Tuesday, 29 January 2002 2:00pm
W
ho knows if I'll be able to keep it up, but I've been running about 30 minutes a day for three out of the last five days. That's a pretty big accomplishment when you consider that I haven't exercised on two back to back days in years. I'm not too worried about my diet -- the only thing that has really changed since I started gaining weight is my level of activity. When I got out of school and started working with computers full time I stopped going to skateparks and stuff like that. I just want my six pack back, that's all. I hope it's not too much to ask for.
Last weekend we went out to this club called "On Broadway" which is on Broadway in downtown San Diego. We were there to celebrate Leanne's birthday which was actually the previous weekend. The space is pretty cool... if you get in before 9, it's like a swingin' dinner club. The food is really great, with good sushi and whatnot. I had this portobello stuffed halibut thing that was quite delicious. After 9pm it turns into a dance club with three areas. The building used to actually be an old bank and the decor is an interesting mix of ultra modern with old style columns and archways and stuff. Also the old bank vault (complete with huge vault doors) has been converted into a plush pool hall.
The place was pretty dang cool but man, I don't understand those people who go out clubbing like every weekend. It's fun to do once in a while but it really seems like an incredible waste of money. But hey, whatever floats your boat, I guess. And now...

Beastie Boys Video Anthology
The DVD: This isn't actually a movie, it's a collection of Beastie Boys music videos, new and old, ones you've seen and ones you probably haven't. It's a two disc set, with plenty of extra content -- not only do you get the video, you get several remixes... and while you're watching the video you can use the audio button on your remote to switch the audio to one of the remixes, and most of the time, the words still match up to the lips of the guys in the video! Pretty cool. There's also tons of extra camera angles, information about the production of each video, and some other extras. For example, in the "Intergalactic" section you can watch an uncut little movie about the robot and the octopus battle that you see parts of in the video.
Overall this was a pretty fun DVD to play around with, to see the old videos and to hear the old songs with. The menus have a great looking design. One thing that was pretty disappointing though is that the packaging would have you believe that they created brand new 5.1 audio mixes but in most cases, the supposed 5.1 sound mix is not really 5.1 at all. No sound comes through the center channel, and the surround channels only have a delay/reverb effect. But still, overall a fun disc to play with.

Wednesday, 30 January 2002 9:30pm
I
 was wrong! They do have Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits in San Diego!! And it's even closer to home (by about 25%) than the Church's Chicken that I've been going to. And although the chicken I think is better overall at Popeye's, there is one problem -- it's not located in or near the ghetto -- consequently, the prices are not as good at Popeye's as they are at Church's. Also, Church's chiken pieces are bigger, and their biscuits are better too (in my opinion). But still, it's good to know that Popeye's is there, and even closer than that Church's.
On a completely unrelated note... the Charlie Daniels Band "How Sweet The Sound" 25 hymns and gospel greats album (and associated commercial) scares me for some reason. Why, I can't really put my finger on it, but it does scare me, that's for sure.

Friday, 1 February 2002 11:59pm
H
ow long ago was it that I said I wanted to build an actual DVD Review section of my site? September? October? Well after months and months of procrastination, and two days of solid work, Bryan's DVD Review is finally here! I set it up using PHP and MySQL so that all of the reviews are in a database, and a PHP script pulls up the data on the fly. That way when I want to add a movie, I just add it into the database, and it automatically gets added to the index and the pages get built by themselves!! Woohoo!
I haven't added any new reviews (yet), but give me a break! I was up until 4am last night transferring all of the old reviews into the database (47!!). Some of the very oldest reviews I did not include, because they didn't have enough substance in my opinion. But all new reviews will be going over there, but I'll probably alert you over here if there is anything new.
I do realize that the colorscheme is somewhat... obnoxious, but fear not -- the next thing I plan to implement is a selectable theme! I'm going to make it so that it fits the same general template, but the images and colors will all get swapped in on the fly, depending on which theme you choose. I don't know how many themes there will be as each one basically requires me to design a whole new look, but I think by the end of the weekend I'll have two themes (including the current look) going. Anyway, I hope you like it!
In other news, I got a bigger bed today. It's nice to have a bigger bed, but at the same time it makes my bedroom look that much smaller. Small price to pay, I say! Welp that's it for tonight!

Saturday, 2 February 2002 11:59pm
A
nother late night (it's 3am now), but it's been worth it. My DVD Review site now has pretty much all of the features I wanted to implement, so I think I'll be able to stop coding for a while and get back to writing some reviews. Anyway, today I made it so that the user can select a theme (out of the ones I create) which changes the color scheme and images used in the design. Again, it's all dynamic so if I want to make a new theme, I just make the new images I want to use, and input the new color values into the database and it automatically becomes available for anyone to use without any modification to the page code. I like it :)
Right now the selection of themes is rather sparse, and it may or may not change depending on how lazy/proactive I'm feeling about it. I did just get some movies in from Netflix today so I'd like to actually add some new reviews. Speaking of which... I decided I wouldn't do any work on this page until after dinner. Before dinner I took some time out to pop in the movie Election which arrived today. I hadn't watched any TV at all since I started working on this dvd page, and well, I thought I should take a break.
And oh yes, in other news... I bought a deep fryer today, and for my frist deep fryer cooking experience ever, I made (what else?) fried chicken. My fried chicken skills definitely need some work. While I can say that my chicken was better than the Vons supermarket deli fried chicken... that's not really saying much. But I guess it wasn't bad for a first try. I think I overcooked it a little as the chicken was kind of dry, but I also noticed that overall it was much less greasy than the fried chicken from those fast food joints.
One of the reasons I fancied getting a deep fryer goes all the way back to being a little kid. I don't know about you, but when I was little, I always wanted to eat the drumsticks. I'd fight with my sister over who gets to eat them. Now with the power of owning my own deep fryer, I can make all drumsticks!!. And when it comes to buying the raw chicken, dark meat is way cheaper than white meat. All the better for me because I think the best parts are the thigh and leg. The tastiest part of a chicken is the thigh, but thighs can sometimes be difficult to eat, since there are a couple bones, and a lot of meat in there. And while legs are really convenient for eating, they don't have all that much meat on them, which is why I'd never go to a KFC or Popeye's and order all legs because the cost to meat ratio is rather high.
But my chicken good enough for me to not want Church's... but mark my words, one day my fried chicken will be so good people will be lining up to experience the Hong's secret blend herbs and spices! Anyway... it's time for bed. I'll catch y'all later!