Like all good things, my Cali adventure was bound to come to an end. And like most things John-related, this trip could not, of course, go quietly and/or softly into the night.

My brother graciously volunteered to drive me to the airport to make my morning flight. This was extra special nice because BART apparently doesn’t start running until 9 on Sundays meaning that I wouldn’t have been able to make it...

I’ll have you know that as I write this, I am approaching five – FIVE!!! – full twenty-four hour persiods where I have not watched one single, RGB pixel or frame droplet of television goodness. Since around 11 PM on Tuesday night in Myrtle Beach, I have been so on the go, that there hasn’t been even a moment to sit down and veg. This proves that it is possible to not only survive, but thrive without a steady stream of scripted and r...

Coming from the East Coast, I *might* actually qualify as a morning person for the first few days of my California visits. Come 7 AM, I am springing out of bed and totally ready to get at the day. Seriously, I could see myself making power smoothies and reading the Journal and doing all that morning person crap that I previously thought was just urban legend bravado or a sign of some kind of mental illness. It’s really terrific. Conversely, at 7 AM at home I am sleeping a...

As I write this, I am some 35,000 feet up, sitting in the cozy bulkhead row seat 10A on US Air flight 1482 from SFO to CLT, drinking a Seagram’s Ginger Ale, passing over what looks like the snow-filled Rockies and keeping the last of my California vibe going by listening to “California” by Phantom Planet on my iPod (“We’ve been on the run, driving in the sun, looking out for number one, California here we come, right back where we started from. Hus...

Despite the fact that I’m convinced that a “free” Redbox rental is really just a cleverly disguised ripoff like that stupid power balance wristband infomercial, Dana can’t look a gift coupon horse in the mouth. So when a Blockbuster – oh, you blue-signed Devil! I don’t care what you say about your “new” and “improvedR...

I know, I know. A while back I wrote my little piece about “Thinking outside of my own wallet” and not prejudicing a potential sale just because I thought something was expensive. So, yes, I know that I’m not supposed to be thinking that just because something is too expensive for John’s wallet that it is also too expensive for some other, ...

A friend of mine was found dead in his bathroom yesterday. His name was Ken Draper. This news was shockingly unexpected and it sucks. I got the news in that most impersonal of 21st Century delivery methods, via voicemail. “Don’t know if you heard, but Ken Draper was found dead this morning.”  I guess it could have been worse; it could have been a text message. Please promise me that you'll never text message someone with news of a death. I hung up and was...

A couple of posts back, I told you about my home network dilemmas. And, since I never gave two-hoots OR a holler about the type/style/brand/features of my previous router, I’m guessing that goes extra-extra for most of you. (Show of hands...who even knows A) what kind of router they have and B) where it is located? Yeah. That’s what I thought.) A router is one of tho...

Few technologies have engendered the “I create feelings in others that they themselves don't understand” near-autonomic, primordial level response of iStuff. And while there have always been Mac owners even before there were actually even Macs – oh, Apple IIe, you and your green screen and awesome Choplifter and Castle Wolfenstein games! -- it wasn’t until the iPod came along that a wider swatch of society started feeling like they were maybe cool...

I love “Would you rather...?” type questions. Ask any of my friends. We’ll be out and about and something will pop into my head like, “Would you rather run the entire length of a shopping mall, naked, carrying nothing but two buckets full of sloshing diarrhea OR draw a dartboard on your back and let two drunk guys play an entire game of Cricket?”

Now, had you asked me a couple of years ago, “Would you ...

OK, I don’t technically know that for an absolute fact. I mean, I haven't actually been able to witness any Dark Lords that have had so much fear over the switch from analog to digital that the fear led to anger, the anger to hate and the hate led to a massive Force Lightning suffering-attack onto a rack of HDMI cabling. Then, when tempers and the associated Force Lightning fires had cooled, had the chance to go in with the proper test equipment and actually confirm that ...

Remember like a month ago when I told you about that total DICK of a customer, Mr. Brain? The guy that literally had a brain tumor which sent his personality cascading straight off the cliff of normal rational behavior straight in to violent, yelling, threateney, insultey outbursts?

Y...

OK, so the other day I traveled to New York for that event at URC. (You read about it, right? It’s here if not...)

So, I’m going to be honest, I don’t really turn my phone off on the plane. I know, I know, but I just *seriously*

Growing up, I never really got to have a puppy; my dad wasn't exactly a “pet” person and definitely did not want to have anything that either A) came in and risked messing up the house or B) stayed outside and risked messing up the lawn or C) was a non-contributing member to the household. Thus, over the span of my childhood, I had the requisite smattering of goldfish won by tossing ping-pong balls into glass bowls of water which served as an indoor pet, and a bunny...

I’ve been away for a bit, so I’m rewarding you all with a long, two-day-in-one travelogue post, filled with comedy, drinking and tragedy. (The part of “Tragedy” shall be played by Darryl Wilkinson this evening...)  

Just returned from an up-and-back to New York where I visited the URC factory to check out their exciting plans for Total Home Domination, I mean, Control. When I told my CTA ...

I’m not here to rehash my totally hetero man-love for John Mayer today. No. Sure, he can be a total douche, and goes through women like toilet paper – and yes, Taylor, I do think nineteen is too young to be messed with, even when someone looks like you – and his concert monologues can come across like, “We all know how great I am, so l...

I know that many of you come here solely for the blog excellence, which, hey, is totally fine. Come on in, kick off your shoes, pull up a chair by the fire and make yourself comfy. I'll put on some depressing music, and you can grab a cup of warm cocoa or a lowball of your favorite brown liquor and stay a while.

But, for those of you that link or click or Blogger.com (that's you, Dennis!) directly to the blog page, t...

I’ve shared some of Lauryn’s amazing artwork with you in the past. Who can forget “Giant glass of Red wine” or the horrific visage which is “Daddy that’s you. I’m drawing you."?

...

I’ve told you about my Definitive Technology rep, Woody, before. He generally comes into town a couple of times a year, brings the latest Def Tech product and then we go out to dinner. Now since Murrells Inlet, where Custom Theater and Audio is located, is an actual inlet, meaning that we’re on the water that is on the ocean, we have no shortage of local restaurants that specialize in fresh seafood. And fresh seafood means sushi. And at some poi...

We’ve all heard the phrase “a necessary evil.” Usually that describes something that is seen as unpleasant and unwanted but that is done anyway for the overall good of something. Like, Spock going into that radiation chamber thing in Wrath of Khan. (Best...Star Trek...ever!) Or undergoing some aggressively unpleasant surgical procedure. Or maybe an all-out Duke Nuke'm war to root out Zombies. Or having to eat canned beets. (Seriously, they taste like co...