Robot Headphones

Archive for July, 2009

So I fell in love with a UK band by the name of Elbow, prior to moving out here to N.C. I learned back in February that Elbow was going to be coming around to Raleigh’s Time Warner Pavilion, very similar to the SF bay area’s Shoreline Amphitheater, in the beginning of August. The only problem standing in my way was the cost of tickets.

Normally for a small name band from the UK it wouldn’t cost that much, yet Elbow is on tour with the biggest band of the UK, Coldplay. Depression started setting knowing that the cheap lawn seats were still $35 per person, and honestly who would want to sit on the lawn? I gave up hope of ever seeing Elbow in concert until Jane told me that her annual bonus came in and that we could get Coldplay tickets. I immediately hopped on Stubhub and found some awesome 10th row seats for general admission lawn seat prices. This will be one of the last concerts that Jane and I will be able to go to before the little circuit comes into our lives.

The video that you are about to blow your minds on is a live recording of Elbow with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Try not to be too envious of Jane and myself.

Ciao,

Ry The Robot

Yes I know that the video is too big for my margins. I just couldn’t find a version that fit.

Summer has to be my favorite time of year. The weather is great, great summer time sales, and then there is my favorite part, the food. When Jane and I party and eat like rock stars, for some reason she is just fine but I get gaseous. Last night the famous Web Guy from the Quilting Stash Podcast and Simplearts.com fame sent me this video, and told me that I should invest in one. Check it out.

Most of the comments for this video on youtube.com went something like this. “I WANTS ONE!”, or my personal favorite “Man, I’d have over 100+ missed calls.”

Ciao Ciao,

Ry The Robot

It’s been a while since my last 100 things post, so I’ve decided to toss on a second 5 to make up for my slacking.

Where were we? Oh, that’s right.

21. I’ve only ever see one dead body.

I’ve been to many funerals, some of which were open casket. I’ve always chosen to pass whenever it was my turn during the viewing except one, my Grandmother (my dad’s mom.) It was a very humbling and spiritual experience.

22.I don’t know why but I seem to have lost number 22

23. I’ve never gotten drunk.

I guess this comes from never drinking before. I mean, sure, when I was 4 years old at a party that my folks were at I grabbed what I thought was a coke and I took a sip. It was not a coke, in fact it was the most vile thing that I think I’ve ever tasted in my life.

24. I’m afraid of getting cancer.

I wish that I could put more of an understanding on it, but I am just scared of it. Even after all the medical study of cancer, there is still so much that we don’t know about it. Some times there are symptoms and other times there aren’t. The side-effects vary so drastically that no two cases are ever the same. It’s like trying to play Medical Craps with 100 sided dice. No thanks I’ll pass.

25. I hated Dr. Pepper.

I bet that most of you are wondering why I used the past-tense. It’s because I really don’t hate it anymore. Growing up and even today I can’t stand the taste of prunes, and the main ingredient in original Dr. Pepper was prune juice. Today’s recipe doesn’t use real prune juice anymore. Some say that the old Dr. Pepper was better, but I love the new stuff.

26. My wife and I are complete opposites.

If any of you have listened to my podcast you will realize the truth of the above statement. This topic is honestly too long to cover at this time, so I invite you to listen to our podcast for more proof, and entertainment.

27. I need a maximum of 6 hours sleep a night.

I’m not sure why 6 hours is the magic time, perhaps I’ve trained myself over the years to only need 6 hours. I go to sleep most nights around 12:00 and I wake up exactly 6 hours later, with or without an alarm clock. The upside of this is that when I’m “out”, I’m “out”. This is great for me, but it wouldn’t be so great for my pregnant wife. She keeps telling me that I’ll need to keep up with my share of night duty. I’m more than willing. I told her that if she can wake me up I’ll do it. I doubt that she could; I mean I’ve slept through earthquakes, sever thunderstorms and car accidents.

28. I can’t donate blood for another 5 years.

During my time spent in Italy there were a few Mad Cow contamination. When I returned home I received a letter from the AMA (American Medical Association) saying that I could eaten the tainted meat and that I will not be allowed or eligible to donate for 10 years. It’s alright by me though I hate needles.

29. I love the smell of coffee.

Let me start by saying that I don’t drink coffee nor have I ever drank coffee, but I would venture to say that this one is kinda self explanatory otherwise.

30. I love to skateboard, but I can’t do any tricks (anymore).

Growing up I loved to skateboard. I used to go every with my board. I used to be so confident and quite skilled but with age and ::cough:: weight, I slowly stopped skating and I lost all my ability. I would love to get back on it and get back to where I once was… but it’s kinda lame for a mid-twenty year old to skate around the neighborhood, or at a skate park.

Ever since Jane and I found out we were having a kid, we’ve been talking about how we can save some serious cash. We’ve been thinking about what we could cut back on to make this happen. We have already started cutting back on how much we eat out, and we’ve been planning out menus and grocery lists. All of these things have helped in us saving on average about $300 a month ($3,600 a year), but for some reason that is just not enough.

Then I started thinking about a topic from an Extra Life Radio podcast about finding ways to not pay for TV. There are so many online options: Hulu, Netflix, and Bit Torrent if you are feeling dangerous. The host of the podcast Scott Johnson made a YouTube video of his home setup. Check out the video and I’ll chat more on the other side.

So he is saving $900 a year with his set up. He said there was a one time setup cost of about $1000. He uses the Mac Mini to stream online content, and to play DVDs. The Xbox can play HD-DVDs while the PlayStation 3 plays Blu-Ray. The only issue that Jane and I have are being able to watch local news programming. Which can still do thanks to a digital converter box.

In the end, kill your cable provider cause you can get 90% of what is on TV for free.

Ciao Ciao,

Ry The Robot

ps. If you got the feeling follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/robotheadphones