Topiary – for reals, yo

I actually used the word ‘topiary’ in proper context yesterday. I was proud of that. And don’t anyone laugh, but I actually have flowers planted in my flower beds now. I got tired of just looking at dirt. If it doesn’t work out (and I don’t have high hopes) I’m out like $30. I actually have “before and after” pictures of one bed that I’ll post one of these days.

So a lot of yard work has been done. I actually had to mow my own yard for the first time in a year or so this weekend. It was a lot more work than I remember. Now granted, the yard was soggy and crappy so it was more difficult than normal… but still. It’s a POS mower that you can’t adjust the push bar on so you have to mow hunched-over the entire time. It only spits the grass out the side so I end up with long rows of cut grass in piles when I’m done. Soooo… I think I’m picking one of these up. I always made fun of people with self-propelled mowers – I apologize for that now. I’m not just getting it because I’m lazy, I’m getting it because the self-propelled one are supposed to last longer. Hopefully this thing can do a better job of mulching the grass too. We’ll see.

This is going to be an expensive year – have too many thing I need/want to buy for the house. I really only have one ‘toy’ on the horizon, and that’s just a new motorcycle helmet. Not much of a toy I guess, but more of an expensive toy accessory.

So other random things – my list of links at the right side of the page now has a ‘Movies’ subcategory when you can actually see the movies I’ve rented via Blockbuster and what’s still in my queue if you’re really that curious. They seem to be broken at the moment… I think Bloglines is screwed up. So here’s My Queue and My Rental History

Other random stuff: Driving to work today I saw a lady stop at a stoplight, open her door, and spit out a mouthful of water and toothpaste. I’m assuming it was toothpaste because it sorta looked like that and she had a toothbrush in her hand. How odd. I wonder what she would have done if she had gotten all green lights on her way to where ever she was going.
Another random funny: Earlier today I ran to the bank to get some cash. On my way out, I happened upon two young ladies with a stroller firmer lodged in the revolving door. I’m not sure how they got it wedged in there in the first place, but it was half-in, half-out, and the door wouldn’t move in either direction. As I got closer, I saw a passerby yank the door hard enough from the outside to actually break it…. I think. the doors can “fold in” on the hub. I’ve seen them do it before, but I’m not entirely sure the purpose – maybe it’s for just such an occasion. I’ve seen them intentionally do it before during fire drills and whatnot. Picture the revolving door turned into two open doors separated by the ‘flaps’ pushed into the middle … so from the top it looks like ( | ) instead of (+) Anyway, back to the story… they’re getting the stoller out as I get closer to the door, so I angle for the normal door next to the revolving door (the one with the big sign on it that says ‘Please Use Revolving Door’) and as I get to it one of the young ladies looks at the door and back to be and says “Excuse me, do you know how we can get this door open? We’re trying to get the stroller through here.” She didn’t really need to say anything, I was heading out the door anyway… I looked at her, looked back at the door, turned the handle and opened it. In her defense, the door only has a handle on the inside (they really want you to use the revolving door) but it’s not like it’s hidden or anything, it just only opens from the inside. So that was my laugh today.

I think GTA IV is working better.  They released some patch for it already and I haven’t had any more problems.  Fun game, go buy it (yes, I own stock in TakeTwo)

Nothing else too exciting at the moment.

GTA IV — GAH!

Ok, so Grand Theft Auto 4 appears to be an awesome game. However, I shouldn’t be the one you ask right now. I played for a few hours the day I got it, the game ended up freezing as I was just walking along so I shut it down. Today I decide to play for awhile more – got through a few more ‘dates’ and quit/saved. Went to start it up awhile ago and it hung on “Loading – First Date” Ummm… ok… let’s ask Google. Found the suggesting to delete saved games and game data… did all that. So basically started all over. It’s worse now. I can drop my cousin off at his place and start in the apartment… I haven’t been able to do more than that. It’s frozen probably 4 times in the last hour at least. Grrrr. Doesn’t matter if I’m walking or driving or what. I’m annoyed.

Guess I’m back to War Hawk or Rock Band until they fix this. Speaking of Rock Band, Zero showed up on the store today. There goes another $1.99 …. Rock.

UPDATE:  Seems the trick is to disable the internet connection on the PS3 – then GTA plays just fine.  Kinda puts a crimp in the multiplayer part of the game.
Remember when game devs didn’t have the luxury of built in hards and internet connected consoles?  They actually had to get the game right the first time.  Now it’s “get it out now, patch it later”