Angry Birds

Today was very much a copy and paste from yesterday. It was supposed to snow again which meant more time inside hanging out as though it had dumped 3 feet of snow, fine by me. Well, I am happy to say that the snow never came but we still had a great day. Neither Cicely nor I went outside much further than the garage to throw something into the trash can and did not feel an ounce of guilt.

Birds

Because of the predicted in-climate weather I made sure my iPad was fully charged and the couch was prepped for a day of Angry Birds, Star Wars edition. I have made it pretty dam far and nearly all the way through all levels. The problem is that they are so much harder in this version and require you to knock everything down with your first bird 98% of the time!

It does not help that I am a stickler and will not move on to the next level until I have those 3 golden stars. If the level has a golden egg (droid in this case) I will not go to the next level until I have both the stars and the golden droid since it then opens up another bonus level. By getting 3 stars on every level you also are awarded Millennium Falcon's that you can use to wipe out the entire stage. Exactly like the White Eagle you were offered in earlier versions of the game. It essentially allows you to do the entire game a second time with a new challenge.

Anyway, to add to the "hurry up and finish the levels", my new iPad Retina should be here tomorrow so should I decide to set it up and transfer everything to it tomorrow night I will lose my progress.

Honestly, I don't know for sure since everything I have is in iCloud but I was under the impression from prior re-installs that I will have the application but my progress will be kaput. I guess I will find out. At least if it does hose my progress I will have something to write, ok bitch about that day!

YouTube

Today I also managed to start uploading video to my YouTube channel as I have been meaning to for quite some time. It is a long process even if I upload them raw and unedited as I plan to for 90% of them. The process is actually very hard for me for many reasons beyond the editing and uploading. For one thing; I am very "private" for the most part when it comes to publicly sharing things, especially seemingly private content such as video we have taken while away on vacation, in our free time or of me racing for example. Probably one of the reason I hardly use Facebook or Twitter the way it's intended to be used.

Open Up A Little, Sheesh! (says the little voice in the back of my head)

Initially I set all of the settings on the first few videos to private, no questions asked. Soon thereafter I wanted to show Cicely one of the videos that I had added captions and a music track to, only to find out that it was a royal pain in the ass to share it. Ok not "royal" but I did have to go in and add her as a verified user, send her a link and other crap. Plus you can only have 50 of those invites per private video. Again, not a huge issue but honestly its just easier to let it go, put it out there on the internet and see what happens.

To keep it a little more private though, I did set it up so the comments and things like that will require my approval so it does not get out of hand from trolls talking shxt or whatever. Seriously, I doubt there will be more than close friends and family, at best, interested in looking at the uploads in the first place, which is the idea and perfectly fine.

The reason I am putting them on YouTube in the first place is so they are in a common location for me and my family to view as well as to pass on if we have a child. Not that kids want to watch their crusty parents videos but as they get older the videos may become more sentimental and valuable to them, you never know. Whats more, to prove that I am not holding-out sharing, the link follows this paragraph. 

I should mention that my YouTube channel was started under the name jetpilot8 back in 2006, now Troublebaker or Curt Baker, and it's not the easiest thing to find for some reason, and should be according to Google. Maybe I need to be a little more patient and it will show up in searches.

Anyway, the name works now and that is what matters. Had I known I would need to use it for other things when YouTube first started, long before it was owned by Google I would have named it more appropriately. People that don't know me always assume I was a pilot because of this screen name. It actually is because of my jet-ski riding and racing days, we were referred to as jet-pilots and 8 happened to be the number that I ran. There, a little history for you.

Click Here To Go To My YouTube Channel

Yes, depending on who is looking at it and when I will admit that there are some videos that are not showing to everyone. If there are things that are more private for my family only then I will take the time to enter their Google+ usernames or email and so on and share them that way to protect some of the footage from the masses.

Surprise, Motherfucker!

So tonight is the final episode of Dexter, season 7 titled "Surprise, Motherfucker!", and I am bummed big time! It is such an awesome show and I look forward to it all week long. Although this season has been a little bit different from the rest. Actually, I guess after season 1 the writers needed to start having more of a theme each season. Now that I have said that and stop to think about it, it is the only thing that makes sense for them to write. I mean how long could they go on having viewers watch a serial killer go around and kill those that fit his "code" and not much more to the episodes?
 
Anyway, it is going to be a great episode tonight although I know it will fly-by and end much faster than I want because it's the finale. I don't even dare to think about how pissed I will be when the final season happens, which is going to be next season, season 8 according to Wikipedia and what they confirmed the executive producer, Sara Colleton stating.

The sad part is that you always hope there will be more and they are only testing the waters, not the case for Dexter because they quoted Sara Colleton when she said in her interview "We don't know what the final scene is, but we know where it's going. We know now exactly how it's going to end and how the series will end." Man, F-that noise! I guess I better just enjoy it while I can. I guess there is always Netflix to go back and watch all 8 seasons back-to-back! Hmm, an entire Dexter watching weekend? Only stopping for a nap and to heat up some food or coffee? That may become a reality at some point after season 8.

Doctor Doctor
 
So I had an email this morning which was the bill for the EMG test that I had done last Tuesday. The test combined with the doctor visit prior to the test and one other ended up being billed at just under $5000! Compared to my $45,000 surgery last year it does not seem like a lot of money, but this was just testing!

I am thankful I have a great job that provides us with excellent health insurance. I for one hope that never changes, otherwise I don't know what we would do at times like this. Unfortunately, we still do not have an exact reason for what is the matter with my back, but we are making progress and that is what is important. I would rather it take a little time and rule things out first. It's far too easy to mask something with medications and find out years later its only created new issues.

Cheerio!

Until tomorrow, it is time to enjoy what is left of this relaxing weekend before its time to prepare for the workweek ahead. Tons of work to do this week because the holidays are upon us next week and Cicely and I have taken pretty much that entire week off from Christmas Day forward, woot!

I can't wait to hang out and do whatever we want for 6 or 7 days! Not to mention the fact that if it's a white Christmas that will be all the more reason to stay snuggled up and cozy inside watching movies and playing with the toys that old Saint Nick leaves behind.

Photo: Angry Birds, Star Wars Edition