I’ve been a pretty busy boy, like I’ve been saying. The trouble is when you wake up on a morning like today and really really wish you could work from home (which I could, I just don’t like calling in to say it, feels like I’m copping out on the day) or better yet could just take the day off. I need some time to recharge, and the weekends are never quite long enough to make that happen. I could take a few days off, I certainly have the leave, but I may as well work from home if I don’t have specific relaxation plans.

I did manage to find a hotel to stay in for Otakon this year, even though I wasn’t able to get the con rate – they did cut me a break, and combined with my AAA discount, it’s not too bad. Guess it pays to keep my membership there up to date. I don’t think, especially with my car being out of warranty now, that I’ll be canceling that membership to save a few bucks anytime soon. Either way, I’m looking forward to the con again.

So continuing my so-called “war on my checkbook,” I found The Prioritizer, which looks like a handy tool to help you prioritize all of your financial goals, and I’m planning on giving this a whirl in just a few minutes. Part of my problem is that I want to do so much, and I get overwhelmed with everything I’d like to do, figure I can’t possibly have enough money to spare to make it all happen, and wind up giving up entirely. Hopefully this will kick me into gear a little bit.

Speaking of extra cash, I got top billing on a story about Pi Day over at Gearlog. I’m pretty proud of myself. Not to mention yesterday I snagged a story about Viacom Suing YouTube over at AppScout – it’s a lot of fun to be on top of the news, and to get stories in and posted while they’re still hot. I could get used to this.

In other news, there are a ton of so-called “free to play” MMOs running around these days, but the art for Rappelz caught my eye. Sad part is that it might just be the art that’s interesting, and I’ll move on. Usually games like this wind up being free to download and you get to play in a fraction of the world for free, but you have to “upgrade” your account to get access to other zones, or pay extra per special item you’d like to have. Sony pioneered the idea – create an environment that was free to enter, but if you wanted armor or a cool new hat or something, you can buy it in-game with real money. I might check it out, or I might just look at the pretty pictures.

So everyone’s talking about that movie, you know, 300? Yeah, see, I saw the movie that was based on, the really old one set actually filmed in the Greek countryside, and as entertaining as it was, and as entertaining as the new one appears to be, I have a hard time with the story. You see, it’s not even remotely historically accurate. And no, I’m not just talking about the utter lack of armor. The Spartans were…let’s say, not a people worth idolizing, and their idea of “freedom” is nothing to hold dear. Then again, I have heard it’s a fun movie, for what it’s worth.

For those who don’t mind a gorier take on topics, I happened to stumble across this video of a Dave Chappelle v. Carlos Mencia celebrity deathmatch, in its bloody claymation glory, over at the site of a recent guest on an episode of Weezy and The Swish, which I keep up with for TechTV Forever, among other reasons (like the fact it’s hilarious), and well – I think this video does a lot of things for me. First, I get to see Carlos Mencia get beat up, called out on his stealing jokes, and in the end get called a hack while hiding behind the typical phrases like “I’m politically incorrect!” and “Take a joke, America!” Which about sums up his career to me. I can’t stand him, or anyone else who’s so bad at comedy that they wind up being “politically incorrect” and egotistically claiming that they’re “saying what we’re all thinking” when they obviously have no idea what anyone’s thinking much less themselves, and simply aren’t funny. Anyway, that’s my take on so-called “politically incorrect” comedy – usually boils down to people who can’t deal with heaven forbid, people calling them out on racial slurs, and claim that “pc has gone too far.” I usually find that the people whining about “PC” are the people who desperately need a dose of it. The rest of us get along just fine.

Anyway, there’s a small plastic lizard waiting at the post office under the duress of Homeland Security that I need to go pick up. Hopefully I’ll be taking a few days off soon to show him around town. More on that later.