Steve Cullen

Not sure how many regular visitors I get since there are very few comments from people I don’t know. But Google says I get at least a few everyday, so I figured I’d throw a quick update out there.

My spare time has been all but disappeared since March. I had what I consider to be a serious health scare at that time (completely unrelated to my Pilonidal procedure) and decided a lifestyle change was needed immediately. My weight had reached a point that was beyond being simply overweight and it was beginning to impact my health, so action was required and not simply desired. Desire was (and has always been) there, but desire alone had never been enough to get me moving. Unfortunately, the extra nudge (more like kick in the face) arrived and prompted me to take swift action.

I asked my fiancee, Jamie – a personal trainer coincidentally, to take the lead and design a plan for me to follow. This plan was to be all-inclusive: diet, workout type/frequency/intensity. She grabbed the horse by the reigns and got me on track right away. Since then I have spent 6-days a week in the gym, only missing time when sick. Not even vacation gets in the way. I eat 6 small meals a day giving my body the metabolic kick in the pants it needs. The rest of my time is spent with my family and resting.

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Once again it seems, I am eating my words. I swore up and down that I’d never own or use an iPhone. “They’re over priced and unneccessary.” “I’m perfectly happy with my iPod and Treo.” Those and a multitude of similar sentences poured from my mouth. They were all true, and I stand by them. However, I’m now carrying the new iPhone 3G and I have to say I’m quite impressed and enamored with it.

I’m carrying an iPhone for two reasons: First and foremost, because my boss was generous and paid for one for me. Second, to support two executives in my company that wanted to carry the phone. Admittedly, I might have been able to fix any problem they experienced just by holding their phone like I am my own. But, the rare instance could occur when they’re out of the office and requiring assistance. For that reason alone, I felt it necessary to carry one and in no way looked forward to the aspect of having to do so. And again I’m telling you, I’m eating my words. I absolutely love this thing.

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Tags: Apple iPhone 3G

This is going to be a long one. Where to start? Oh, how about this… HOLY CRAP THIS ****ING MOVIE SUCKS!! Please, save your two hours of your life that you’re contemplating giving up for this movie and do something useful with it; like maybe peeling your finger and toe nails off one by one!

If you’re looking for a less painful way to spend your time, perhaps consider throwing feces at your wall and watching it roll down. It’d probably be a great deal more rewarding of an experience.
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Today I picked up Hitman (Unrated) on Blu-Ray Disc. Like I Am Legend I made the decision to purchase this movie after seeing it in theaters. I’ll review the quality of the Blu-Ray Disc after I watch it. For now however, I’d like to address the inclusion of an iTunes Digital Copy with the movie.

So, my feelings go something like this… THANK YOU! FINALLY we’re taking steps towards getting movies we own on our iPod as we rightfully SHOULD BE ABLE TO. I think this is the first important step in the right direction. So, I am thankful for that. That said, I think we have a long way to go.
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This was a no-brainer addition to my movie collection, and in no uncertain terms was going to be in high definition when it hit shelves. I picked it up a few days after Easter, rather than release day, because I was on a spending hold due to the approaching gift exchange. I’m pretty sure we watched it the night or next night after I bought it. But that’s a moot point. What does matter is the quality of the movie and high definition delivery.

WOW! This is hands down, unequivocally, the best picture quality of any film I’ve seen. Graininess is non-existent. The colors are rich and vibrant. Both Jamie, my fiance, and I were blown away from the beginning when the Shelby rolls through the city, to the final frame of the alternate ending.
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This is a short one, but hopefully some will find it useful.

Both of the Vista laptops I have used have had this problem. The stupid network icon in the systray sometimes shows a status completely opposite from what it is currently in. For most people, according to Google’s search results (or just the way I’m asking), it is showing it’s connected when really it’s not. Mine has been showing it’s in a state of disconnect when it is indeed attached to my network wirelessly and also to the internet. In laymans terms, I get a little red x when I should be getting a little globe.

So after clicking around in a bunch of discussions that were close to what I was seeing, I found a link to this Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945011. It’s not what I was experiencing either, but I figured what the hell. And it worked. Although it’s currently going from connected to local-only, but whatever. I’ll reboot and see if that goes away. Stupid Windows. I swear sometimes if I didn’t rely on Microsoft to keep me employed, I’d swear off of their products.

