This past weekend, our good friends Jenn Colella and Jeny Foote were married. Jeny and Beth were best friends growing up in Sacramento and, while their lives have taken them in different directions, some friendships just never quite fade. And so Beth was honored when, along with the other "theatre kids," she got to dust off her pipes and take part in the ceremony.

An intimate gathering that brought together people from all over and all walks of life, it was a beautiful and thoughtful ceremony. And while their union is yet to be recognized by the government, their love is not only recognized but celebrated by their friends and family (awww...). Congratulations, Jenn and Jeny!

Posted by Thom at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I love video games. Always have. Always will. And with the exception of a few years in high school when I thought I was too cool for them (I'm not), I have always owned one of the generational game consoles. For a long time, I was a strict Nintendo loyalist. But, despite their graphical improvements with that bouncing plumber, I began to get bored. This time around I wanted to try something different, so I ask for and got an Xbox 360.

With an excellent game library and relatively decent physical and interface design (especially for being a Microsoft product) I have been very happy with my Xbox. That is, until last night...

In a hurry to get their next generation console to market a full year ahead of Sony and Nintendo, Microsoft rushed through their engineering process and shoved a flawed piece of hardware out the door and onto market. As a result, many early Xbox 360 owners have been plagued by a catastrophic system failure, designated by three flashing lights known as the "red ring of death." Last night, after a nearly a year and a half of relative peace and joy, that red eyed specter paid me a visit. Sigh...

This problem is so pervasive, that Microsoft agreed to extend the hardware warranty by 2 years, and I directly benefit as a result. With little debate or argument, Microsoft customer service agree to repair/replace my console free-of-charge, including the shipping. Of course, it might have helped that I was calling them at 1AM and they wanted to go home. I'm pissed, but at least Microsoft is taking responsibility.

This marks my third (and hopefully final) major electronics failure this year. I'll keep you up-to-date as developments unfold (since I'm sure you're dying to know). In the meantime, I guess I'll start using our Wii.

Posted by Thom at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After 6+ years of hard work, headaches, self-doubt and sacrifice (mostly on my part) Beth successfully defend her doctoral thesis today.

When Beth had just started to consider going back to school seven years ago, she knew it would take a lot of time and effort. And even with that realistic perspective, she almost ran out of steam before accomplishing her goal. By the time her coarse [sic] work officially ended and she began her internship with the Manhattan VA, Beth was well ahead of the curve but burning herself out in compiling her research and processing the data. Working nights and weekends on her dissertation — all the while working full-time — she managed to get her thesis done and copies of its 100+ pages to her review board this month. That same review board (after a severe paddling) granted her passage into the realm of doctor-hood today. Beth Manning, Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology (that's a PhD, baby). Congratulations, Beth!

Posted by Thom at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I recently stumbled across a little web gem that I thought was worth sharing. Stuff White People Like is blog written for white people, about white people and all the while making fun of white people... and really, if we don't make fun of ourselves, who will? The best part of the site is its running list of whitey favorites that include such truisms as Oscar parties, organic food and Barack Obama. If we where to use this site as a measure, I myself am about 80-85% white. Try it for yourself.

Posted by Thom at 9:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

While I haven't had much to write about lately, I have taken the time to give the old blog a little spruce up. It doesn't look like too drastic a change but, I thought a little modernizing was in order. I cal it the "lozenge look." Enjoy.

Posted by Thom at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)