So it’s Friday.

Finally and Again.

… wait… never mind…

Anyway sorry it’s been so long.

It’s been difficult to blog lately.

Work is very busy, and I usually crash pretty much right away when I get home.

I am so F’n tired it’s not funny.

Tonight I have to go out and buy a snorkel, mask, and fins for the SCUBA class on Sat.

AND I have to read three chapters of the book.

AND I have to watch the instructional Video

AND I need to fill out the student paperwork.

Ugh…

It’ll be worth it I guess when we hit the water.

As we get closer to the launch of the Video Blogs on July 4th…

(we’d launch sooner but I don’t want to compete with the new Star Wars movie…)

I’ve been playing around with the camera and various editing techniques.

So far I’ve been able to “Beam In” ala Star Trek, and wield a light saber ala Star Wars.

Video Editing is so cool!

(and unfortunately time consuming)

Look for a new “teaser” sometime in May.

In the meantime fear my Jedi powers… I could Beam in behind you and lop off your head with my hand crafted light saber.

Happy Tuesday!

Not much to report.

Sometime when I get more than a spare moment (Really busy lately) I’ll tell you more about my impromptu reunion with an old friend.

It’s really dreary and cold here today.

Make it hard to want to do much except nap.

But I wont be getting any sleep today.

I’ve promised Sterling that I wouldn’t ignore her tonight after work.

Poor little thing has been neglected the past few nights… last night she was so bored and despondent I thought… this dog could just decide to bite me!

And I’d of deserved it to.

Since Jana and I are on opposite schedules… that poor puppy is forced to lay around and sleep most it’s life.

I need to run her a bit tonight and show her we can see her.

More of the great Blogs you’ve come to expect here at DougMeade.com will return to you once I get some sleep…

In the meantime…

Check out the new layout at HFO!

So it’s Friday.

Finally and Again.

I’ll spare you all the rant that’s been running in my head about cubicle life and the inherent buzz kill that is “working for the weekend”. My guess is most of you are well aware.

If however anyone reading this is Independently wealthy and would like a protege to mold into a free human as well… and prove out how great you are… I would like to submit my application.

But anyway… as I was saying… Thank God it’s Friday.

On to other things.

.. what else …

Tonight should be a fun night.

I have a fun outing scheduled, and although I can’t talk much about it at the moment… I am looking forward to it a great deal. More on that later.

Tomorrow we are getting together with friends for dinner.

Supposedly.

We were supposed to get a call this week with info on time and place etc etc…

No call.

Maybe that should tell me something.

… what else …

I’m still 15 pounds over weight in my estimation … and the 12 pounds of pizza rolls I had for dinner last night likely didn’t help.

Ugh…

… what else …

I’m starting to wonder about the Vlogging thing.

I’ve been watching some other Vloggers…

Most of them don’t seem to be real worried with things like… Jobs.. or Bosses that may not like their Internet activities. They certainly don’t hesitate to expound upon topics that could prejudice a potential or current employer against them.

How do these people do that in NYC?

They need to eat right?

I guess that’s why they are good.

A complete disregard for what others think really frees you up in the creativity department I would guess.

But ME…

I’m a little different.

I need the a fore mentioned rich guy to teach me how to be one of the idol rich before I’m gonna feel completely at ease with explaining to America why they are missing the bigger political picture… or diving in depth about my love of all things sci-fi

I may still do it.. but I won’t feel completely at ease.

I guess this is a topic best left for a Vlog so…

… what else …

The weather is crappy out…

and for the past 3 days I’ve pretty much felt like I’ve been hit with an elephant tranquilizer.

It makes productivity painful.

I really want a nap.

But no rest for the weary… remember the big secret outing tonight.

… what else …

At least I’m still dominating Taylor’s 24 conversation… (he’s on vacation after all)… and I pretty much made a drastic move towards first place on Dave’s Quote board.

… what else …

…

…

I guess that’s it.

Wow for a Friday I am REALLY worn out.

So Jana and I start SCUBA classes on the 30th!

I’m very excited!

I can’t wait to get started.

Jana is a little less excited… she’s still a little nervous.

But she’ll do great. She did great in Hawaii after all.

And besides as thin as she is now she doesn’t have to worry about the wet suit.

I on the other hand will look like a beached seal most likely.

Seriously Jana is really putting me to shame.

We had to go out the other day and start to COMPLETELY replace her wardrobe.

This weekend she’ll be donating or tossing out the stuff currently taking up space in her closet.

How great is that?!?!

I’m so jealous I can’t even describe it.

She was having so much fun out clothes shopping for sizes she hadn’t looked at in quite a while. And it must be fun to toss out clothes that are suddenly “too big”.

I’m Sooooo happy for her… I can’t wait to be able to do that as well.

It sure looked like fun.

But in the meantime I’ll enjoy my SCUBA classes and that whole breathing underwater thing.

So a coworker suggested today that we take a half day and head to a river boar casino.

What a STELLAR idea.

Unfortunately I don’t think I can pull that off.

But what a GREAT idea.