I did it. I hate that I had to, and I feel dirty for doing it. I bought a damned PS3.

It’s a sad time at the Cullen household. I swore up and down that I’d never buy one. And in the last 48 hours, I’ve been through two of them! What are the odds?? I’ve had two Xbox 360s since launch, and it was only because I wanted to upgrade to the Elite. The 360, who is riddled with so many hardware problems and bad press, has been wonderful for me. (Knock on wood.) Yet the PS3 has been a pain in the ass for me since I made the gut-wrenching decision to buy one on Sunday.

The first Playstation 3 that I bought at Target was apparently a returned item. You may ask me, “How can you tell?” By a weird sticker on the box over the opening flap, a bunch of weird profiles that made me think I was stuck in freaky deaky Dutch, and a mangled up CD-R was still in the unit. Talk about being ticked off. Now I realize this isn’t Sony’s fault, it’s Target’s. But it just strikes me as a bad way to start off a purchase that was made under duress.
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Tags: PLAYSTATION(R)Network, PS3, Target

This is a topic that has been kicking around in my head for quite some time. We have had an HDTV for a couple of years now, and an HD-DVD player for a little over a year. This topic takes off in a few different directions, but I’ll try to keep it simple and not get too wordy here.

First: HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray:

From the time I began considering HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, I have felt that HD-DVD was the better format of the two. Proponents of Blu-Ray argue that their format is superior because it has greater storage capacity. That, in and of itself, is the only benefit I can find that is even worth mentioning. And I’ve yet to hear of a Blu-Ray movie actually having more content than its HD-DVD equivalent. HD-DVD on the other hand also has one clear advantage that breaks off into a couple of different benefits. That advantage is manufacturing. The HD-DVD discs can be produced on the same manufacturing lines as traditional DVDs. Only minor adjustments need to be made which mainly center around the laser used. This capability also gives us the HD-DVD combo disc. Which has the movie in HD on one side, and standard definition on the other. Some consider this to be minor, while I find it extremely helpful. Our home has a few TVs in it and a DVD player for each TV. The only TV in the house to have a high definition player connected to it is the HDTV in the living room. These discs allow me to watch my movie on the TV of my choice and enjoy HD when I choose to. The other benefit that we achieve based on manufacturing is cost. Being able to use existing production lines means it costs them less to make each disc and that savings can be eventually passed along to us as consumers.
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Ever since getting an 80GB iPod Classic for my birthday, I’ve become a headphone junkie. The Apple earbuds lasted about a month before being replaced by Griffin Tunebuds for Christmas. Thanks Cortnie! (And don’t worry, I’ll be keeping the Tunebuds because they’re perfect for working out, and work.) Now I’m lucky enough to have a pair of these amazing ATH-ANC7 QuietPoint Headphones by Audio-Technica, courtesy of Jamie for Valentine’s Day. Thanks babe!

The QuietPoint Headphones are a full-ear covering cushioned device designed for comfort and an overall concert-hall like delivery. If first impressions are supposed to be the best impressions, then these headphones are going to be impressing me for quite some time. Immediately upon putting the headphones on and connecting them to my iPod to listen to some Nickelback, I was greeted with a sound that was probably a little better than average. Certainly better than the $30 or so Sony headphones that they replaced, but nothing to write home to Mom about. However when I switched on the active noise-canceling feature, my face stretched into what must have been an ear-to-ear grin. I immediately felt like I was standing back at the Tampa Ice Palace listening to Nickelback perform live on stage. The sound was simply incredible, and everything in the background was immediately stamped out… TV, fiancee, daughter, you name it. I couldn’t hear a thing other than the music being joyously delivered to my ears.
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So I’ve had a distinct lack of posting for a while and it’s been due to a couple of reasons: 1. Recovery from surgery; which was much more difficult than I anticipated. 2. Holidays, work prep for vacation, and vacation.

I’m sitting here waiting for my flight to board so I thought I’d just put a quick update out there. Here are the gifts I’ve received so far and plan on posting about them as time permits:

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