Clark, if there's one lesson I've learned from you ...

 Hope those that celebrated had a fun 4th of July!

Fretting that I'm being lax about updating on here. The lack of writing to publish is a big part of that, which I hope with my recent purchase of an iPad(!!!!) giving me back computing portability in a size bigger than a phone I'll be more able to find time to write away from my desk.

I'm also hoping this ipad is going to give me opportunity to draw a bit too. There's some transformation i'm going through at the moment where digital technology just seems so much more convenient. Like I'll look at my bookshelf and see a few unread books (ASoIaF) and just think, man I wish I had the digital versions so I'd read them on my iPad/phone instead of having to lug that heavy hardcover around and need the light still on. LOL.

I mentioned this on twitter/tumblr and got a few suggestions but just in case there's anyone here that doesn't follow me there, I'm new to the iOS world so if you have favorite apps that you can't live without and would like to recommend I'm always looking for new apps and I'd rather not waste money on bad ones you know? :)

I'll try to do better to at least forward any original posts that i put on my tumblrs over here like I promised I would. Most of my fanfic tumblr lately has been posts on shipping after having seen Man of Steel and OZ. I'm behind on my reading but I'd like to rec more than I do, but lately all I've been reading is either Glee/Mass Effect fic with a dash of Star Trek. And my main tumblr is full of reblogs with a dash of instagrams and an occasional life blog post so I definitely can do a better job of that. I think a lot has to do with my dissatisfaction with the mobile interfaces of dreamwidth/livejournal, now with a bigger ipad screen I'll feel more comfortable.

Since this seems to be one of the more pressing matters in my life at the moment I thought I would seek out any opinions anyone had on the subject if people have been using it.  I've been slow on the uptake and just using regular batteries but since picking back up my gaming habit in February thanks to Mass Effect I've noticed that my increase in gaming has made me start to go through AA batteries like no tomorrow.

And as such I find myself looking at 10 AA batteries that I have here waiting to be properly disposed thinking that there has to be a more efficient battery method to use so I've started looking into rechargeables.  I know I've seen a charger and some batteries offered on Woot a few times now and have been tempted but I want to get something that will last, not just cheap.

Anyway, if anyone has gone the route of rechargeables I'd love to hear your thoughts on them and any specific device you use. These wireless controllers draining my batteries!

Christmas 2010 I thought I was being very smart about wanting to connect my PC and my TV and in those plans I bought a Blu-ray drive so that I could get a better deal than the $150+ prices standalone Blu-ray players are selling for.

Of course it came out after working once, my old computer didn't have the power to just be a Blu-ray player like I wanted so I had to wait a year until I got my new PC this past Christmas.  Finally I was able to watch Blu-rays through the drive, all except one (TMNT the original movie disc) were playable and everything has been fine.

Now I bought Puss in Boots yesterday and had plans tonight to watch it, and what do I get? A notification popup that interrupts the disc starting up that says my player needs to be updated to continue playback.  The thing is ... THERE IS NO FURTHER UPDATE for the version I have that came with my drive.

So it looks like if I want to see this new movie disc .. .I have to upgrade to a new version ... which they will only let me get the latest which is pretty much $100.  WHAT THE F CYBERLINK?!

This is just so disheartening. I'm probably going to look to get a standalone player that's a new model.. It's fun to have a drive on the PC but I'm not going to pay $100 just for in two years to lose compatibility again and probably have to shell out more.

I can understand wanting to put out new versions of your software but at least keep the player up to date! That's all I want! But they probably know a majority of their users just want that and tie in the other software to try to justify the exorbitant price.

So I finally saw Thor this morning and wow! I'll write a lengthy review later but I will say now that it was really fun and much better than I expected.

Does anyone use Sidereel? They seem to have a programmable calendar to follow your TV shows that makes me think of the pogdesign calendar that I use for this purpose but it also has a phone app (iphone only right now so I haven't jumped on and tried it yet) that seems like a handy thing to have on the go.

I thought this was a pretty neat site for those looking for a way to archive your tweets and have them displayed in a neat timeline. I give you Memolane (short for Memory lane I imagine) where besides twitter or facebook you can even connect photo sites, video sites, social check-in sites and rss feeds to have displayed for your visual needs. The only downside on the twitter part is that it seems to have the same problem all of these sites has is the limit twitter puts to the last 3,000 tweets you've done from the moment you first connect your account.

