Ryan J. Allen

First, Alex wants me to poll your opinion on the colour of iSkin I should purchase for my iPod. The iSkin order site has all of the colours. Clicking on a colour brings up a larger image. I’m thinking carbon; what do you think?

And secondly, I wanted to plug the Life Is A Team Sport wristbands at NASCAR.com for Hendrick Motorsports. For those who don’t know, last Sunday a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed into the mountainside on route from Charlotte, NC to Martinsville, VA. Ten people perished on the flight, most of whom were direct family members to Rick Hendrick, Hendrick Motorsports’s owner; all of whom were considered a part of the Hendrick family. Needless to say, it was an emotional week for the Hendrick group, as well as racing fans in general. To top it off, Jimmie Johnson won the race for Hendrick Motorsports. How special it would be if him or Jeff Gordon go on to win the championship.

Did I mention how much I love iTunes? For organizing music it’s pretty spectacular. It’s so simple, but yet so powerful–the Apple way.

Check out these iPod costumes.

Happy Hallowe’en. And, I didn’t say it yesterday, Happy Birthday Amy! I’ll buy you a McGriddle the next time I’m in town!

Eric sent me a link to Eminem’s Mosh video. I wonder if it’s getting play in the US.

Does anyone else think it’s a little bit too convenient that a new Bin Laden tape was released the weekend before the election? Americans: prepare to continue living in fear.

Finally, of all of the pictures that get taken of the two major candidates, why would any news outlet pick these two?

This morning I decided I deserved a treat (every time I say that it’s a lie). On my walk down to work I stopped at McDonald’s and picked up, for the first time, a McGriddle. It was a sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle, to be exact. This was the first time I had gotten breakfast at McDonald’s since the summer of McDonald’s, which occured just before the McGriddle was introduced.

I had remembered, from Mr. Warner’s review, that the McGriddle part of the sandwich was a maple flavoured sensation. I, however, did not remember that the McGriddle part was actually a maple flavoured pancake! This wasn’t a detriment to the sandwich, just an observation. It was much more moist to the touch then a usual McMuffin sandwich, but was also more prone to the individual layers sliding around (and out of the sandwich when it got small enough). Still, it was manageable with a reasonable grip. All-in-all, I’d give the sandwich three out of five, with one star lost kind of automatically (it is McDonald’s–the food isn’t that great), and one star lost for the texture of the sandwich (which isn’t a design flaw, it’s inherent in the desgin).

In other news, my walk to work today was my first real use of my new iPod! I listened to a shuffle of Hanson songs, including selections from an appearance on Much Music, 3 Car Garage, This Time Around, Middle of Nowhere, and Underneath Acoustic. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to continuing the enjoyment on the walk home (I paused it in the middle of River). I think the iPod will really show its worth next weekend on the drive to Toronto (and during Dave and Shelley’s wedding–just joking!).

I’m working during the day this Monday through Wednesday, inclusively. One of my coworkers needs a break. This week I have been here every single day. Next week my first break will be Saturday, but even then I will see most of my co-workers at Dave and Shelley’s wedding. Nothing against seeing them, of course!

Time to get back to work.

The nap didn’t happen. I think I’ll feel that tonight. I’m off to work now.

It is now 0800h. I have been awake, with short bursts of sleep, since 0700h. I didn’t get to sleep until well after 0400h this morning.

Why am I up this early? Wake-up call. Since 0715h I’ve been trying to help Stephanie wake up. And don’t get me wrong–I do enjoy delivering wake up calls to her, so I’m not complaining. What I want to share is this: at 0700h when I woke up, I was tired; so tired, in fact, that I was ready to tell Stephanie that she should just use her alarm clock to ensure she wakes up by the necessary time; however, that I did not do.

“Why,” you might ask. “Did she answer the phone saying ‘I am so glad that I do not have to use my alarm clock’?” No. “Did she start to cry at the mention of the word ‘alarm clock’?” No–didn’t even mention it. “Is she just special?” Well, yes very, but no–that’s not what I mean. The point is: I couldn’t. Not as if my mouth and vocal chords were unable to work together to output the actual words, but as if I wouldn’t. I do not know why.

So now it’s twenty past eight and I’m awake, but still a bit tired. I will probably nap until 1000h, or so. If I do I will use my alarm clock to wake myself up. My alarm clock is awesome, too–worthy of its very own blog entry. So I’ll save details on it for another day (WOW, my inner geek shining through).

Good morning, cruel world.

I’m playing McDonald’s Monopoly. After today, I believe I have all of the common boad pieces (save one of the railroads). When I’m at work tomorrow I’ll post them, so you can all play along and fill in any missing pieces for me.

I was going to buy a DVD writer today, the LG GSA-4160B, from Adam J. Unfortunately his shop didn’t have any in stock, so I went home empty handed. This turned out to be a fantastic gift from God as just hours later Alex sent me an e-mail that basically announced this: Kevin Smith is going to, once again, Lay the Podium Down in Toronto! So rather than put my hard-earned money towards a DVD writer I put it towards tickets to see Kevin Smith, again. Just try to imagine my excitement.

Evan, and Brad Chaplick are in Kingston this weekend. I’m not sure if I will be lucky enough to see them. I’ll be visiting Eric and Kristy this weekend, too, which is extremely exciting as I haven’t seen them since the wedding.

In the past two days I have encountered two independent cases of people saying something in public that is so outraging to me that I wanted to…well, share my rage. I’ve decided that these two incidents are just random events, as it isn’t usual that people upset me with their choice of words. If it happens again, though, I won’t be so willing to let it go.

The word if the day is: philistine.

Alex wants me to update. My initial reaction was “it hasn’t even been a week, yet,” but that didn’t last.

I have a headache and I want to talk to Stephanie.

It was Mommy Amodeo’s birthday today. She was 17 166 days old. Wow.

Check out the Alan Partridge image(s) in the root directory. I’m direct linking to the Dedicated Alan Partridge Site. What are you going to do about it?

What are blogs for, if not leaving for a half month with no updates?

I saw Team America last night. It sucked. Good idea, bad movie.

I’m on an Alan Partridge kick. I have Adam J. hooked, too. Check it out (and if you know me in real life, ask for a copy). I’m even thinking about ordering some of the DVDs from the UK. Region 2, but I don’t imagine that’s a big problem.

I’m playing McDonald’s Monopoly. I have a good feeling about it. I’ve been wanting to play Monopoly for a few weeks (since I was at the AAA, actually). It’s as if my prayers have been answered.

Man On Fire: good movie.

I rented Mortal Kombat: Deception on the weekend. Lucas, from work, and I played online. It was quite fun. I really enjoyed the chess.

I think I’m going to finally buy a DVD writer this week. And I hope to meet up with Eric Norton next weekend. The two events are unrelated.

See how short this update is? That’s what I’m going for.