Topic: A Day In The Life of The Phat Kid

[Tamer]

I hear your point about life in a tub! Have fun Pat.

[Clonehead]

Don't forget to snap us some shots of your SW room after you get it together.
  We havn't seen any snow yet here in MO and are not looking forward to it.
You said that you havent gotten a blu-ray player for your tv yet right? I noticed that my movie rental place here in town just started to make blue ray dvds available for rental and I am excited to see how some of the more recent releases look.
  I wonder how some of the newer upconverting dvd players perform. They claim to be able to upconvert to 1080I or P.

[Phatty]

My DVD player, an Onkyo that's about 2 years old now, has HDMI and upconverts to 1080i, and let me tell you, it's still amazing.  We watched Star Wars: A New Hope Special Edition the other night, and there were subtle nuances that were totally overlooked or just plain blurry in standard def.  I have an entire list of movies that I own that I need to watch again now with the new TV but haven't had time yet!

[narceron]

Man, I completely agree, we have these giant monitors for our computers(yeah, old eyes need big screens) and recently we noticed they are about the size of small TV's(the one I'm on right now is 26"), so hmm, why not. .

Let me tell you for a hundred bucks, we bought a blu ray drive and then we started using it and media center to watch HD.

I was  amazed by the difference, even in, like you said, movies we've seen a hundred times.

[Phatty]

Wow, more than 7 months since I updated this, so I guess it's time I did so!

Time is but a luxury that Man cannot afford.  It never fails, I have a month to 2 months off in the Fall, and very little to occupy my time.  Now, it's the middle of winter and I have projects coming out of my Yin Yang, and not nearly enough time in the day to get them all done.

Project #1 is my Imperial Shipyards Check Point Security diorama.  It has 4 parts, and none of them are near complete.  Part 1 is the Hoth Imperial Attack base, which I'm closest to finishing.  Once I get the computer room finished, I can work on a sniper's nest for the other end of the base, and it should be done.  The 2nd part, which I'm stalled on, is Yoda's Dagobah playset, which I have painted and landscaped, but I'm stalled on how to incorporate that with part 1.  I acquired an Ewok Village that I want to further incorporate along with the Dagobah playset.  I haven't even TOUCHED that one yet!  And part 4 involves the G.I. Joe Tactical Battle Platform, which I have SOME idea for, but again, haven't even started on that one yet.  On top of all of that, I still have my ISY Security Forces to finish up yet.

Because I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, I also started on another custom ship, my custom A-Wing.  I'm loving how it's turning out so far, but I have a lot of painting to go yet.

My main focus right now is my train set.  I'm in the middle of building the table it'll go in, but I had plenty of trouble with framing the table supports so far.  I mounted the legs, and it's the cross members that are killing me.  I went with the old "Measure twice, cut once" theory, and still screwed them up.  I have to go out and buy another 2x4 already because I ruined one of them.  Now, I am by NO means a woodworker of any kind, but I'm trying so hard to make this look good.  I filled in some cracks with wood filler and called it a night for now.  Tomorrow is another day.

I love being busy, but I'm pulling myself in so many different directions, I'm having trouble keeping up with all of them.  I hate leaving projects part finished, so now I feel I have to do them all at once!  Oh well, it keeps me out of trouble!

[UnitedStatesDemocrat]

Good luck on finishing those projects, Pat!

[Phatty]

Thanks Dan!  The good part is, this'll keep me busy throughout the winter so that I don't get too bored!

[Phatty]

I know I don't update this very often, but I feel the need to share my woes.  My productivity has been cut so tremendously, I feel disconnected from the rest of the world.  I dropped my iPhone, and now it won't turn on.  I lost my calendar, I lost my contacts, and I lost my entertainment.  I lost the ability to simultaneously check 3 email accounts.  It feels like losing a foot: Sure, I can still get around, but at half the speed and without all the extra things I used to be able to do.  I can't get a new one until freakin' December from AT&T unless I want to spend $400-$600 on a new one.  The sad thing is, if I had it, I probably would.

[Clonehead]

Man, that stinks, pat. I would be lost without my I-phone.
Don't they sell the 3-g one for $1-200 at Walmart now? Then you would just have to put up the activation fee.

[Phatty]

They do, but you have to be able to sign a new 2-year contract, and I can't do that until December.  I remember the days when they'd let you do that as many times/year as you want, because it kept you on the hook.

[Tamer]

Well that just stinks Pat. Sorry to hear about your phone woes.

[Phatty]

And as ever, a light shines at the end of the tunnel...  I took my phone completely apart yesterday, figuring it was already broken so what more damage could I possibly do.  I discovered that the wire ribbon for the power button had torn.  I looked for a replacement part online, and found a site that will replace that ribbon and the power button to work for a mere $69.99.  I can totally live with that, and will be sending it in soon to get that done!  I sure hope that's ALL that is wrong with it!

[wraithnine]

result!

[Phatty]

And now, even better news!  And yes, I know I sound like a whiny little child that my toy is broken, but I had NO idea how ingrained in my day to day life my phone was due to it's functionality!  Anyway, today Apple officially revealed the new iPhone 4, which will have some sweet upgrades including a 5MP camera WITH FLASH (lumination sensor, as Apple calls it since they hate all things Flash...), forward facing video camera to do videoconferencing on, and a host of new app abilities, such as Netflix movies direct to your phone.  You can even start on your computer and continue on your phone.  Not that I have any use for watching movies on my phone, but then again, I thought I had no use for an iPhone period!  The best news, is that it will debut on June 24th, and AT&T will allow current iPhone owners to renew their contracts up to 6 months early!  Since I'm due to renew on 12/23, that would mean that the day it comes out, I can upgrade!  So with that in mind, I'm not going to bother fixing mine and just go get me a new iPhone 4! 

[wraithnine]

blimey! apple are a bit slow off the mark my N95 came with 5MP camera Xenon flash ,Carl Ziess optics front/back facing camera with 30 FPS playback  umpteen modes including nightvision oh and GPS & WIFI  ...........3 years ago !          ;)lol