So...where to start. Friday night I went to the Guinness event again, same one I went to a couple weeks ago. It was fun, but a bit shorter than the other one I think. People were definitely lining up earlier for it, as Evan and I got there at 6:30 and there were maybe 40 people in line in front of us (last time we were maybe 10th or so in line). Still, plenty of beer, meatballs, and tortilla chips were had.
Saturday was my birthday, the big 2-5, and a good day at that. Any day that starts with a bowl of peanut butter captain crunch can't be all bad. ;-) Watched Goldfinger during breakfast - the best 007 movie to date, IMO. Went to Sub Culture Cafe for lunch (I've mentioned it before), also great. Stop by if you're in the area. They're never busy when I've been there, so I hope they stay around a while.
Teresa gave me a great bday present, the Audio Authority 1154A. It's a four-port component video and digital audio auto-sensing switch. It will accept coax or optical audio, and output the audio over coax, or optical, or both. In my particular case, I have three devices using optical audio inputs, and the 1154A sends it to the receiver through the coax audio output. It also let me buy component cables for my PS2 and Xbox - I couldn't do it before, as our tv only has one set of component inputs, and my receiver doesn't have component switching built in (it didn't even have s-video switching!). I'm only using three of the four available inputs, so when we finally upgrade to an HDTV with an HD cable box, I'll be able to plug that in as well. It's advertized as having enough bandwidth for HD content as well, rather than just 480p. Finally, the auto-switching aspect is nice. Say I want to play some GT4 on my PS2. I just turn the PS2 on, and the 1154A switches to PS2 input. Then maybe I want to start up an endurance race, and watch a movie while my B-spec driver completes the race? I just turn on the dvd player, and it switches to dvd input. I finish the movie, turn off the dvd player, and it switches back to PS2 input, with no intervention from me. Nice. Oh, and I finally was able to get rid of my S-video switch. :-D
More softball Saturday night, and we played a lot better than last week. I hit fairly well, and got some time to play the outfield during the second game, which I've been interested in trying. I've pretty much been an infielder for all of my years playing baseball and softball, but it's nice to try something new. During the second game, an interesting thing happened. We have a 2 home run rule, meaning that (in this case) you can only have 2 home runs more than the other team. We got 2 in the first inning, thanks to a slightly shorter fence than we usually play on. Next inning the other team got one, then we got another in the third. So I'm up in maybe the 4th or 5th inning, with two runners on. As the pitcher is getting ready to throw, I decide I'm going to see if I can hit one out. I'm not a home-run hitter, as I usually try for a well-placed line drive or ground ball rather than swinging for the fence. Well, I made a solid hit, and the ball went out, just as I planned. Doh! I totally forgot that we had made another home run a couple innings prior, so mine counted as an out. Perhaps some other time. Softball was followed by a late dinner at NYPD Pizza, complete with several Fat Tires and a free dessert. :-)
More greatness on Sunday. A Costco lunch is always a good start. After lunch, Evan and I did some brake work on his Camaro. Replaced the front rotors under warranty, replaced the rear pads, and bled the brakes. The rear brake caliper tool from Autozone is fantastic. It turned out that his car had a press-in piston, rather than those terrible screw-in pistons, but it worked well for that too (as we didn't have a c-clamp around). I'm definitely going to pick that up any time I do rear brakes, as it's much better than the stupid little $2 tool they sold me before. Everything went pretty smooth, and the car hasn't crashed due to brake failure yet, so I think we did ok.
Finally, I got some Halo 2 time in this weekend, and that has been fun. At least I'm occasionally making use of that Live subscription. :-P A big update comes out today, so maybe I'll try playing again tonight.
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