I don't know if I've asked this before on here but has anyone tried purchasing refurbished technology? I've always steered away from it and preferred to just go new but lately I've been having thoughts that anything that was wrong with the tech would be fixed before they sell it and most of the time they come with a warranty/guarantee of some kind.

 I don't think it's been properly portrayed here outside of my lack of updating lately but I've been dealing with more technology problems than I've needed in the last two weeks that were topped by a period of 4 days (Friday - Mon afternoon) where there was only a period of 4 hours (Sunday afternoon) that I was able to access my DSL internet connection.  Finally I had a breakthrough yesterday, and while the connection is fragile/shaky ... it is a connection and I think that deserves SNOOPY DANCE!

It's strange that the Olympics are over already.  The two week length has that ability of making it feel like a long event while its happening but also giving that feeling of being over too fast when it's done.  With how NBC covered the Winter Olympics this year, I definitely feel like I missed out more than saw.  I wish they'd shown more events outside of Hockey (and sometimes Curling) live without the benefit of being delayed and cut up so you only saw the top contenders and team USA because some of us would just like to watch the sport no matter who was participating.  Also, forcing us to stay watching close to midnight for unshown content from huge events like Figure Skating and others is INSANE.

DC's next direct-to-DVD animated film, Justice League Crisis on Two Earths recently just came out and because of that release the previous two DVD's (Green Lantern First Flight & Superman Batman Public Enemies) were on sale (less than $9 each) so I snapped those up.  I have yet to watch a DC DVD that I haven't enjoyed so I imagine I'll like these as well.  They were backordered so I'm just waiting them out right now. I also bought 17 Again for less than $9 too.  Don't judge, I liked the movie.

Something that has irritated to me over the years is when I notice that I'm missing content out of my control.  Every so often I'll notice several journals here on LJ that for whatever reason will not show up on my friendslist despite being mutual friends.  This has started to happen with me on Twitter too where there will be people who will tweet and I'll never see their updates but I'm a bit more lenient there because I follow so many that it's easy to fall behind on the timeline. LJ it's more of a convenience thing and I hate having to dig through all of my friends journals just to see if I missed something.

Alice in Wonderland comes out today and I can't wait to see it.  I haven't been a very good theatre watcher so far this year.  Outside of seeing Avatar, I missed The Princess and the Frog, Sherlock Holmes, and I'm still planning on seeing Percy Jackson.  But back to Alice, from what I devine from the trailers I've seen on TV, this looks like a quasi-sequel to the typical telling of Alice's original journey to Wonderland. With the proposal and going into the rabbit hole, I am thinking this movie is one of those returning to your childhood to put a close to it and be ready to move to adulthood.  Also, I think I'm developing an attraction to Helena Bonham Carter. She's a little odd, but I love it.

If you've been paying attention to LJ today you'll have noticed that I've been very busy today catching up on everything. After all that fun stuff I got deluged with other tedious life things to do, like knowing about the car theft I talked about previously, today the water heater decided to stop working. It was fairly new, bought only in June 2008, but it comes out it's a slightly faulty model. Thankfully the parts warranty lasts 6 years so it was covered in that area but what looks like a simple wire to replace is a pain in the butt to actually remove. I had to make shift tools and use them for other purposes to get the faulty piece out. Of course by the time I got it out, the store was already closed so it wont get resolved till tomorrow to find out if that was truly the problem or not. If not a true repair man will have to be called in. It's strange to realize how much hot water is taken for granted, and what timing is this that it happens on the day southern CA is the coldest its been since maybe last Winter.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly some of my fabulous LJ friends had their birthdays today. I'm talking about misshapenmuse and weasleygirl89! I hope today was a great day for you both and expect sometime down the road a birthday drabble to come out (hopefully not two months from now, lol). Happy Birthdays!! ♥

Lastly, my phone is a Razr3. I've had it for over 2 years now. The contract I agreed to has now expired and honestly I'm just waiting to get into a better financial position before diving into the smart phone market and getting an iphone because those phone plans are expensive! I really want one though. ;3 Anyway, the flashiest I get with this phone is using the bluetooth to upload ringtones onto it, and changing the wallpaper on it. Since I just recently switched to a more Smallville flavored wallpaper I thought I'd go ahead and show off all the ones I've used so far (from first to my current): ( My Razr Wallpapers )