It’s been a REALLY long week.

Ditching at 12:00 to go play some poker would be exactly what I need right now.

I am soooooo gonna be thinking about how I CAN’T do that all day.

Ok everyone check this out….

It’s a little web flash game. Basically you have to use your mouse to help a drunk stumble home without falling over.

HILLARIOUS!

My personal best is 88 meters.

Though I know a guy who has made it 141.

The game is HERE

Enjoy…

Hello everyone… long time no Blog.

Sorry bout that.

Still spending a lot of time preparing for the upcoming Video Blogs!!

Yeah yeah I know we’re taking our time but we’re doing all we can to ensure these are easy to do.

That way we can keep doing them.

Anyway lets move on to more current things.

A new cigar shop has opened right in my neighborhood.

One one hand I LOVE IT!!!

It’s got an incredible selection and a very cozy lounge to smoke in.

On the other hand I’m upset.

My area of town has needed one for a long time.

Kevin and I have been talking about the perfect shop and location on-and-off for some time.

Now it looks like we may have a VERY capable shop right where we wanted to put ours.

I’d hate to run them out of business… but what can you do?

(Kevin next time you are up I’ll have to show you.)

I had a STELLAR cigar from that shop the other night.

The weather has been so great that the other night I lit the Tiki Torches, sat on my deck after sun down and enjoyed a nice cigar.

The cigar was a Rocky Patel Vintage 1992.

A VERY nice smoke indeed.

“Vintage cigars” (or cigars wherein all the tobacco used is from the same year) are relatively rare. Making such a cigar obviously limits the production, as well as the variety of tobacco you can use to create the blend.

This particular cigar though got it right.

Rocky Patel founder of the “Indian Tabac” cigar company chose to put his name on this cigar, and I don’t blame him.

The cigar is BEAUTIFUL.

Dark, gorgeous, somewhat toothy wrapper, with a little bloom.

Constructed VERY VERY well, and smelled very nice.

The cigar is a very mellow, but medium bodied smoke.

As expected it started a bit mild and worked its way up.

It never got “hot” or overpowering.

It was consistently mellow, even as the cigars “power” amped up.

Very herbal in taste to my palette with a hint of woodsy… cedar like notes.

The ratio of which began to shift to the other side as the cigar neared it’s end.

Very well done.

It’s no wonder Cigar Aficionado Magazine gave this cigar an amazing 92 rating.

I can’t wait to try the Rocky Patel Sun Grown.

I hear it’s a real powerhouse.

Wow what a ridiculous week this has been.

I was sure I’d been at work for ten days straight by Tuesday at 10:15 am.

I have been crashing pretty early every night so I apologize for the delay in Blogging.

What time I DID have in front of the computer was spent tweaking the display of the video.

Speaking of which… to answer the question posed in the previous posting’s comments…

Why July 4th?

Well three reasons really.

1) I need some time to get the hardware and software I need to do this well. Also I’ll need to spend some time with it all in order to get familiar with the procedure.

2) Hype time. Just like the Sony PSP we’re building the anticipation to a fevered pitch before the release. Hopefully Both Dave and I coordinating this will get the attention of E! or Hollywood Minute.

3) I’m ALMOST ready to be on camera. About 5-10 more pounds to lose.

In other news…

My co-worker here heads up our Digital Audio products. (MP3 / Personal Video)

He just bought the new Sony PSP. Well actually the lucky dog gets to buy such things on the company dollar as competitive shopping.

It’s pretty damn cool.

And I REALLY didn’t want it to be.

There’s another $249 product I’ll be drooling over.

Why are all my toys so expensive?

Seriously the screen and it’s picture quality are AMAZING.

We watched a bit of Spider Man 2 on it… WOW!

And the game graphics are incredible.

I’ve heard them compared to both the PS1 and the PS2 in quality.

But what ever they are I can you that when you shrink it down to that screen size…

the pixels per inch make the graphics look as good as any I’ve seen. ANYWHERE.

Truly a cool product.

Once it hits $199 I’ll consider it.

Available Formats: [wmv] [mov]

Today brings big news from both DougMeade.com and DavidMeade.com.
The way things are done here is about to change.A whole new dimension is being added to the sites, and we’re very excited about it.Check out the video !!

Be sure to leave me a comment with your opinion, and any ideas you have for upcoming Vlogs!

Also be sure to watch Dave’s teaser here:

DavidMeade.com Vlog Teaser

Ok people…

The only comments on the site in the past SEVEN blogs (not counting THIS one) have all been “Pity” comments.

Hell I even pulled an April Fool’s Day scam about my expecting a child?!

And even though I KNOW I fooled at least two of you, still there is no activity here!!!

What more do I have to do??

Honestly… am I just posting shit or are all of you Lazy??

Don’t give me this “Oh I haven’t seen your site in weeks… I’ve been so busy” nonsense. The site logs / user Logs say differently.

What do you want a riddle of some sort?

A political diatribe?

I’ll do it!!

I’m all about visitor satisfaction.

What’s it gonna take??