!

It really has been a long time since my last post, but the funny thing is that the last post still seems as current and vital as today's headlines! I guess I'm just that kind of writer...the INCREDIBLE kind!!

It is Sunday night and I am preparing for my first ten-hour workday! After many years of working 9 hour days and having every other Friday off, I have decided that I need a change, so I will now have EVERY Friday off. Yes, that IS fantastic - and I'm sure my friends will quickly tire of hearing about my three-day weekends - however, now that it's Sunday night, I'm dreading what a ten-hour workday is going to feel like! I have to get up an hour earlier or I will get home so late that they'll be no daylight for me to enjoy. 5:30 seems EXTREMELY early.....

I hope it's all worth it.

And as if that isn't enough of a change in the life of Linnen, I have decided to take the "30 Days of Blogging" challenge at the same time! Will I be able to blog for 30 consecutive days considering that my current average is probably 2 entries a year? Will I be able to blog for 30 consecutive days considering that I really have nothing to say?? Stick around and see, True-Believers!!

Finally, here is a brief clip from our local Harrisburg ABC affiliate. It aired last night on the 11pm news and features a few familiar faces.

See you tomorrow...bright and early!!